Dr José Luis Bosch Cholbi, researcher of the ETICCs group and senior lecturer of the Universitat de València, has published a text titled La renuncia a la aplicación del régimen especial de las agencias de viajes en el IVA: Una opción tributaria sui generis (The waiver of the application of the special VAT regime for travel agencies: A sui generis tax option) through the Editorial Tirant Lo Blanch.
This book combines the efforts of analysis of the legal regime applicable to the option to waive the special VAT regime that travel agencies or tour operators can make.
The regulation of the possibility of renouncing the special VAT regime in the Law and in the regulations that develop it is analysed in detail. To this end, account will be taken of the fact that, although the Sixth Community Directive does not contain an explicit provision, its regulation aims, inter alia, to achieve the principle of neutrality by overcoming various obstacles to the charging of VAT on the supply of services relating to tourist trips or tours involving transport and/or accommodation, as well as ancillary or complementary services
Particular attention is paid to the definition of the cases in which the decision to waive the application of this special VAT regime to each specific transaction may be exercised, and to the economic and fiscal objective that must have guided the Spanish legislator in creating it. It also examines the substantive and formal requirements that must be met in each transaction in order for the travel agency - the taxable person providing the service - to opt for this waiver and, consequently, in order for the recipient of the transaction to be able to deduct the VAT charged, as well as the possibilities of correcting this option and the time at which it can be exercised, attempting to provide an integrated interpretation of the provisions of the VAT Law and Regulations with the wording of art. 119.3 LGT and with the wording of art. 119.4 LGT. 119.3 LGT and with the doctrine of the Supreme Court, which favours relaxing the formal requirements linked to the deduction of VAT in order to guarantee the principle of neutrality.
