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The taxpayer faces unaffordable tax obligations with the plastic tax

The plastic tax is about to enter into force. The same, introduced into the Spanish tax system by Law 7/2022, of April 8, on waste and contaminated soils for a circular economy, better known as the Special Tax on Non-Reusable Plastic Containers It will be in force from the first day of 2023.

The group of experts of internal advisers of AEDAF has analyzed the tax and has ensured that it is “absolutely expansive”, as:

  • It affects not only packaging but also packaging of all kinds that wrap any type of product. There are no known precedents in other countries that tax the plastic included in the packaging itself.
  • It affects not only manufacturers but also anyone who makes imports or intra-Community acquisitions of goods. This extension of the taxable event cannot be implemented without an international regulatory framework that legally supports the request for information on products and packaging that contain plastics, to non-resident third parties.
  • imposes a very low exempt limitfive kg/month (United Kingdom, for example, establishes a limit equal to 10 tons/year).
  • It does not establish exclusions in those cases in which the container and/or packaging is made with partially recycled material.
  • It imposes some formal obligations that are very difficult or impossible to comply with, especially for purchasers/importers, such as “certifying” the origin and amount of non-recycled plastic for each acquisition/import (regardless of the supplier’s country of residence and their willingness to cooperate or not in providing this information), the keeping of an accounting of plastic stocks at the headquarters of the tax administration, etc.
  • It imposes a system of direct estimation of the tax per kg. made or purchased plastic. This obligation is practically impossible to manage for those who are not manufacturers of plastic containers.
  • In short, it is an almost impossible management tax in practice. All agree that the costs of administrative management of the tax would exceed in most cases the amount to be collected by the tax administration.

Entry into force on January 1

In addition, AEDAF also highlights that “despite the fact that the tax administration is fully aware of the existing difficulties, the entry into force of this tax is still being considered on January 1, 2023; The companies have not been able to adapt their systems to process this type of information on time, nor do they have the capacity to require this information from all their foreign suppliers or to certify the origin of the plastic, as a responsible declaration or through a certification issued by an independent third party. , for each product acquisition made ”.

As if that were not enough, it is not expected to approve a regulation despite all the complexity indicated in the application of the tax, and the more than patent lack of regulatory quality, appreciable in this case. The growing habit of “regulating” the details of complex regulations through documents related to “Frequently Asked Questions and Answers”prepared by the tax administration itself, must be banished in a rule of law

For all the above reasons, AEDAF recommends that the pertinent regulatory amendmenttaking into account possible similar tax regulation models introduced in neighboring countries, before the end of this year.

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