The lien is a figure, percentage or coefficient that indicates the amount of a tax that a taxpayer must pay to the State.
The lien serves to quantify the amount that must be paid from a tax. That is, it measures the part that goes to the public authorities.
How the lien is calculated
The lien is applied directly on the taxable base to calculate the full installment. Or in the event that there is any reduction, on the net basis.
When the tax is a percentage, it is multiplied directly by the type or rate of tax. Therefore, the assessment is calculated as follows:
Full fee = Taxable base x Tax rate
In order to understand the lien, it is necessary to understand what the tax base, the taxable base and the full quota consist of.
- The tax base: It is the monetary or non-monetary amount that shows the taxpayer’s economic capacity.
- The taxable base: It is the result of practicing, in the taxable base, the reductions established by Law for certain taxes or taxes. We could say that it is the net basis.
- The full quota: It is the result of applying the type or tax rate corresponding to the net tax base.
Lien Example
A practical example to understand what the lien is is the VAT tax . A subject buys a product that has a 2% tax rate and the price of the product is € 100. The tax you must pay for the purchase of that product is 2 euros, which is the full fee.
| Taxable base | Liquidable Base | Type of lien | Full fee |
| € 100 | We assume there are no reductions. € 100 | two% | € 2 |
100 x 2% = € 2 full fee
Types of lien
The levies will depend on the tax base to which they will be taxed to determine the fee to be collected by the public entity.
- Specific assessment or fixed amount. This type of lien is used for non-monetary tax bases. It will be taxed in amounts of money per unit of tax base. An example of this type of tax is the tax on hydrocarbons and is taxed euros per liter.
- Percentage or aliquot tax: The tax base on which this tax will be applied is of a monetary nature. Several types can be distinguished:
- Fixed rate: It is a proportional tax. The percentage that is applied to the base does not depend on the amount of the base, but is previously set by the State. An example is the VAT tax.
- Variable rate: It is a progressive tax. The percentage to be applied will depend on the amount of the tax base. It can be divided at the same time into two classes:
- Aliquots by tranches or by steps: In this case, the tax base will be divided into tranches and each corresponding percentage will be applied. Once applied to each tranche its percentage, the resulting quotas will be added and the result of that sum will be the tax amount to be collected by the State. An example of this type of lien is income tax or personal income tax.
- Aliquots by classes or continuous: Depending on the amount of the tax base will be taxed with a single lien and the result of applying that tax to the tax base will be the tax amount to be collected by the State.
Practical example of assessment
Let’s see examples according to the type of assessment:
Example of assessment by installments
To exemplify the tax by sections or by steps, we will use a subject with a taxable base (on which we will apply the tax) of € 43,000. The scale is as follows:
| Liquidable Base | Type of lien |
| € 0 – € 10,000 | 5% |
| € 10,001 – € 25,000 | fifteen% |
| € 25,001 – € 45,000 | twenty% |
- For the first € 10,000 he pays € 500, that is, 5% of € 10,000.
- For the second € 15,000 pays € 2,250. It is the result of 15% of 15,000 euros, which corresponds to the second tranche (25,000 – 10,000).
- And for the remaining € 18,000 he pays € 3,600. It is the result of 20% of 18,000 euros, which corresponds to the third tranche (43,000 – 25,000).
- Total: € 500 + € 2,250 + € 3,600 = € 6,350
The 6,350 euros will be the full fee to be paid to the State. In this type of tax it depends on the amount of the liquidable base and in addition to each section a different type is applied.
Example of continuous assessment
To exemplify the type of continuous tax with the same subject as in the previous assumption (Liquidable base of € 43,000) and with the same tax rate table, but in this case taking into account that it is a type of continuous tax by classes.
The subject of the example would be in the third class and 20% will be applied to the entire taxable base:
20% of € 43,000 = € 8,600
Therefore, its full fee to be paid to the State will be € 8,600.
