When Must Be Considered That The Economic Activity Of Developing Renewable Energy Projects Has Started?

The approval of Spanish Law on Corporate Income Tax (Law 27/2014, "LIS"), put an end to the debate about whether the application of the exemption set out in article 21 for the capital gain (plusvalía) deriving from the transfer of shares of a renewable energy company required that construction of the project had started or not, so that the company was not considered as an asset entity (entidad patrimonial) for tax purposes. Such debate had been long and complex in view of the former regulation's drafting, especially with regard to non-resident entities.

With the new regulation, it seemed clear that if certain assets were dedicated to a specific economic activity, the exemption was applicable to the sale of the company, even if the activity had not started yet. In the renewable energy sector, this circumstance made irrelevant the fact of whether the project had reached ready-to-build ("RTB") status or was already operating, since the exemption under art. 21 LIS