Hacienda informative returns: forms 347, 349, 720 and 721

An informative return does not assess or pay any tax: its only function is to report certain operations or assets to the AEAT so that Hacienda (the Spanish tax authority) can cross-check the information with third parties. Even if there is no money to pay, submitting them when required is mandatory, and failing to do so has consequences.

These 4 forms cover different situations. Form 347 and form 349 are returns for business owners and professionals regarding their activity (operations with third parties and operations within the European Union). Form 720 and form 721 are returns for wealth located outside Spain (assets and rights, and cryptocurrencies), and they affect both individuals and companies resident in Spain.

The key point of all of them is that the AEAT already knows a large part of this data through other channels (suppliers, banks, exchange platforms, foreign administrations). That is why an omission or an error is easily detected. Managora identifies which ones apply to you, prepares them with your data and submits them on time for you.

Form 347 is the annual return of operations with third parties. It must be submitted by the business owner or professional who, during the calendar year, has carried out operations with the same person or entity (client or supplier) that altogether exceed €3,005.06, VAT included. The calculation is per third party, not on the total activity, and it is broken down by quarters.

Social entities or establishments and communities of owners are also obliged for the acquisitions of goods and services they make outside of a business activity, when they exceed that amount (water, electricity, fuel supplies and insurance are excluded). There is also a specific threshold of €300.51 for collections on behalf of third parties.

Those who already report these same operations through other channels do not submit form 347, particularly subjects under the Immediate Supply of Information (SII) for VAT. The general deadline is the month of February of the year following the one the return refers to, and it is mandatorily submitted online. You can see the details of our service and its updated price on the form 347 page.

Form 349 is the recapitulative return of intra-community operations. It is submitted by the business owner or professional who carries out intra-community deliveries or acquisitions of goods, or provisions and acquisitions of services with companies from other European Union Member States. To operate in this way, you must be registered in the Registry of Intra-Community Operators (ROI) and have a VAT number validated in the VIES census.

Unlike form 347, there is no minimum amount here: any intra-community operation generates an obligation to declare in the period in which it is carried out. What changes with the volume is the frequency. The general rule is quarterly, but it becomes monthly when the amount of intra-community deliveries of goods and provisions of services exceeds €50,000 in the current quarter or in any of the 4 previous quarters.

The deadlines follow the frequency: the monthly return is submitted in the first 20 calendar days of the following month (with the special rules for July and December, which is submitted until 30 January), and the quarterly one in the first 20 days of April, July and October, and until 30 January for the 4th quarter. You can check the price of our service on the form 349 page.

Form 720 informs Hacienda about the assets and rights you have outside Spain. Individuals and legal entities resident in Spain are obliged, as well as dormant inheritances and communities of property, whether they are owners, representatives, authorised persons or beneficiaries with power of disposal over those assets.

The information is organised into 3 independent blocks: accounts in financial institutions abroad; securities, rights, insurance and income deposited or managed abroad; and real estate and rights over real estate located abroad. The obligation arises when the combined value of any of these blocks exceeds €50,000 as of 31 December. Each block is evaluated separately: you can be obliged for one and not for the others.

The submission deadline is from 1 January to 31 March of the following year. Once a block has been submitted, in subsequent years it only needs to be declared again if its combined value increases by more than €20,000 compared to the last return, or if ownership is lost or the account or asset is cancelled. You can see the price of our service on the form 720 page.

Form 721 is the informative return on virtual currencies (cryptocurrencies) located abroad. It is submitted by individuals and legal entities resident in Spain, and dormant inheritances and communities of property, who are owners (or authorised persons or beneficiaries with power of disposal) of cryptocurrencies custodied by persons or entities providing the service from outside Spain, such as international exchanges.

The obligation arises when the combined balance of those cryptocurrencies as of 31 December exceeds €50,000. At the exact value of €50,000 there is no obligation: the rule requires that this amount be exceeded. A clarification is important: the cryptocurrencies you keep in a non-custodial wallet (a cold wallet where only you control the private keys) are not declared in form 721, because there is no third party custodying them abroad.

The deadline is the same as for form 720: from 1 January to 31 March of the following year. And it works the same in successive years: if you already submitted it, you only have to do it again when the combined balance increases by more than €20,000 compared to the one that motivated the last return, or when you cease to be the owner. The form applies from the 2023 financial year (first submission in 2024). You can check the price of our service on the form 721 page.

Failing to submit an informative return you are obliged to, submitting it late or doing so with incomplete or inaccurate data can lead to a penalty. In the specific case of form 720, the specific and disproportionate penalty regime that once existed (high fixed fines and a proportional penalty of 150%, which was not calculated on the undeclared value, but on the tax liability resulting from imputing that value as an unjustified capital gain in the general tax base) was annulled by the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 27 January 2022, and Spain abolished it through Ley 5/2022 (the Spanish Law 5/2022). The obligation to declare remains fully in force: what changed was the penalty regime, which is now governed by the general rules of the Ley General Tributaria (General Tax Law).

That is why it is advisable to check every year if any of these forms apply to you, even if you have nothing to pay. The most common mistake is assuming that, since there is no tax due, nothing needs to be submitted, or taking for granted that a form submitted one year covers the following ones.

Managora takes care of the entire process: we check if you exceed the thresholds, gather the data of your accounts, operations or portfolios, prepare the correct form and submit it to the AEAT on your behalf within the deadline. You only provide the starting information and receive the proof of submission. You can start any of the 4 forms from their corresponding page.