Binding Tax Ruling V100/2015 of January 16th. VAT taxable base in the Tour Operators Margin Scheme
The consultant is a confederation of associations of travel agencies and whose members are taxed within the VAT Tour Operators Margin Scheme (TOMS). Given the difficulty in accurately determining the tax base at the exact time of the tax point, it is consulting to the General Tax Directorate the possibility of provisionally determining the tax base using the final gross margin of the last year.
The TOMS is regulated in the Spanish VAT Law by Articles 141 to 147. In particular, with regard to the formation of the VAT base for these operators, the article 145 provides that it will consist of the gross margin of the agency, i.e. the difference between the total amount paid by the customer, excluding VAT, and the actual amount, including VAT, of goods and services purchased by the agency for performing the travel and which result in direct benefit for the traveller.
The problem arises that in most cases the agency itself cannot known this gross margin at the time of providing the service that becomes the VAT due, since according to the particularities of the sector the final price may be subject to uncertain factors such as the level occupation, discounts for volume purchases and other details. Thus, the consultant wonders if it can be used as taxable base the real gross margin of the last year.
The General Tax Directorate replied that, to the extent that the criteria remain consistent through time, it seems reasonable and well founded, so it approves the method. In any case, the taxpayer will have to regularize the VAT in the last settlement period on the basis of the actual gross margin for the current year. Furthermore, the article 80, section 6 of the VAT Act allows, when determining the tax base is not possible at the time of accrual, to use a provisional criteria, without prejudice to the obligation to adjust the tax base at the time it is known.
A copy in Spanish of the binding tax ruling number 0100/2015 CV is attached.
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