The National Court has ruled in favor of Orange and Vodafone on the appeals filed by both telcos against the settlements of the Tax on Economic Activities (IAE), which obliges the Tax Agency to reimburse them jointly 107.5 million euros.
The judicial resolutions, dated March 10 and February 18, uphold the claims of the two operators before the Central Economic-Administrative Court and ratify their right to recover the amounts paid for this tax.
In the case of Orange, the ruling affects the 2018, 2019, and 2020 fiscal years for its fixed and mobile telephony services. For Vodafone Spain, the ruling covers the 2018 and 2019 fiscal years and is limited to mobile telephony services.
According to the rulings accessed by Europa Press, reported this Wednesday by "El País" and "Expansión", Orange, integrated into the MasOrange group, will be able to recover 62.3 million euros, while Vodafone Spain, controlled by the British fund Zegona, will receive just over 45.2 million. Both amounts will be paid along with the corresponding late payment interest.
"We recognize Orange España the right to the refund of the sums unduly paid into public coffers as IAE during the fiscal years 2018, 2019 and 2020, together with the corresponding late payment interest," it follows from one of the resolutions.
Regarding Vodafone Spain, the court declares "the right of the plaintiff entity to have the amounts unduly paid as Economic Activities Tax, national quota, for 'mobile telephony services', in the 2018 and 2019 fiscal years to which the assessments now annulled refer, returned to it, along with the corresponding late payment interest". In total, the 2018 and 2019 assessments are invalidated, for 22.88 and 22.34 million euros, respectively.
The magistrates detail in both resolutions that the IAE heading that taxes mobile operators according to the number of clients per municipality conflicts with community regulations and that its creation "had a clearly compensatory purpose" and "was aimed at procuring greater and better collection for local Treasuries".
"Its purpose is strictly revenue-generating, being alien to the objectives and optimization of the sector" that the European directive demands and its collection "is intended to cover the needs of the local administration, it being evident that it is alien to the IAE to guarantee the correct functioning of the internal market of telecommunications networks and services", adds the ruling.
Background: another setback from the Supreme Court to the Treasury for the IAE
In November 2023, the Supreme Court had already ruled in favor of Vodafone in the dispute over the IAE corresponding to 2014, for which the company will recover just over 27 million euros plus interest.
That pronouncement adds to those related to the 2012 and 2013 fiscal years, with which the operator already managed to annul settlements for around 80 million euros in total.