Greater control by the Treasury and the pandemic are turning hundreds of holiday rentals into long-term rentals

Following the setback of the Supreme Court ruling that annulled the model established to control tourist rental income, the Ministry of Finance is now finalizing a new system. It intends to introduce a new obligatory information declaration for all persons, entities and collaborative platforms such as Airbnb related to tourist rentals, through the Tobin Tax decree.

Last September, the Supreme Court followed the doctrine set out by the TJUE and declared the way in which the Inland Revenue carried out its tax control on tourist flat rentals to be contrary to law, which meant the elimination of model 179, where the transfer of use of properties for tourist purposes was declared on a quarterly basis.

Now, the Tax Agency intends to introduce into the royal decree being prepared for the new tax on financial transactions, the so-called Tobin Tax, a new informative declaration for all agents in this sector.

According to the document on the final provisions of the royal decree law, which Spain must send to Brussels, it introduces a new article 54 in the General Regulation on tax management and inspection actions and procedures which obliges persons, entities and collaborative platforms that intermediate, for a fee or free of charge, in the transfer of properties for tourism purposes located in Spain to report periodically on these operations.

This will mean that they must provide the identity of the owners of the property; those who enjoy it, whether by rental, sublease, timeshare contract, part-time ownership or similar, detailing the cadastral reference of the property, the number of days of assignment and the amount paid. Ordinary rentals are excluded from this control. This royal decree law will come into force on 16 January 2021.

This, together with the pandemic, with a significant fall in reserves, and a huge demand for rural houses, only gives flat owners reasons to convert holiday rentals into long term rentals.