Business Expense Compliance in Spain

Stay up to date with rules and regulations on digital expense management in Spain.

Last updated in March 2024.

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Rules and Regulations in Spain

Discover guidelines on VAT rates, proof of payment and mileage allowance in Spain.

Proof of Payment

VAT Rates

Mileage Allowance

Paperless Proof of Payment

According to the Spanish government, companies can store their accounting documents digitally. Entrepreneurs and professionals must keep the transactional records for 6 years.

The various documents, in paper or electronic format, shall be stored by any means enabling to guarantee the authenticity of their origin, the integrity of their content and their legibility, as well as immediate access to them by the Tax Agency.

An expense management solution must receive certification from the Spanish Tax Administration Agency (AEAT) to allow digital receipts without keeping the original paper receipts.

Digital Proof of Payment with Klippa SpendControl

Klippa SpendControl allows employees to take pictures of the receipts and invoices or upload e-documents via email, web or mobile app.

Our user-friendly software extracts relevant document fields with 99% accuracy using Optical Character Recognition and automatically uploads data to your system.

Once submitted, authorized personnel can immediately review and approve transactions. The processed and approved data can then be booked to your accounting or ERP system using Klippa’s 20+ direct integration options.

Klippa SpendControl is officially AEAT compliant and stores all archived data for a minimum of 10 years. That way, your digital transactional documents are always accessible for audits and tax authorities.

VAT Rates

The Spanish government applies VAT rates based on the European Union’s VAT Directive. There are four VAT tariffs relevant to business expense management in 2024:

General VAT rate: 21% on standard goods and services

Intermediary VAT rate: 10% on most food products, hospitality services, pharmaceutical products, electricity, gas, etc.

Reduced VAT rate: 4% on books, newspapers and magazines, vehicles for people with reduced mobility, etc.

Zero VAT rate: 0% on donation and delivery of certain goods

Automated VAT Rate Extraction with Klippa SpendControl

Klippa SpendControl automatically recognizes and extracts Spanish VAT rates from all document types and uploads them to your system.

Additionally, our solution allows users to add relevant VAT rates based on company needs. Once extracted, users can book the data into their preferred accounting or ERP system.

Mileage Allowance

In Spain, companies can reimburse their employees for work-related travel costs without incurring tax on mileage expenses.

The mileage allowance is valid if the trip and associated expenses are necessary for work-related purposes. In 2024, the Tax Agency set the mileage allowance to a maximum €0.26 per kilometer tax-free.

Companies are free to reimburse a higher amount per kilometer. However, anything above the set rate will be regarded as a salary and taxed by the Tax Agency.

Automated Mileage Tracking with Klippa SpendControl

Klippa SpendControl allows users to easily track and reimburse mileage expenses with the Google Maps integration.

Employees simply pick the starting and ending points of the trip, while our solution calculates distance based on the fastest route and applies a set rate.

After an expense claim is submitted, SpendControl can apply custom compensation rules, such as allowances per kilometer, based on specific users, administration, or category, and then route the data for approval to the authorized personnel.

Klippa stores all data for a minimum of 10 years, ensuring that companies can access mileage records to easily and accurately reimburse employees when necessary.