China Overseas Chinese Network, April 21. According to "Europe Times" Spanish WeChat public account "Xiwen", in April 2021, the Spanish government passed a draft tax law, stipulating that financial institutions and agencies cannot submit Customers provide excessive tax avoidance.
If customers have transnational transactions, they need to report to the tax bureau.
"Europe Times" interviewed attorney Ji Yihong, director of the Spanish Chinese law firm.
He said that from a legal point of view, the draft is not rigorous enough.
But the information revealed in it is intriguing.
After the formal implementation, it may make the situation of the Chinese businessmen in West more difficult.
Draft or litigation
Recently, the Spanish government amended Decree No. 10 of 2020.
Attorney Ji introduced that this is a draft on taxation. It is an administrative cooperation directive on taxation as amended by the Council of the European Union Directive 2011/16/EU (DAC6 or "EU Tax Administrative Cooperation Directive").
The Spanish government revised the tax draft this time to improve the fiscal transparency of cross-border taxation and to track the automatic exchange of data laws for cross-border transactions.
In April 2021, Spain passed the draft tax law.
If there are no special changes, the draft will soon be passed and become a law to be implemented.
The draft stipulates that if financial institutions and agencies do not report the information of their clients truthfully, they shall bear the responsibility.
If it is found that there is under-reporting of data, a fine of 2,000 euros will be imposed on one data.
It mainly refers to that if some customers conduct transactions in other countries, they may have tax avoidance behavior, and financial institutions need to report these situations to the tax bureau.
In addition, if financial institutions or agencies design more aggressive tax avoidance methods for customers, they will also be fined.
Attorney Ji pointed out that after studying the draft, he found that there were loopholes that could easily cause objections.
Information revealed behind the draft
Although there are loopholes in the draft tax law, Chinese businessmen in West still need to pay attention to this draft.
Attorney Ji believes that the passage of the draft illustrates a very important trend: After the new crown epidemic, the income of the Spanish tax office has been greatly reduced, so now their focus is to increase tax inspections.
This time, the draft started from the inside, requiring financial institutions and agency agencies to declare tax avoidance of customers, which will have a great impact on the living environment of Chinese businessmen in West China.
The draft proposes that if a customer sends money abroad, the bank should declare it.
Attorney Ji believes that many Chinese businessmen are engaged in import and export business and of course need to remit money abroad.
If the money is sent abroad, it is suspected of tax avoidance, which is obviously not in line with the trend of trade globalization.
But after the passage of this law, when customers send money abroad, banks must declare, otherwise they will face fines.
This may lead to a situation that after several declarations, the bank thinks that the customer may cause them trouble, so it cancels the customer's account.
At that time, the company's bank account will be gone, and it will not be able to pay wages or pay its suppliers.
On the other hand, during this period of time, wholesalers and importers have reported that customs inspections and customs declarations are now very strict, and even some of the quotations of goods have exceeded the actual value, and the declared value will still be considered insufficient.
All these situations have caused great distress to Chinese businessmen engaged in import and export trade.
The legal effect will be shown within two years
Currently, this tax reform is only in the draft stage.
Once passed, the resulting effects will slowly become apparent within two years after the law is passed.
At that time, the cancellation of the bank account may occur again.
What should I do if my account is cancelled by the bank?
Attorney Ji said that in such a situation, it is actually difficult to protect rights through legal means.
The relationship between banks and customers is not what it used to be.
In the past, customers were God, and banks needed to absorb customer deposits and then lend out.
Nowadays, banks obtain funds from the European Union, or borrow between banks, so banks can get the money without spending any cost, and there is no need for customers to put money in.
Understand this logic, you will understand the recent skyrocketing phenomenon of bank handling fees.
Of course, the cancellation of bank accounts is not only a dilemma encountered by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in West China, but also many immigrants such as Venezuelans, Iranians, and even Spaniards will encounter this situation.
If rights are safeguarded, the bank will argue that it is only strictly enforcing the law, so it is very difficult to safeguard rights.
This is the so-called "natural disasters and man-made disasters."
Natural disasters are unpredictable new crown epidemics. Man-made disasters refer to the chain reaction that will be caused later: banks charge high fees to customers and can even cancel accounts at will.
Therefore, Lawyer Ji believes that after the draft amendment is passed, it may make the living environment of Chinese businessmen in West more difficult.
(Yi Yi)