PARIS (MNI) – An administrative court in Spain has nullified E5.1
billion worth of VAT tax assessments sent out to taxpaying businesses
from 2006 through 2008, according to the business journal El Economista,
which said a division of the Spanish Treasury had announced the ruling.

The E5.1 billion, which includes assessments and related penalties,
is the result of a methodological error on the part of the agency that
sends the VAT bills, which was invalidated by the court. The agency
based assessment on calendar years, when the law requires that it be
done on a monthly or quarterly basis.

The E5.1 billion will have to be returned to over 480,000 entities
who were charged the tax, according to the report. But the Treasury said
that while this would require a lot of work, it would ultimately have no
impact on Spain’s already over-burdened state coffers, El Economista
reported — presumably because the tax can be reassessed using the
required monthly and quarterly periods.

–Paris newsroom, +331-42-71-55-40; paris@marketnews.com

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