The Ministry of Finance is finalising a decree that would force rental housing platforms for tourist use, such as Airbnb, HomeAway, Wimdu or Niumba to identify the owners, as well as to submit periodic reports, with the aim of declaring “In more detail ” its activity. This is included in the draft decree to modify the General Regulation of the actions and procedures of management and tax inspection.
For the purposes of “tax fraud prevention”, a specific information obligation is established for persons or entities, in particular, the so-called “collaborative platforms”, which mediate in the leasing or assignment for tourism purposes. Specifically, the draft decree stipulates that persons and entities that intervene between owners and users must “periodically present an informational declaration” on properties for touristic use, regardless of the channel through which it is marketed or promoted.
Such declaration must contain the identification of the holder of the rented property for touristic purposes, as well as the identification of the user of the property, by giving the name and surname or company name or full denomination and tax identification number. In addition, the cadastral reference of the property will be required as well as the number of days of using the dwelling for touristic purposes and the charged amount for the provision of accommodation and, where appropriate, its free service.
The Tax Agency introduced as a novelty in the Income Tax Campaign of 2015, the warning to the taxpayer about advertisements for rentals of properties in different advertising media, including the Internet, and reminding that if receiving any incomes for this concept, they must be declared. Control over undeclared rentals is one of the main objectives marked by the Tax Agency every year. Thereby, during the past year the AEAT advised a total of 21.500 taxpayers that they had a record that they had rented a property, and therefore, they need to include in their declarations the incomes they had for this concept. Additionally, the draft decree indicates that “the cedents of the use of the properties for touristic purposes must keep a copy of the document of identification of the beneficiaries of the service”, and indicates that the model of declaration, form, term and place of presentation shall be approved by ministerial order. In the drafting of the new art. 54 the touristic use of a property is understood as “the temporary assignment of the totality of a furnished and equipped property in conditions of immediate use, whatever the channel it is marketed or promoted through, and made for a lucrative and costly purpose”. Excluded from this concept are touristic accommodations governed by its specific regulations, the right of using the dwellings in turns and the dwelling rentals, defined in 29/1994 Law of November 24th, on Urban Leases, and the partial sublet of the dwelling.
