The government prepares a tax for messaging applications, how does it affect us?

Messaging applications such as WhatsApp, Telegram or the increasingly popular video calling applications are part of our daily life, both in Spain and in the rest of the world. Most of these services are free, however it appears that they will have to start paying for a tax from the Spanish government.

His name isannual telecommunications rate and it is included in the preliminary draft of the Telecommunications Law. It is not a new tax, but the changes that will be made could affect us as of next year.

The new government tax on telecommunications affects apps

It is not that the Spanish government has decided overnight to approve a law that goes directly to the large technology companies, although at first glance it seems that they could be the first involved in the new draft laws. The annual rate of telecommunications It was a tax that directly affected operators, but from now on it will begin to affect any communication service provider, even if it is an application.

This tax will affect all companies that are generating more than one million euros in revenueSo if you are an amateur developer or a small business it shouldn’t affect you. In case of billing more than that amount, the tax would be 0.1% of your annual income.

Although WhatsApp does not generate income, Facebook would have to pay for its applications that do.

Does this affect our regular use of applications that are already free? Well, it will depend on the type of service offered and the income that the application is generating.As it is an income taxApplications without direct income from communication such as Signal, WhatsApp or Telegram could be saved from paying, while Instagram, Facebook or subscription business communication services such as Google Meet for companies could be affected.

Regarding the implementation date, it is expected that the preliminary project will not begin to be implemented until mid-2021, almost a year from now. The consequences that this approval may have will surely only be seen from that moment on, because from now until its approval changes can be made.

For example, an important question is what would happen if a company has several applications and messaging services and if it must pay only as an entity or must pay for each communication service that exceeds one million per year in revenue.

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