Spain’s Banks Must Pay the Mortgage Tax from Now On

10 November 2018 – Expansión

The Royal Decree approved by the Council of Ministers last Thursday, which modifies the Law governing the Tax on Property Sales and the Documentation Registration Tax (ITP and AJD), comes into force today, following its publication in the BOE. The Decree establishes that the banks, and not the customers, are responsible for paying those taxes.

From today, the purchaser of an asset or right, and in his/her absence, the persons who initiate or request the notarial documents, or those in whose interest they are issued, shall be subject to the tax. When it comes to loan deeds with mortgage guarantees, the bank shall be considered the taxpayer.

In terms of new features, the Royal Decree introduces a new article in the exemption section, which means that “loan deeds with mortgage guarantees, in which the borrower is one of the persons or entities listed in section A) above” shall not be subject to the tax.

Those entities include the State and regional and institutional Public Administrations and their organisations for welfare, culture, Social Security, teaching and scientific purposes. Financial institutions will not be allowed to deduct this payment from their Corporation Tax charge from 2019 onwards, given that tax changes are applied to complete fiscal years. The tax that the banks will have to pay will amount to €2,500 on average per loan and will, according to the Minister for Finance, María Jesús Montero, contribute to the collection of €2 billion every year for the regional coffers.

The Government justifies the “urgent” need for “regulation” to dissolve the “legal uncertainty” created by the Supreme Court following its ruling to force banks to pay the tax, before resolving a few days later that it was returning to case law and therefore obliging citizens to pay it. “This succession of events has led to a situation of legal uncertainty, which affects the mortgage market as a whole, and which must be addressed immediately”.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake