It’s official and the decision has finally been taken : IVA will go up on the 1st of September.
The government had wanted to bring in the measure on Monday, but was finally convinced by the industry that this was simply not practical. A further hinderence was the refusal by the Tax Inspectors of Hacienda to work any overtime during the August holidays.
The 4% taxband remains the same. The 8% band goes up to 10%. The 18% goes up to 21%.
A number of products will be increased to the maximum level allowed. For example, cinema tickets, sanitary products, optical lenses, cleaning services, funeral services and music events will all see their tax band increase to the new 21%, from their current 8%.
The 4% IVA on new build homes will also increase to 10% in 2013.
Also, the State Lottery is to redirect earnings, and will lend the State 6 billion euros against future earnings – in effect spending the cash supporting the nation. The cash will go straight to the autonomous regions in order to help offset the crippling debt levels incurred by the State by them.
A new commerce bill also signed into law by royal assent today removes a number of restrictions, aimed at shaking up Spains retail market and allowing the flourishing of supermarkets. Amongst other things, sales will no longer be regulated by the government (currently Spanish shops can only have two official sales a year), and shops can decide when to have sales according to their needs. Opening hour restrictions are being reduced, and indeed abolished in major tourism centres (hello 24/7 shops), and shops can now be open on more Sundays and festival days than before (currently only allowed to open on 8 festival days, now up to 10). Small shops of under 300m2 will be allowed to open whenever they want to.