Spain has a multi-level taxation system that includes state, regional and municipal taxes. Let us consider the main taxes in force in the country at the end of 2024 – beginning of 2025.
Let’s start with taxes for individuals:
Income tax (IRPF ) – a progressive scale of rates is applied, consisting of federal and regional parts. The federal (central) part of the rates includes:
Regional authorities set additional rates, which may vary depending on the autonomous community.
Thecapital gains tax is variable, and gains from the sale of real estate and other assets are taxed at the following rates:
Real estate tax (IBI): An annual tax whose rate varies from 0.4% to 1.1% of the cadastral value of the property, depending on the municipality.
Wealth tax: Applies to individuals with net assets above a certain threshold, with progressive rates ranging from 0.2% to 3.5%, depending on the region.
Taxes for legal entities:
Corporate income tax (Impuesto sobre Sociedades): The standard rate is 25%. For small businesses with a turnover of less than €1 million, there is a reduced rate of 23%. New companies can apply the 15% rate for the first two years of profitable activity.
Value added tax (IVA):
Other taxes and duties:
Inheritance and gift tax: Progressive rates from 7.65% to 34% apply, but rates and exemptions may vary significantly from community to community.
Property Transfer Tax (ITP): Charged on the purchase of second-hand real estate, the rate is usually around 6-10% of the value of the property, depending on the region.
Social contributions: Employers and employees are required to make social security contributions. The general rate for the employer is about 29.9% of the employee’s salary, and for the employee – about 6.35%.
The Spanish tax system is characterized by progressive and diverse taxes, which requires careful planning when doing business or living in the country. It is recommended to consult with professional tax advisors to ensure compliance with current legal requirements and optimize the tax burden.
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The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has signed an agreement with Ukraine’s OTP Bank (Kyiv), approved in early December, to cover up to 50% of the credit risk on the bank’s new EUR200 million loans, the EBRD said in a statement on Monday.
“This is the fifth and largest such loan agreement provided by the EBRD to OTP, building on the successful cooperation between the two institutions to date,” the release said.
It is specified that this will enable the bank to finance critical sectors such as agriculture, energy, manufacturing, and transportation.
The EBRD’s participation in the project, estimated at EUR 60 million, will be supported by first-loss risk coverage funded by donors, including the European Union (EU), under the UIF Ukraine Facility.
It is also noted that, taking into account this project, the total amount of financing under similar EBRD guarantees signed since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine is almost EUR 2 billion.
Up to 20% of the project’s risk-sharing loans will be used to support long-term investments by private micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in EU-compliant and green technologies that increase their competitiveness in domestic and foreign markets. Upon completion of the investment projects, these sub-borrowers will receive EU-funded investment grants under the EU4Business initiative, as well as technical assistance. The EBRD has already allocated EUR 66 million in grant support for Ukrainian MSMEs under the EBRD-EU4Business credit line, including EUR 5 million for projects through the TFP.
According to the bank’s website, the guarantees are planned to be provided in three tranches: two in the amount of EUR 22.5 million, each covering EUR 75 million, and one in the amount of EUR 15 million to cover EUR 50 million of the loan portfolio.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), as of November 1, 2024, OTP Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hungarian OTP Bank, ranked 11th (UAH 116.9 billion) in terms of total assets among 62 banks in the country. The financial institution’s net profit for 10 months of last year amounted to UAH 4.82 billion.
Since Russia’s invasion in 2022, the EBRD has lent more than EUR 5.4 billion to Ukraine, including more than EUR 1.6 billion last year.
Metinvest Group’s KAMETSTAL, a steelmaking plant at Dnipro Metallurgical Plant (DMK, Kamenskoye, Dnipro Oblast), has completed a 50-day overhaul of its main air separation unit (ASU).
According to the company, on New Year’s Eve, the plant’s power engineers resumed operation of the air handling unit, and the overhaul of the AKAR-40/35 was one of the largest overhauls performed at the plant under the 2024 program.
It was specified that after completion of the scheduled repair work, specialists began preparatory pre-start-up operations in mid-December. High-temperature regeneration of the adsorbent was performed after its complete replacement. As part of the overhaul, 68 tons of zeolite and 33.6 tons of aluminum oxide, highly dispersed materials for air purification from moisture and carbon dioxide, which negatively affect the performance and quality of air distribution, were loaded into the cleaned and repaired adsorbers.
On December 26, the first post-repair oxygen was supplied to the collector after completion of the preparatory stages required by the technology – heating of the unit and cooling of the vessels and apparatus of the plant. The passport characteristics of the AKar-40/35 were restored and it started operating, after which the power engineers gradually put the AKar-30 units into reserve, which replaced the main unit during its overhaul. Tests conducted on December 28 confirmed the unit’s nameplate capacity of 40 thousand cubic meters per hour of nitrogen and 35 thousand cubic meters per hour of oxygen.
