María Jesús Monter

When Hacienda steps on the collection accelerator too strong, you can end up skidding in the curve. And this time, the spin has left it with the wheels in the air, while productions such as those starring stars such as Vin diesel They continue to accelerate at full speed along the roads of Spain, with a smile of victory on the face and pockets full of fiscal deductions.

On the screen, the cars of Fast & Furious They challenge gravity, cross skyscraper and explode on fire, always with vin diesel at the wheel and a lapidary phrase in the mouth. But out of the cinema, in the halls of the Treasury, the skid has been another. A judicial volantazo has forced the Tax Agency to correct its course, giving the reason to a group of large companies that, under the pretext of promoting the film industry in Spain, benefited from millionaire fiscal deductions.

The National Court has estimated several resources presented by investors and producers who participated in the financing of films such as Fast & Furious VI o Fury of Titans 2, shot in Spain with capital from banks, airlines, telecommunications and media operators. Hacienda, which for years denied these deductions, must now return more than 100 million euros, a figure that could increase as other pending cases are resolved.

The incentive that ended in fiscal persecution

It all started more than a decade ago, when the Ministry of Culture devised a mechanism to attract great Hollywood productions to the Spanish territory. Under the umbrella of the Groups of Economic Interest (AIE), liquidity companies could invest in these projects and benefit from succulent fiscal sales. The objective was to turn Spain into an attractive set for American Majors, who found in the tax advantages a weight of weight to shoot in our country.

However, the Tax Agency, always attentive to the smell of money, soon put the cry in the sky. Since 2015, he began investigating these groups, suspecting that they were nothing more than structures created to disguise tax benefits and reduce taxes without a real interest in film production. Two years later, in 2017, the central delegation of large taxpayers prohibited investors from applying deductions. The affected companies appealed the decision before the Central Administrative Economic Court, but this agency, dependent on the hacienda itself, ratified the prohibition.

What followed was a battle in court that, as in the best scripts in Hollywood, has had an unexpected turn. The National Court has revoked the Treasury criteria, establishing that the IEAs were true cinematographic producers for fiscal purposes, as the Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts (Icaa), an organism of the Ministry of Culture itself. And here lies the key point of the sentence: Finance cannot contradict another body of the same administration without exceptional justification.

Hollywood, banks and a millionaire bill

The failure has immediate consequences. Finance should not only return the more than 100 million euros to investors, but also the door opens to other groups of economic interest claiming their part. Among the beneficiaries of this sentence are entities such as Banco Santander, Bankinter, Telecinco Cinema (Mediaset), Joyerías Tous or R Cable (MásMóvil Group), which participated in the financing of projects such as Exodusthe blockbuster of Ridley Scott shot in the Canary Islands and Almeria.

The case of Exodus It is paradigmatic. Its financing was backed by investors of the such as antenna 3 films (Atresmedia), Spanish Cooperative Bank (Caja Rural), Air Europa, Binter, TSK and Cristian Lay, among others. At the time, the Treasury prevented more than 34 million euros from being deduced, but now the doors open again for them. The appeal that this scheme had for companies is that there were companies with a treasury surplus that found in these groups a way of investing in culture, with the incentive of obtaining improved profitability thanks to fiscal deductions.

The precedent that can change the taxation of cinema

The impact of this judgment goes beyond the specific cases of Fast & Furious VI, Fury of Titans 2 o Exodus. The National Court has sat a precedent that could affect the application of tax incentives in other sectors. In fact, he has taken as a reference the recent sentences of the Supreme Court that gave the reason to companies that deduced expenses in R & D & I to promote innovation and investigation.

Lawyers who have defended investors underline the relevance of this ruling and argue to have important implications for the industry and for the application of tax incentives in Spain. In other words, the Treasury cannot interpret tax regulations at their convenience and change the rules of the game with the game in progress.

The coup and the silence of Montero

For the Ministry headed by the Vice President María Jesús MonteroMinister of Finance and Public Function, this judicial setback is an unexpected blow. While the Executive seeks new formulas to increase collection and maintain budgetary balance, the National Court Judgment forces him to return millions of euros that the Treasury already took for charges.

Montero, who is logical to vehemently defend the work of the Tax Agency, has not ruled on this matter.