Spain has tightened the rule to pay in cash since last July: it is forbidden to pay in cash above 1.000 euros in any operation in which a company or professional participates. This is the subject you have written about in the Economy magazine 3 the managing partner of tomarial, Antonio ballester.
«With hardly any noise, almost at night and treachery, it has been forbidden in Spain to make cash payments above 1.000 euros in operations in which a businessman or professional participates. This limitation of cash payments has been included in Law 11/2021 on measures to prevent and fight tax fraud and has been in force since July 11. Until then and since 2012 the limit was 2.500 euros. " This is how Antonio Ballester begins this article, who explains that «With hardly any noise, almost at night and treachery, it has been forbidden in Spain to make cash payments above 1.000 euros in operations in which a businessman or professional participates. This limitation of cash payments has been included in Law 11/2021 on measures to prevent and fight tax fraud and has been in force since July 11. Until then and since 2012 the limit was 2.500 euros. "
Ballester exposes some of the points about this rule of payment in cash that the Tax Agency has already clarified:
- The limit of 1.000 euros must be understood as a transaction carried out. Therefore, the rule is breached in a transaction of a greater amount regardless of whether less than 1.000 euros is paid in cash and another part by card or bank transfer.
- In the case of an operation that is broken down into two different invoices, the limit must consider the global amount to be paid by both invoices.
- On the contrary, if two independent operations do not exceed 1.000 euros each, they may be paid in cash, although they are subsequently documented in a single invoice.
- In successive tract operations (rentals, supplies, monthly fees for services, etc.) the criteria to be considered is the moment of enforceability and the amount of the payment to be made.
The author of the article on Economics 3 draws attention to the differences between this Spanish regulation and what happens in other neighboring countries: “it is very striking that the regulation proposed by the European Commission on July 20 to combat money laundering capital and black money, prohibit cash transactions exceeding 10.000 euros. Spain, therefore, stands out as the most restrictive country in the use of cash. "