“The unit is now operating in the set mode, steadily supplying air separation products to the steelmaking process. The unit’s load varies according to the needs of the production process. Thanks to the well-established cooperation between the OCC specialists and their colleagues from the blast furnace and converter shops, we determine the optimal production mode on a daily basis without unproductive losses of oxygen produced, which makes it possible to increase the efficiency of the repaired unit and the shop as a whole,” explained Vyacheslav Grevtsev, head of the oxygen compressor shop, as quoted in the statement.
“KAMETSTAL was established on the basis of Dnipro Coke Plant and Centralized Steel Works of Dnipro Metallurgical Plant.
According to the 2020 report of Metinvest Group’s parent company, Metinvest B.V. (Netherlands) owned 100% of the shares in DCCP.
Farmak Pharmaceutical Company (JSC Farmak, Kyiv) has started exporting to Pakistan, the first product supplied is an injectable drug for general anesthesia, which is also registered in the UK.
According to the company’s press release, Pakistan became the second country in South Asia after Jordan to which Farmak supplies its products. Farmak’s presence in the region is ensured by the Farmak International Middle East & Africa team.
In general, Farmak exports its products to more than 60 countries, including 15 EU countries, as well as countries of Central and South America, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Australia.
As reported, in 2023, Farmak increased its net profit by 18% compared to 2022, to UAH 1.557 billion.
Farmak Group is the leader of the Ukrainian pharmaceutical market in monetary terms, has two production sites in Ukraine and a production site in Spain, as well as 11 international representative offices and marketing and distribution companies in countries such as Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Switzerland, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Moldova. The ultimate beneficial owner of Farmak is the Chairman of the Supervisory Board Filya Zhebrovska (80% of the company’s shares).
The Slovak state-owned operator SEPS will provide electricity supplies to Ukraine as part of emergency assistance under the current contract with Ukrenergo, Czech media outlet iRozhlas writes in response to Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico’s threats to cut off electricity supplies to Ukraine.
“Analyst Józef Badida told the Slovak newspaper Pravda that artificially limiting electricity supplies from Slovakia abroad would most likely violate European and Slovak legislation. Former Slovak Minister of Economy Karel Hirman previously stated that electricity is sold to Ukraine by traders, not the state. He argued that if electricity supplies to Ukraine were cut off, Slovakia would be drawn into a conflict within the EU,” the publication writes.
It is also noted that in the spring of 2024, SEPS extended the contract for another 12 months, under which it can supply up to 150 MW of electricity to Ukraine as part of emergency assistance. “In the first 11 months of last year, net electricity exports from Slovakia to Ukraine reached 2.43 terawatt-hours, which is three and a half times higher than in the same period in 2023,” the report says.
As reported earlier, in response to Ukraine’s decision to stop the transit of Russian gas, some of which goes to Slovakia, Slovak Prime Minister Fico threatened to cut off electricity supplies to Ukraine. In response, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested that “it seems that Putin has instructed Fico to open a second energy front against Ukraine at the expense of the interests of the people of Slovakia.” Poland expressed its readiness to increase electricity supplies to Ukraine following the Slovak prime minister’s comments.
In December 2024, Ukraine’s electricity imports increased by 2.7 times compared to November, to 433.4 thousand MWh, while exports fell by 6.1 times, to 6.8 thousand MWh. Thus, electricity imports in December-2024 exceeded exports by 63.7 times. Most electricity was imported from Hungary – 152.33 thousand MWh (35.16%). This was followed by Slovakia – 107.08 thousand MWh (24.71%), Poland – 91.98 thousand MWh (21.23%), Romania – 70.78 thousand MWh (16.34%), and Moldova – 11.12 thousand MWh (2.57%).
Vladimir Putin might have lost a slice of revenue after Kyiv closed its gas pipeline to Russian supplies, but Moscow already has alternatives for shipping the fuel that stand to shield it from any serious economic hit.
Russia plans to expand exports of liquefied natural gas while routing pipeline gas to other buyers like China.
“We will continue to increase our share on world LNG markets” even as sanctions aim to halt this growth, Putin said during his annual press conference on Dec 19. He also expressed confidence that Russian gas-giant Gazprom PJSC would survive the end of pipeline transport through Ukraine.
Despite calls to ban such supplies, Europe is buying a record amount of the super-chilled fuel from Russia, predominantly from the Novatek PJSC-led Yamal LNG plant.
