From 1 January 2016, SCPs will have to file Corporation Tax and their worker-partners will have to receive a salary through a payslip. As if they were SA or SL, Private Civil Companies will also have the obligation to keep complete accounts (supplier and customer files, bank and cash statements,…) under the threat of harsh penalties if they do not comply with the new regulations.
The only SCPs that will not be obliged by law to change their way of taxing are those dedicated to agricultural and livestock activities, or professional societies, i.e. those professions that require a university degree and a mandatory association to be able to practice (doctors, lawyers or architects, among others).
Also excluded from the new law are Communities of Property (CB) without a commercial purpose that are dedicated exclusively to the exploitation of assets, such as the lease of a property without salaried personnel. Until recently, there had been speculation that SCPs that would become Communities of Property would be left out of this change. But this idea has been completely banished by a recent note from the Tax Agency in which it warns that it will review the new CB creations, and if they have a commercial purpose, it will treat them as SCPs even if they are constituted as Communities of Property.
On the other hand, although at first there had been speculation about the possibility that other professional activities such as designers, commercial agents or translators would be excluded from the regulations, in the end this has not been the case and they will have to file Corporation Tax.
Extinction of the SCP
Until now, when two or more people wanted to group together to carry out an activity, most chose to set up an SCP instead of an SL,….
Faced with the regulatory change that, as of 1 January 2016, practically equates the same accounting obligations to both companies, the question is obvious: what is more profitable for me? Become an SL? Should I remain as an SCP and continue as an individual freelancer?
In the coming weeks, Gestingral will contact all customers who are in this situation to advise them personally on the best option in each specific case. The office will also enable several professionals to be able to attend to all those people, despite not being clients of the company, who want to ask about their situation.
In any case, if the final decision is not to remain as an SCP, the same law provides for a transitional regime to settle it, in such a way that no taxes derived from this settlement would be generated, and would allow taxation in 2016, until it is settled, in the same way as in 2015. If you opt for this route and want to continue the activity with another legal form, you will have to make the relevant changes in all legal relationships such as lease contracts, municipal activity permits, employment contracts,… Being clear that the other parties do not have the obligation to accept this change of legal form.
Before making any decision, at Gestingral we always recommend that you visit a professional. Prevention is better than cure.
