Spain relaxes requirement to be VAT registered for companies with other EU VAT numbers granted

andEvery time a non-establish company wanted to get VAT registered in Spain they were required to present a series of Apostilled documentation which made the VAT registration process long and complicated. The good news is that the Spanish Tax Authority has been aware of the difficulties and hassles involved and has decided to relax the requirements to obtain a VAT number.
According to the Official Communication issued by the Spanish Tax Authorities the requirements will be as follows:

1. Original certificate of registration for VAT purposes in another EU country, accompanied by an official translation.

2. In the case of legal entities:

a. Original certificate of registration at the company’s registry or another comparable official registry, accompanied by an official translation into Spanish, no older than 6 months old.

b. Article of incorporation accompanied by an official translation of the main elements such as regulation and identification of shareholders and directors, corporate name, capital stock among others. A relaxed translation measure applies for documents issued in French, English or Italian.

3. Document of representative authority of the person acting on behalf of the applicant or before the Spanish authorities.

4. Certificate issued by the entity that owns the platform/webpage, indicating that the applicant for registration on the census has signed an agreement with the former and that it has the intention of making sales both in Spain and in other European countries.

By current requirements, both Trade registration certificates and Documentation of representative authority have to be Apostilled. In addition, for the former document, it does not have to be more than 3 months old.

The apostilled process of documentation for foreign companies was burdensome, time consuming and expensive, discouraging them from being VAT registered and compliant in Spain. The Tax Authority is looking to reverse this behavior by implementing this new measure.

Global VAT Compliance has extensive experience regarding VAT registration in Spain, Europe and across the globe. If you are looking for a partner to deal with your VAT issues, GVC offers a one-stop solution so you don’t have to worry about VAT in remote countries and can focus on expanding your business.