The Episcopal Conference has reached an agreement with the Government by which it renounces the tax exemptions from which it benefited until now in the Special Contributions and in the Tax on Constructions, Installations and Works (ICIO), which from now on it will have to pay to the Tax Agency.

"The agreement is developed in the shared will between the Government of Spain and the Spanish Episcopal Conference to equate the tax regime of the Catholic Church with non-profit entities, in accordance with the principle of non-privilege and non-discrimination. Today this agreement becomes effective through the corresponding exchange of notes between the Government and the Apostolic Nunciature," both parties announced in a joint statement on Wednesday.

Thus, the Government undertakes to repeal the Ministerial Order adopted on 5 June 2001 regulating these exemptions.

Special contributions are "taxes whose taxable event consists of obtaining by the taxpayer a benefit or an increase in value of their assets as a result of the realization of public works or the establishment or expansion of public services", according to the General Tax Law, in its article 2.2, letter b.

The ICIO is a tax of municipal ownership that is configured as an indirect tax and that taxes the realization, within the municipality, of any construction, installation or work for which it is required to obtain the corresponding building or urban planning license or for which the presentation of a responsible declaration or prior communication is required, provided that the issuance of the licence or control activity corresponds to the municipality of the taxation.

The ICIO must be paid by the person who holds the status of owner of the construction, installation or work, regardless of whether he owns the real estate on which the work is carried out. It is understood by owner who assumes the expenses of the work. To date, both the Public Administrations and the Church were exempt from payment.

This agreement was forged in autumn

The resignation by the Episcopal Conference has been agreed since autumn, when the nuncio of the Holy See in Spain, Bernardito Auza, and the president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, Juan José Omella, met with the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños.

On Tuesday, both sides exchanged diplomatic notes that spell out the agreements. This exemption, regulated under the presidency of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, derives from the fiscal context that the ecclesial institution has based on the agreements between the Holy See and the State (of 1976 and 1979, after the death of Franco), and was one of the points on which the Spanish bishops were most willing to yield. according to Servimedia.

The commitment to pay the ICIO also responds to the premise that the Church wants to pay the taxes that correspond to it, without privileges, but also without discrimination.

According to The Trust Project criteria

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  • Government of Spain
  • Tax Agency
  • Taxation
  • Religion