In the next few weeks, Spaniards who during the past year sold second-hand items for Vinted, Wallapop, Milanuncios or any other online platform of commerce between individuals could find an unpleasant surprise. In the best of cases it will be a ‘letter of fear’, those missives sent by the Treasury warning of a failure in the presentation of the declarations and inviting to amend it through the complementary ones, and in the worst, a fine.
More than one of you will be caught off guard by the letter, because until a year ago it could be said that ecommerce between individuals was still living behind the back of the Treasury. But that was amended in January this year, when through Royal Decree 117/2024 came into force in Spain the transposition of the European Directive DAC7 (Directive 2021/514), which requires platforms for the sale and purchase of second-hand products to collect, verify, update and communicate to the Treasury the data of some sellers; which ones?
Exactly, the regulation obliges the platforms to pass information to the Treasury of those users who have obtained 2,000 euros of profit in a year or have made more than 30 transactions.
As explained by José María Mollinedosecretary general of the Union of Technicians of the Ministry of Finance (Gestha)The spirit of the law is to detect those people who have made a profession out of selling used products online. Moreover, according to this expert, the Treasury has detected the existence of individuals who are already real submerged companies in the shelter of ecommerce, taking advantage of liquidations in department stores to acquire products at low prices and sell them without paying taxes properly.
However, those who have sold a pair of T-shirts on Vinted or a bike on Milanuncios can rest assured; of course, depending on the value of the bike. If the amounts foreseen in the Directive are exceeded, the platforms will inform the Tax Agency. The problem, explains Mollinedo, is that up to now users were badly accustomed toand it is possible that many of them will be caught by surprise by the letters from the Treasury.
How much will the penalties be?
In the event of a penalty, explains this expert, in most cases it will be 50% of what should have been taxed. He gives us an example: if a person sells for 4,000 euros a bicycle that had cost him 3,000, those thousand euros will be capital gain, to which he will have to pay 50% of what he should have paid. In Spain, a 19% tax is applied to savings income.. In other words, if we make the transaction in Milanuncios and we do not say anything to the Tax Authorities, we could expose ourselves to a claim of 50% of the outstanding savings income or a lower amount if we pay on time.
The Directive came into force in January with effect on operations carried out in 2023 and the 2023/2024 income tax campaign ended on July 1, so the warning letters and penalties for non-compliance could start to arrive at the end of August, although it is expected that the bulk will be processed in September, which is when the ‘truce’ given by the Treasury for the summer period comes to an end. On the other hand, to know what benefit this regulatory change will have on the State’s coffers, we will have to wait a few months, explains Mollinedo.
The ‘second hand tax’ arose as a response to the unusual boom in Internet sales between private individuals in recent years.. According to data from Mangopay, a payment infrastructure provider that services the world’s leading platforms (Wallapop, Vinted and Milanuncios among them), in Spain the sector has grown by 90% in the last three years.. What’s more, a recent report by U.S. marketplace ThredUp, a global ecommerce giant, estimates that the volume of used clothing sales and purchases will double by 2027, growing three times faster than the overall market, to represent 10% of the global textile market. Logically, European tax authorities had to get their hands on this business.
