The hospitality, tourism and commerce sector will have as of this month tax aid, the possibility of defer paying taxes or that the owners of the premises of their businesses lower the price of the rental, some of the measures included in the support plan that the Council of Ministers approved this Tuesday and that, however, does not provide direct aid, lost fund, as claimed by the sector.
The Government Spokesperson and Minister of Finance, Maria Jesus Montero, has encrypted in about 4.5 billion the potential impact of a plan for the so-called HORECA sector, which they will not be direct aid, although the Government assures that of this total amount, up to 2,000 million suppose “direct aid of the State”, in the form of fiscal reductions or reduction of the cost of personnel through the exoneration by the payment of quotas to the Social Security.
“What we approve in this decree law are forms of the expression of the direct aid that the Government of Spain has” indicated Montero, who pointed out that the Government cannot give a check to the “thousands and thousands” of companies from the HORECA sector who need the help. Yes they can do it, as they are doing, communities and municipalities, he pointed out.
The decree law is made up of five measurement blocks, the first of which has to do with the possibility that the entrepreneurs may not pay the rent of the premises. If the owner is a large holder, that is, he has more than 10 properties, the Government contemplates up to a 50% reduction of the rent as long as there has not been an agreement on the “forgiveness or renegotiation of the payment.”
The measure will be expeditious because si within a week a large holder does not show a preference between making a 50% deduction from the rent or allowing the deferral of the rent payment, it will be the tenant -that is, the hotelier or the owner of a business -whoever chooses.
In the event that the owner of the premises is a natural person who owns less than 10 properties, he / she may charge as deductible expense in personal income tax the rebate that applies to your tenant during the first quarter of 2021.
On the other hand, and although it is a measure not very loved by the sector, which indicates that loans must always be repaid, the aid plan creates a new tranche of special ICO credits for SMEs and the self-employed in the tourism and hospitality sector, 500 million with a 90% guarantee of the State, which for Montero will make the banks “give the loans without any problem.”
The travel agency and tour operators may use these credits to pay the return of reservations made by consumers for trips that had to be canceled by Covid.
Taxes
In the chapter on tax measures, the payment of taxes will be deferred for six months, with a three-month grace period, up to a maximum amount of 30,000 euros and the payment of taxes to SMEs and the self-employed corresponding to the first quarter is postponed, so that the settlement will not be in April, but in October.
As Montero has pointed out, it will also be the first time that increases the reduction of taxation by modules to the IRPF system, that goes from 5 to 20% and to 35% in the case of hotels, tourism and commerce.
To “boost consumption in restaurants”, the Food coupons They will be valid not only physically but also in home orders.
Social Security Quotas
In the fourth block of labor measures, Montero has highlighted the expansion of the chapter on “ultra-protected” sectors to the wholesale trade of drinks and food stalls, botanical gardens or parks and reserves which means that these companies will be exempt from paying part of the social contributions between December 2020 and January 2021, from 85% if they are companies with up to 50 workers or 75% from there on.
The decree also contemplates 50% bonuses in the payment of Social Security contributions for workers with discontinuous fixed contracts.
Finally, the aid plan for the HORECA sector contemplates a transitional regime for areas of great influx of tourists.
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