The volumes have surpassed what Russia was selling through Ukraine before Jan. 1, when Kyiv, refusing to allow any more transit that funds Moscow’s war machine, closed off the five-decade old route through its territory.
The situation highlights how hard it is for Europe to cut ties with Russia, which over the last decade entrenched itself as a key commodities supplier to the continent. It also casts a spotlight on how the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine has forced Russia to keep readjusting its trading network. Still, Moscow has shown that even when one avenue to markets closes, there are often others still open for Russia.
Russia’s LNG exports overall reached a record last year, ship-tracking data show.
Before the invasion, Russia used to sell about 155 billion cubic meters of pipeline gas to Europe per year. In 2024, the country exported roughly 30 billion cubic meters of gas to the region, with over a half of volumes going via Ukraine.
Since most of Russia’s piped gas had already stopped flowing to Europe, the discontinuation of the Ukrainian line won’t affect the economy much, said Tatiana Orlova, an economist at Oxford Economics.
“Europe will still need gas as all its efforts to wean itself from Russian gas have not been successful,” Orlova said. “It will probably end up buying more Russian LNG to make up for the drop in natural gas imports from Russia,” she said.
Gazprom sold about $6 billion worth of gas through Ukraine in 2024, Bloomberg calculations show. Yet, most economists and researchers foresee a muted effect on the economy from being deprived of those sales. Russia will lose an equivalent of about 0.2% to 0.3% of gross domestic product, according to various analyst estimates.
“The figures are too small to make a dent in Putin’s war machine,” David Oxley, an economist at Capital Economics said in a note last week. For comparison, Ukraine stands to lose roughly 0.5% of GDP, he said, stemming from an end to the fees it collected for transit of the gas.
Slovakia, heavily reliant on Russian gas and also earning from transit fees, is set to lose 0.3% of GDP, according to his estimates.
On top of LNG sales, Russia also has other pipeline options for shipping gas that will help make up for the loss of the route through Ukraine.
Shipments to China, which is overtaking Europe as the largest market for Russia’s pipeline gas, were forecast to reach around a record 31 billion cubic meters in 2024. They are set to rise to 38 billion cubic meters this year as the Power of Siberia link has reached the full design capacity.
That would compensate for half of the volumes lost when transit via Ukraine ended, according to estimates by Sergey Vakulenko, a scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Gazprom may sell more through TurkStream, the direct gas pipeline between Russia and Turkey under the Black Sea that also helps supply some European clients. In 2025, Gazprom could sell 25 billion cubic meters to Turkey and 15 billion cubic meters to Europe through TurkStream, Vakulenko estimates.
Russia plans to re-direct some fuel to countries in Central Asia and will work to increase the capacity of a Soviet-era pipeline from Russia to Uzbekistan through Kazakhstan.
Politically, the gas issue gives the Kremlin an opportunity to demonstrate that Putin isn’t a pariah, said Sergei Markov, a political consultant close to the Kremlin.
“For Moscow, it is extremely important that the diplomatic blockade is being broken for the second time,” Markov said, referring to Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico’s surprise visit to Moscow on Dec. 23 to discuss gas among other things. He was the second European leader to visit Moscow since Russia invaded Ukraine after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s trip in July.
Putin last month said that Russia is ready to ship gas to Europe, but he cautioned that any new deal would likely be complicated to reach, even given the rising prices from tighter supply now facing Europe.
Still, the plans for both pipeline gas and LNG may face challenges of their own. While Russia aims to launch exports via a second link to China in two years, talks for a third pipeline have stalled over disagreements about the terms.
Russia seeks to triple LNG exports to 100 million tons in 2035, from last year’s 33 million tons, but western sanctions on all key future projects and the LNG tanker fleet complicate that.
“The natural gas and LNG landscape has changed dramatically for Russia in the last three years,” said Claudio Steuer, an energy consultant and faculty member of IHRDC, Boston. It requires “far greater investment and effort for a less profitable business” now that Russia needs to search for business further afield with buyers that are more price sensitive.
Sanctions have already stifled Russia’s aims for growth in LNG. Novatek’s newest project, Arctic LNG 2, last year managed to start limited exports, but sanctions imposed by the US and its allies limited the plant’s access to ice-class tankers needed to navigate frigid northern waters and made foreign buyers reluctant to buy the shipments.
In 2025, the focus will be on what Donald Trump decides to do about sanctions on Russia. Muddying the picture are the US’s own ambitions to supply more of its LNG to Europe.
A ban on transshipping Yamal LNG cargoes in European ports could also complicate logistics for Russian supplies to Asia when the Northern Sea Route is closed, but sanctions may actually lead to more of that supply being sent to Europe instead.
