Large-store tax, equivalence surcharge and packaging: retail's own tax rules (and Catalonia's regional ones)
Nextica Law & Tax handles the tax rules that only appear in retail: the Catalan tax on large retail establishments under Law 5/2017, with its self-assessment through form 910 and its chargeable floor area; the equivalence surcharge for individual retailers under arts. 148 ff. of the VAT Act and its effect across a whole franchise network; and packaging obligations —extended producer responsibility under RD 1055/2022 and the excise duty on non-reusable plastic packaging under Law 7/2022— which reach the distributor even though it manufactures nothing.
The distributor finds out it is also a 'packer' with the first letter from the extended producer responsibility scheme.
What's included
1. Determining whether any establishment exceeds the floor area threshold set by the Catalan tax on large retail establishments, and which square metres count.
2. Self-assessing the tax on the corresponding form and filing the technical support behind the declared floor area.
3. Analysing the VAT regime of each entity in the network
individual retailer on the equivalence surcharge, company on the general regime, and franchisee according to legal form.
4. Reviewing invoicing between head office and the network, so each party's regime is applied correctly in both directions.
5. Registering and reporting packaging obligations
joining the relevant scheme and reporting what is placed on the market.
6. Settling the tax on non-reusable plastic packaging when manufacturing, acquiring within the Union or importing, with its specific bookkeeping.
7. A single tax calendar for the network, so no regional obligation falls outside the one the national adviser keeps.
THREE OBLIGATIONS AN OUTSIDE ADVISER DOES NOT BRING
Retail with a network in Catalonia has its own tax rules that appear on no standard calendar:
Tax on large retail establishments
it is levied on sales floor area above the threshold the law itself sets, self-assessed before the Catalan Tax Agency, and what is argued about most is not the rate but which square metres count as sales area.
Law 5/2017The equivalence surcharge applied wrongly across the network
it is compulsory for individual retailers meeting the requirements, and getting it wrong contaminates the invoicing of everyone in the network, not just the franchisee's.
arts. 148 ff. VAT ActDiscovering extended producer responsibility with the first letter
a distributor placing packaging on the market has registration, membership and reporting obligations, and the accumulated liability exists even though nobody has assessed it.
RD 1055/2022 and Law 7/2022Frequently asked questions
Who pays the tax on large retail establishments?
It is a Catalan regional tax, governed by Law 5/2017, levied on the distinctive economic capacity of large retail establishments above the sales floor area the law itself sets as a threshold, and self-assessed through form 910 before the Catalan Tax Agency. Two warnings: it is a tax that advisers outside Catalonia simply do not know exists, and the most-argued point is not the rate but which square metres count as sales area and which do not.
My franchisee is self-employed. Is he on the equivalence surcharge?
Probably yes, and it is not optional. The equivalence surcharge under arts. 148 ff. of the VAT Act applies compulsorily to a retailer who is an individual or an income-attribution entity and meets the regime's requirements: in practice, someone selling to end consumers without transforming the goods. For the franchisor this matters more than it looks, because the regime changes how they are invoiced, what VAT they bear and what they can or cannot deduct. Applying the wrong regime across the network contaminates the invoicing of everyone in it.
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