The importance of specialized knowledge in taxes on hydrocarbons for companies in the sector

One of the few specializations that practically does not exist in our law in Spain is precisely the specialization in hydrocarbons.

We can widely find all kinds of specializations in the legal world: civil, criminal, administrative, labor, lawyers specialized in medicine, computer law, etc.

But there are few law firms specialized in Hydrocarbons law.

The sector contributes 17,233 million euros to the public wealth, which represented 1.53% of the national GDP and generates work for 294,929 people (we are only talking about direct jobs, not indirect ones) and, despite these data, there are few lawyers specialized in hydrocarbons.

However, thousands of people have their business, professional or work lives directly linked to the hydrocarbons sector, either because they own a service station, or because they work in a gas center or deal with the IT part of a tax warehouse.

The national economy depends to a large extent on a sector that is powerful and that has a decisive influence on parameters such as GDP, the CPI and that is interrelated with other powerful sectors such as the automobile sector.

And, despite this, they do not have specialized professionals in the field to inform and advise them.

Our firm is one of the few firms specialized in the hydrocarbons sector and Excise Taxes on Hydrocarbons in Spain.

For these people, whether businessmen, workers or professionals linked to the hydrocarbons sector, an advisory service on the matter is their best ally.

Whenever you want to be promptly informed, when a situation becomes complicated, when the regulations change or are more complex than it should be, when you don’t know how to act in the face of a problem (and you don’t want it to happen again), you must have a legal advisory specialized in Hydrocarbons.

The Hydrocarbons sector is highly changeable (especially in recent times) and it is a sector that is highly supervised due to the inherent risks it entails (the problem of subsidized diesel, the suspension regime -both VAT and II.EE- in deposits fiscal agreements, price agreements, product contamination problems, the problem of the flag contracts of the large oil companies, the security that the facilities must meet, etc.) make it a sector that is highly supervised by different Public Administrations .

Undoubtedly, one of those Public Administrations that monitors the hydrocarbons sector the most is the State Tax Administration Agency (AEAT). It is at this point that you have to be extremely careful and know exactly what can and cannot be done.

Any error in this field has very high consequences and can damage the reputation of a company for the rest of its days.

For this reason, it is essential in the Hydrocarbons sector to have advice that helps and guides its clients with the obligations they have to comply with in terms of Excise Taxes on hydrocarbons and to comply in a timely manner with the responsibilities they have. with the Tax Administration.

No less important are other issues, such as having a product contamination problem sold by an Oil Operator, or that it is the service station that inadvertently contaminates the product and sells it, causing damage to vehicles, or dealing with production sheets. customer complaints, or problems derived from the flag contract signed with an oil company, doubts about whether the product should be marketed with organic or if it can be sold without organic, whose obligation is organic, competition problems with other brands, problems of stoppage of product supply by the oil company with which we have signed an exclusive supply contract (that is, we can only purchase product from that oil company that now refuses to sell to us), which must (and, above all, everything, how) to make the facility a tax deposit of hydrocarbons and thus access the suspensive regime, how to become an oil operator, etc…

There are many difficult situations, as anyone who owns a service station (registered or free), a gas center, an agricultural cooperative, a fuel trading company, a tax warehouse or an oil operator, knows well. that we can meet

Finally, we are in a sector where price is extremely important. You have to buy as cheap as possible. This is of the utmost importance. Hence the importance of the synergies that the company’s legal advisor can create. Put sellers who sell at a good price in contact with buyers who want to buy at a good price.

This possibility is only available to those advisers who, like us, who have been in the sector for more than 25 years, have extensive experience in the field. We know when and who we can contact to do business. So simple and so easy.

22/02/2023