COVID-19: The tax debts of SMEs and the self-employed may be deferred up to 30,000 euros

On March 13, 2020, Royal Decree-Law 7/2020, of March 12, was published in the BOE, adopting urgent measures to respond to the economic impact of COVID-19 (RD-Law), which allows the deferral without guarantees of the debts of SMEs and the self-employed for a period of six months and with subsidized interest.

The RD-Law regulates (within the “transitory financial support measures”) a system of deferral of tax debts within the scope of state taxes.

Specific:

a) The postponement of the income of the tax debt corresponding to the settlements and self-assessments whose term of presentation and income ends from March 13, 2020 until May 30, 2020 will be granted.

b) To do so, the requirements referred to in article 82.2.a) of the General Tax Law must be met. This article establishes that tax debts that are less than the amount established in the tax regulations may be deferred with total or partial waiver of guarantees. This amount is currently set at 30,000 euros, in Order HAP / 2178/2015, of October 9.

c) The deferral of debts that are habitually excluded from this possibility will be allowed, according to article 65 of the General Tax Law. Specifically, the debts derived from withholdings and payments on account, passed taxes and installment payments of the Corporation Tax.

d) Only persons or entities with a volume of operations not exceeding 6,010,121.04 euros in 2019 may be eligible for this measure.

e) The postponement will be granted for six months.

f) No default interest will accrue during the first three months of the deferral.