Spain Plastic Packaging Tax Now in Effect
In April 2022 the Spanish Official Gazette published Law 7/2022 on waste and contaminated land for a circular economy (Ley 7/2022 de residuos y suelos contaminados para una economÃa circular). Among other measures, this law introduces the creation of a new tax aimed to prevent the generation of non-reusable plastic packaging waste. In other words, this indirect tax, assessed on all non-reusable packaging containing plastic, applies regardless of whether the item is presented empty or containing, protecting, handling, distributing, and presenting goods.
The tax equals EUR 0.45 per kilogram of non-reusable plastic and is accrued, in the case of manufacture, at the time when the first delivery is made to the purchaser; in the case of importation, at the time import duties are also accrued; and in cases of intra-Community acquisition, on the 15th day of the month following that in which the transport of the product begins.
The entity responsible for the tax is the person who manufactures the product, makes intra-EU acquisitions, or imports the products.
The chargeable event will occur at the time when import duties would have become chargeable, under existing customs legislation, regardless of whether or not the imports concerned are subject to those import duties.
The tax will be assessed using the same method as that specified for the customs debt under customs legislation. The customs import declaration form must mention the quantity of non-recycled plastic that is imported and, if it qualifies, the exemption for imports not exceeding 5 kilograms in a month.
The law will enter into force on 1 January 2023 and taxpayers will have to register in a special registry, file monthly or quarterly tax returns (based on their net turnover) and comply with certain accounting requirements.
We recommend that all U. S. exporters subject to this tax review the compliance obligations together with any development and guidelines published by the Spanish Tax Authorities.
A full explanation of this new Spanish regulation can be found on the official Spanish government website https://www.boe.es/eli/es/l/2022/04/08/7/con.
The Law 7/2022 addresses the obligation for Spain to transpose two European Union (EU) Directives: Directive (2018/851) which will modify the Waste Framework Directive and the Single-Use Plastics Directive (2019/904), where the purpose is to reduce the environmental impact of certain plastic products.
For further details on the Spanish market please contact: Carmen.Ribera@trade.gov.