Companies will continue to pay less dividends to the Treasury in 2023 than before the financial crisis

the benefits of companies in Spain grew by 10.5% In 2023, it achieved a positive accounting result of €299,967 million The highest in the historical seriesWhich has been collected since 1995. The increase was greater in companies and large groups, 15.4%, and even exceeded this number in multinational companies and in the energy and financial sectors, as detailed by the Tax Authority in its annual report published Thursday. However, companies have been paying a lower percentage of corporation tax (IS) for years than before the financial crisis.

he Active type On the positive accounting result (profit) reached 12.37% In 2023, the maximum in recent years, but a long way from 16.17% in 2007 or 20.49% in 2003, exactly 20 years ago. For this change to occur, among other factors, approval must be obtained Tax credits Which reduces the tax bases for the tax and reduces the possibility of collecting it. And also the “distortions that occur” by companies that pay taxes at rates of 0% and 1% with very irregular profits (collective investment institutions and pension funds).

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the Tax base In this case, it is the amount of business profits to which the IS standard applies. Its development He was separated from the benefitsAlthough these exceeded the numbers before the financial crisis in 2017, the tax base remained much lower. In fact, it doesn't exceed the 2007 value until 2023. “In the last three years, there has been a gradual approach between the tax base and profits,” the IRS describes. This is it As a result of regulatory measures Taken by the government in recent years to increase corporate taxes.

According to the report, tax rules increased because large corporations and multinational corporations were able to implement them Fewer tax breaks After the Treasury tightened the regulation in 2021. In addition, in 2023, another regulatory change was made regarding Calculate tax rules From groups. Now it is calculated by adding the pluses and 50% of the tax bases negative of its member entities. This increases the amount recorded by the information system and results in a higher effective rate paid and an increase in tax collection. 1,098 million In 2023.

Besides measures that specifically affect the tax base, another regulatory change made by the government has increased tax collection. This is coming into effect A minimum of 15% on the tax base For companies with a turnover of €20 million or greater 596 million To the 2023 group.

However, the measures the government deployed the most were: Temporary privileges To the financial and energy sectors. These do not affect the increase in IS tax bases, although they do affect overall tax collection 3,528 million in 2023. This is because they have the legal nature of ownership benefits, not taxes, although the government's intention is to merge both in this way and make them permanent from 2025. Approval of the minimum rate on 15% of the adjusted accounting resultwhich would increase revenues.

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In the context of continuing to increase tax bases and not losing revenue, the Ministry of Treasury introduced an amendment through the Socialist Group to redefine the limits of compensation for negative tax bases and deductions to avoid international double taxation imposed by the state. Constitutional court It was declared null and void in its ruling of January 18, 2024. If this amendment to the draft law on crisis measures in Ukraine goes ahead, it will lead to a further increase in the quotas that some companies will have to pay.

As a result of the measures taken and the good performance of business profits, corporate tax collection in 2023 reached the best figure since 2007, 35.060 millionThis represents an annual increase of 9%, slightly less than earnings growth. This number has been found 23% above what the government approvedan additional 6.541 million, which gave it room to approve tax cuts such as the value-added tax on food and a reduction in the personal income tax for low-income people.

However, the collection has been affected yields Annual announcement result. Moreover, IS still has less importance in total tax revenue than in years when effective rates were higher: it accounted for 12.9% of the total in 2023, compared to 22.3% in 2007.