New economic emergency measures COVID-19 

New economic emergency measures COVID-19 

On Tuesday 17/03/20, the Spanish Government announced the following emergency economic measures to help businesses and workers during this difficult period:

Temporary lay-offs and short-time working (ERTE)

Force majeure: companies that have to suspend employment contracts or reduce working hours during the state of emergency as a direct consequence of this declared state of emergency (e.g. compulsory shutdown of activities, closure of shops, no supply of raw materials, etc.) can apply to the authorities quickly and without much administrative hassle.

Productive, organizational and technical reasons: if employment contracts are temporarily suspended or working hours are reduced as an indirect consequence of the declared state of emergency (e.g. less demand for products or services), this must first be agreed with a workers’ delegation. This delegation must be put together within 5 days, after which the application must be presented to the authorities within 7 days.

In both situations, the authorities will give their decision within 5-7 days.

The workers in question will receive unemployment benefits during the ERTE and they will have to be re-employed after the crisis under the same conditions as before.

Social security contributions

Companies using an ERTE (see above) and with less than 50 employees on 29/02/20, are exempted from paying employer contributions for inactive employees or shortened working days during the period that this ERTE is in force. This redemption is 75% for companies with more than 50 employees.

The exemption from employer’s contributions to the Seguridad Social only applies in the case of an ERTE due to force majeure.

In order to make use of this exemption, the workforce must be maintained at least 6 months after resuming the work activities.

State-guaranteed financing

At least € 100 billion will be made available for the rapid and efficient provision of state-guaranteed financing for all companies in need of liquidity to cope with this difficult period.

A special financing line has been made available for tourism enterprises.

Previous measures

In addition to the measures mentioned above, another economic emergency package was already in force since last Friday 13/03/20 and these measures will also remain in force:

Deferral of taxes for SMEs

Payments of taxes for which declarations have to be submitted until 30 May 2020, can be postponed for 6 months under certain conditions. This applies to wage and professional taxes, VAT and (interim) corporate income tax.

For the time being, the measure only applies to SMEs. In order to take advantage of the postponement, it is a requirement that the turnover in 2019 does not exceed EUR 6 million (exactly: EUR 6,010,121.04).

For tax amounts up to EUR 30,000, deferrals may be requested without providing guarantees. For deferrals of amounts above 30,000 euros, guarantees must be given to the tax authorities.

No default interest will be charged during the first 3 months of the deferment.

Staff member with virus?

In addition, the government has decided that the quarantine of an employee as a result of infection with the COVID-19 virus is considered a labour accident.

The duration will be decided by the doctor. The employee can only return to work with the permission of a medical specialist.

In this case, the social insurance system acts as a safety net.

Hospitality and tourism sector

Companies that are directly or indirectly (e.g. hospitality industry) active in the tourism sector and that are normally active during the months February, March, April, May and June, can take advantage of a discount (of 50%) on social security contributions.

In order to take advantage of this, all workers must be active (for the Canary Islands and Balearic Islands another law applies).

 

More information?

Do you want more information about this post or about taxes in Spain? Read below what you can download for free or ask us your question without obligation.

Brochure Tax Rates Spain 2019

Download free and without any obligation our brochure Tax Rates 2019, with the current tax rates for companies, individuals and real estate. A ‘must have’ for advisers who have clients with business, family or a holiday home in Spain.

Free download Tax rates Spain 2019, click here

Best deal > Free alert service

We offer our clients, advisors and visitors of this website the possibility a free alert service. No costs and no obligations. We will inform about deadlines for tax returns and interesting changes and possibilities for (specificly) foreigners who are living in Spain, have business in Spain or who have family or a house in Spain.

Do you want to stay up to date? Then fill in your name and email in the Free alert service fields on our home page. Subscribe now, it’s free.

questions about starting a business in Spain?

We, EuroEconomics, the company behind EasyTaxSpain, have a team of more than 50 tax advisors, lawyers and accountants. Do you want to start a business in Spain?

Do you have questions about taxes or starting a business in Spain and are you looking for a contact that looks after tax affairs and tax returns in Spain?

Ask us for free and easy your question

You will receive a response within one working day
No costs

Related posts