Spain Limits Cash Transactions Of €1,000 For Businesses To Clamp Down On Fraud While Transitioning To The Digital Age

The Spanish Tax Office also incentivizes snitching on residents and businesses if this rule is broken.

Spain has quietly enacted a new policy that says businesses cannot accept cash transactions of €1,000 or more to supposedly decrease instances of fraud whilst forcing a transition into the digital age.

Spain has for roughly a decade already had in place some large cash transaction restrictions, but in 2021 the proposal was first introduced with the goal being the “permanent disappearance” of cash transactions, In Spain News reported at the time.

The publication added:

Since the entry into force of the anti-fraud law 11/2021, already published in the Government Gazette, the general limit for cash payments has been reduced from the previously established €2,500 to €1,000.

In the official state publication it is described as follows. “Transactions in which one of the intervening parties acts as an entrepreneur or professional, with an amount equal to or greater than € 1,000 or its equivalent in foreign currency, cannot be paid in cash”. When the payer is a natural person who justifies that he is not resident for tax purposes in Spain and that he is not acting as an entrepreneur or professional, “the above amount will be €10,000 or its equivalent in foreign currency.”

This means, in general, any payment over €1,000 in a shop, shopping centre or business must be made with a debit card. The abolition of large cash payments would result in transactions being better reflected in the accounts. This makes detecting fraud easier. On the other hand, payments between private individuals residing in Spain remains at a maximum of €2,500.

Since then that proposal has become law.

Euro Weekly News reported last month:

Under Law 7/2012, businesses and professionals cannot accept cash payments of €1,000 or more in a single transaction. Trying to be clever by splitting it into smaller amounts? Doesn’t matter – Hacienda - [ the Spanish Tax Office] - adds them up.

For tourists and expats without a Spanish tax residency, the limit is slightly more generous at €10,000 – but break it and the penalties still apply. And if you’re thinking of sneaking by with a cheque or other direct payment method, think again. The restrictions don’t just cover notes and coins – they also apply to bearer cheques and other non-traceable payment methods.

In a move that’s sure to cause some heated arguments, the first person to report an illegal cash transaction gets a free pass! If you’ve been part of a dodgy deal and decide to spill the beans to Hacienda within three months, you’ll escape punishment – leaving the other party to take the hit.

But if both parties report each other at the same time? No one gets off the hook!

Ignoring the rules could hit you hard in the wallet. Breaching these cash limits is classed as a serious administrative offence and can result in fines of 25% of the total amount paid in cash. And there’s no escape – both the payer and the recipient are equally responsible. If one can’t pay, Hacienda will go after the other!

And don’t think you can just sit it out. The tax office has five years to catch you, and once fined, you’ve got another five years before the penalty itself expires.

Other EU members have been doing something similar for years, including France, Italy, Belgium, Romania, Greece, and Germany requires registration if residents want to transact more than €10,000.

In 2021, Cash Matters reported that roughly 39% of Spaniards prefer to use cash when making purchases.

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AUTHOR COMMENTARY

Don’t believe the lies that the European Central Bank (ECB) that people will be able to transact with physical cash and their digital euro (CBDC) simultaneously: obviously the move is to slowly get the masses from using cash and eventually embracing the digital IDs, CBDCs and tokenization of assets.

Obviously this is bringing the world one step closer to the inevitable mark of the beast system.

Revelation 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: [17] And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. [18] Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

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[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).

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