Deductibility of the Plastic Tax in Spain
A recent ruling by the Spanish Central Economic-Administrative Tribunal has determined that sales transactions under EXW from a Spanish warehouse or FCA with the delivery point in Spain, to non-resident customers, will not be eligible for the deduction of the Plastic Tax provided for in Article 80 of Law 7/2022.
The Spanish Tax Agency had already been applying this criterion, based on the fact that under EXW and FCA terms, the traceability of the actual exit of plastic packaging from Spanish territory is lost.
The aforementioned ruling clarifies that the real reason for denying the deductibility of the Plastic Tax is that, under these Incoterms, delivery is deemed to take place in Spain by the seller. Therefore, it is not the seller but the buyer who bears the cost of transport outside Spanish territory.
Consequently, the buyers who assume the transport costs will be the ones entitled to request a refund of the Plastic Tax paid in Spain, provided that in their subsequent sale abroad they have not included the tax amount as part of their margin.
In line with the above, when preparing Modelo 592 (Plastic Tax), care must be taken not to automatically deduct the tax; instead, it is necessary to first determine who has borne the transport costs.
We also take this opportunity to note that, in the case of imports into Spain, the Plastic Tax is paid at the time the packaging enters the country, in a similar way to the payment of customs duties.
