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V3909-15 4 December 2015 · SG de Impuestos sobre las Personas Jurídicas Criterion in force
IS · reducción por cesión de intangibles

Intangible asset transfer tax reduction inapplicable to service provision contracts

A company sought clarification on whether income from transferring engineering project knowledge qualified for the tax reduction under Article 23 of the TRLIS under the pre-2013 regulations. The DGT ruled that, as it was a service provision contract where ownership of the results transfers to the client, no transfer of usage rights occurred.

The question raised

Whether the income/rents received by the applicant arising from the transfer of the right to use and exploit the knowledge obtained as results of its engineering projects to the assignee company would be subject to the reduction provided for in Article 23 of the TRLIS, in its wording given by the eighth additional provision of Law 16/2007, of July 4, taking into consideration that the conditions applicable to said transfer were established by the framework contract prior to the entry into force of Law 14/2013, of September 27.

The DGT's ruling

Income derived from a contract where the entity undertakes to perform engineering services, the results of which become the property of the client, does not qualify for the reduction provided in Article 23 of the TRLIS. A distinction is made between the transfer of know-how, where knowledge is communicated so that the assignee may use it on their own account, and technical assistance or the provision of services, where there is an obligation of result to execute a work or service. In this case, the framework contract does not have as its object the transfer of rights to use intangibles.

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