The obligation to withhold and the role of “mediators” in payments made to non-residents

The Directorate-General for Taxation (“DGT”), in its formal binding answer to a taxpayer’s query V0367-18, of 12 February 2018, analyses the case of a Spanish undertaking engaged in managing the rental of third-party owned tourist dwellings located in Spain – management conducted through the use of internet platforms – in order to determine whether such an undertaking has the obligation to withhold tax on the rental income received and subsequently paid to the owners of the dwellings, some such individuals not resident in Spain, after deducting the fees that the undertaking charges for its management…