News March 2022
World Day of Engineering for Sustainable Development
On 4 March, the World Day of Engineering for Sustainable Development was celebrated, proclaimed by UNESCO to celebrate the contribution of engineers to a better and more sustainable world, a recognition of engineering projects as a way to achieve the goals of the Sustainable Development Plan.
As an engineering company specialising in the agri-food sector for more than 25 years, the projects in which we are involved are ultimately aimed at the sustainability, profitability and competitiveness of companies. As part of our services linked to Engineering, we highlight the Energy Study of industrial plants. This involves an analysis of the needs of the complex in order to then assess the best available techniques and produce a report with recommendations for the use of residual energy, the installation of renewable energy sources or potential measures to reduce the carbon footprint.
When our engineering team develops a project for a new industrial or logistics plant, or when it is an extension or improvement of an existing plant, it equips the facilities with the most innovative technologies, always meeting high standards of safety and sustainability.
Balance of requests for Motivated Reports in 2020
The expenditure that Spanish companies assume linked to their Research, Development and Innovation activity can lead to a reduction in the amount of Corporate Income Tax. To this end, companies have at their disposal the Motivated Report (IMV), a tool to maximise legal certainty in the application of deductions and allowances for their R&D&I projects.
Last February, the Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCIN) presented the report on applications for Binding Reasoned Reports for the year 2020, which corresponds to the fiscal year 2019. This report shows, among other data, an increase of almost 5% in the number of applications submitted compared to the previous year. It also reflects an increase in the average expenditure on R&D projects (€470K) and Technological Innovation (€1,014K). In addition, the report shows that the deduction for R&D&I activities is considered one of the main ways to encourage business innovation.
Our R&D&I Taxation team works to provide support to our clients, from the application to the issuance of the report, focusing not only on obtaining the maximum qualification and accepted expenditure, but also on the maximum reduction of uncertainty in order to try to guarantee, as far as possible, a good result in the issuance of the IMV.
Imminent publication of the aid to Operational Groups
Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA) announced that the publication of the fourth call for applications for aid for innovative projects to be carried out by supra-autonomous operational groups is imminent. This next call is part of the PERTE Agroalimentario with the aim of boosting the digitalisation of the agri-food sector.
Given the foreseeable short timeframe for the submission of applications, it is advisable to anticipate project ideas and start preparing them in advance in order to be on time with the submission of applications, taking into account some of the main novelties that will be applied:
1. The representative of the group of beneficiaries must be a non-profit and private entity.
2. Public entities will only be eligible as subcontracted members, not as beneficiaries of the aid.
3. Expenditure on staff hours for dissemination and preparation of the project shall be eligible.
4. The subcontracting limit is increased from 40% to 70%.
5. A minimum of 3 comparable bids must be submitted. In the event that there is no other more suitable supplier on the market, this must be duly justified.
6. The deadline for the presentation of modifications will be established in the call for proposals, not in the regulatory bases.
7. A single bank account will be required for financial operations linked to the implementation of the approved actions of each beneficiary.
