Taxable event
It is the delivery of waste for disposal in landfills and also for disposal or energy recovery in authorized incineration or co-incineration plants.
Accrual
It occurs when the waste is deposited in the landfill. And in the case of incineration or co-incineration, it accrues at the time of incineration or co-incineration of the waste.
Tax base
It is the weight of the waste deposited in the landfill, incinerated or co-incinerated, expressed in tonnes to three decimal places.
Taxpayers
Taxpayers are natural or legal persons who carry out the taxable event, that is, those who deliver the waste to the landfill, incineration or co-incineration plant.
Substitutes
However, the law states that operators of landfills and waste incineration and co-incineration plants are substitutes for taxpayers . This means that the substitutes must collect the tax, make the settlements to the corresponding tax administration and pass on the amount of the tax to the taxpayer, who will be obliged to bear it. The repercussion will be made separately on the invoice and the 10% VAT corresponding to waste management services will be applied.
Exemptions
- By order of the authorities in situations of force majeure, extreme necessity or catastrophe.
- Seizures of property to be destroyed.
- They come from taxable transactions that would have actually been taxed by this tax. For example, slag and ash produced in waste incineration, or waste resulting from landfill leachate treatment. These wastes, once treated to reduce their hazardousness, such as stabilisation (D9), will also be exempt.
- For which there is a legal obligation to eliminate these facilities, such as any European standard (Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 on persistent organic pollutants, Regulation (EU) 2017/852 on mercury, Regulation (EC) No. 1069/2009 on health standards applicable to animal by-products), Spanish (Royal Decree 1378/1999 on PCB) or regional.
- Those resulting from treatment operations other than rejections of municipal waste from facilities carrying out recovery operations other than intermediate treatment operations. For example, R0503 Recycling of glass waste (calcin), for the manufacture of glass or other products, or R0304 Recycling of paper waste for pulp production for papermaking.
Rejections of municipal waste are the waste resulting from the treatment of such waste in the letters d) e) and g) of annex IV of Royal Decree 646/2020 on landfill waste deposit. Recovered solid fuels and fuels derived from municipal waste are also considered rejections.
Intermediate treatment operations are recovery operations coded as R12 and R13, and disposal operations D8, D9, D13, D14 or D1.
In addition, the delivery of waste to landfills is exempt when:
- It is carried out by public administrations and in the case of waste from the decontamination of soils that could not be treated in situ or when the Administrations act subsidiarily in actions of decontamination of contaminated soils. These actions must have been declared of general interest by a law.
- Inert waste suitable for restoration, conditioning or filling works carried out therein and for construction purposes is delivered. To do this, you must have a declaration from the autonomous community before the start of waste management operations. The operation must be carried out by an authorized manager for the recovery of this waste and the result of the operation must be the substitution of natural resources.
How to accredit exemptions or reduced rates?
By means of the documents admissible in law. For example: transfer documents, authorizations of facilities, waste characterizations, treatment contract, etc. Therefore, the substitute of the taxpayer will have to have the documentation of all the waste delivered, especially those exempt.
More information: https://sede.agenciatributaria.gob.es/Sede/impuestos-especiales-medioambientales/impuesto-sobre-deposito-residuos-vertederos.html