The supermarkets have asked the Government for more time to demonstrate that they are not taking advantage of the VAT reduction on food to inflate their profit margins, something expressly prohibited in the anti-crisis decree that regulates this temporary measure that was implemented to contain the escalation of inflation. As EL MUNDO has learned, several chains have requested to extend the time frame that the Ministry of Consumer Affairs had initially given them to send the accounts that prove that, indeed, they are correctly transferring the tax discount to customers.
Last February, the department headed by Pablo Bustinduy made a splash by announcing an initiative that his predecessor in office, Alberto Garzn, had not been carried out to date. The Consumer authorities opened an investigation into the main retail distributors that operate in the country, sending “information requests to the supermarket chains to check whether they are correctly transferring the VAT reduction to consumers,” according to the Ministry, which avoided specifying. from which specific companies this information had been requested.
Well, two months after that announcement, Consumption has not yet concluded the investigation because “some chains have requested an extension of the deadline and it has been granted”, as explained by sources from the Ministry who clarify that the deadlines can be suspended for different reasons. , “depending on the circumstances alleged by the economic operators from whom information requirements are requested.” In any case, Bustinduy’s department states that “everyone has already delivered the required information and it is being studied right now.”
In parallel, the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) keeps supermarkets under surveillance. In July 2023, it published a first report in which it certified that the distribution chains were correctly transferring the reduced VAT to the final prices, based on the information collected between January and May of that year, that is, during the first five months of the measure in force. And, according to sources from the Ministry of Economy to EL MUNDO, the supervisor is working on a new updated evaluation report on the measure.
Pending this report, for now, the only statistical reference available to monitor the evolution of the profits of companies in the sector is the corporate margins observatory that elaborates the Bank of Spain. In its latest update, yesterday, it confirmed that, in the second half of 2023, the margins on sales of the agri-food chain increased slightly, but with a heterogeneous evolution in its different subsectors: while the margins in agriculture increased, in the industry They remained “at levels much lower than those before the energy crisis”, although they seem to “have begun a path of recovery towards pre-pandemic levels.” On the other hand, margins in food trade have chained declines since 2021, without reversing the contractions experienced during the year. shock energtico.
While the Ministries of Economy and Consumer Affairs keep supermarkets under surveillance to ensure that they are transferring the entire tax discount to the final prices that consumers pay and are not taking advantage of the situation to increase their profit margins, the food industry prepares the ground to ask the Government to maintain the VAT reduction on basic products, at least, until the end of the year. The measure expires next June 30 and, when the time comes, the businessmen will convey to the Executive the need to extend it to help contain the prices of the shopping basket in the second half.
Sources from the Spanish Federation of Food and Beverage Industries (FIAB) confirm that they will ask the Government to extend the reduction in the Value Added Tax on food “at least until the end of the year” and will insist on demanding that the list be expanded. of affected products to incorporate, for example, meat or fish, considered essential. In parallel, they hope that the situation of political uncertainty will not further delay the processing of the bill that includes the VAT reduction on olive oil to 0% agreed with Junts in exchange for its support for the anti-crisis decree last January. If approved in May, it will only remain in force for a month if the Government does not decide to extend the tax cuts starting in July.