Doctors will be able to continue attending congresses organized by pharmaceutical companies without having to pay taxes for it. The Minister of Finance, Cristóbal Montoro, met this morning with the president of the Spanish Medical Collegiate Organization (OMC), Serafín Romero, and announced that his department will amend the personal income tax regulations to clarify that staff training courses financed by companies, are not subject to income taxation.
Attendance at congresses by doctors had not been taxed until now. However, the Tax Agency understands that the expenses associated with attending congresses do have to pay personal income tax as they are understood as income in kind, for which reason it had begun to file minutes.
Resolutions of the General Directorate of Taxes and more recently of the Central Economic-Administrative Court (TEAC) support the point of view of the Treasury, since the congresses are organized by pharmaceutical companies outside the worker and not by the employer of the doctors -in his case, hospitals. If so, the expenses would be considered exempt. A recent report by the Tax Agency’s Subdirectorate General for Information and Tax Assistance also supports this interpretation, which had led to criticism from the pharmaceutical industry and collegiate organizations.
The meeting with Serafín Romero this morning was also attended by the Secretary of State for the Treasury, José Enrique Fernández de Moya, who stated that the personal income tax regulations will be changed to avoid “having to incur a legislative amendment”.
In this sense, the Treasury has clarified that the participation of health workers in training courses financed by third parties that market goods or services for which it is necessary to have adequate training by the worker is not considered work performance in kind. .
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