IVAucher program impact

• What did it consist of?

Announced at the time of the presentation of the State Budget for 2021 and put in place with saltpay, IVAucher was a program launched by the Government to support the catering, housing and culture sectors that were affected by the pandemic, thereby boosting private consumption, maintenance and job creation and the national economy as a whole. The aim would be to allow consumers to accumulate the amount of VAT paid in these sectors and use it later as a form of benefit.

• How did it work?

The IVAucher had 3 phases:

1st – Accumulation

Between 1 June and 31 August, when consumers could accumulate the amount of VAT paid on purchases made in the above sectors by simply requesting  an invoice with their Tax Identification Number (NIF). In turn, the establishments were able to start joining IVAucher during this period by  communicating their NIF and the ID of their automatic payment terminals (TPA) on the IVAucher website.

2nd – Verification

In September, where the verification and clearance of the VAT balance accumulated by each taxpayer was made.

3rd – Use

Between October 1 and December 31, when consumers were able to use the accumulated benefit in any of the three sectors, up to a limit of 50% for each purchase. Consumers would have to pay by bank card (since the refund of the amount would be made in their bank account).

• Impact

According to the balance sheet made by the Ministry of Finance in December 2021, since 1 October, 37 million euros have been reimbursed to adherent consumers, totaling 14 million transactions.  This translates into the use of 76% of the available balance, which totalled 49 million euros, the result  of expenses incurred in the amount of 82 million euros, accumulated by  the approximately 1.5 million  consumers who applied for invoice with taxpayer number in the first phase.  The At (Tax and Customs Authority) obtained these amounts through invoices communicated by companies that have an activity code (CAE) meet the program criteria.

In September 2021, the Government extended the spectrum of the sectors concerned, including retail trade in discs, CDs, DVDs, cassettes and the like in specialised establishments and book editing. Para, moreover, it was foreseen to refund the amount of vat accumulated to the consumer’s bank account within (maximum) of two working days after the payment of new purchase.

It should also be noted that there have been consumers complaining about failures in the reimbursement of IVAucher, and the Complaint Portal reported several complaints from consumers to Saltpay and the Tax and Customs Authority.

• What happens to the value of VAT that up to 31/12 has not been used?

The Ministry of Finance warned that if on December 31, 2021 the taxpayer has not used the entire available VAT balance, the amount not spent will be automatically considered as a deduction for the collection of IRS. In fact, in order to simplify the combination of the IVAucher rules with the rules on IRS deductions, the Government has defined, in a  regulatory decree, that the amount of the unused accumulated benefit, regardless of the consumer sector, is considered for the purposes of the deduction from the tax code provided for in Article 78f of the IRS Code.  Therefore, 15% of the amount of VAT that passes through the IVAucher will be deducted from the IRS (up to a limit of 250€).

• What comes next?

Following the launch of IVAucher comes now the latest financial support programme from the Portuguese, The Autovaucher. This programme, focused on fuel filling stations, aims to mitigate the consequences not only of the pandemic, but also of price inflation.

• What’s the Autovaucher program?

Between November 2021 and March 2022, taxpayers will get a discount of 10 cents per liter of fuel up to a total of 50 liters per month. To benefit from this support just be registered on the IVAucher website and pay with the bank card associated with the registration. In this way, all purchases made at a participating filling station, regardless of whether they are fuel or not, are entitled to the discount of up to 5€/month.