Six Catalan entities, including Pimec and the College of Economists, have presented eleven proposals to modify the inheritance and donation tax. They aim to facilitate succession in family businesses.
Leonardo Cárdenas Armesto, founding partner of AGM Abogados and head of the Family Business section of the Spanish Association of Tax Advisors (AEDAF) in Catalonia, participated on 10 November 2026 in the presentation of a proposal to reform the Catalan regulations on the Inheritance and Donation Tax. The event took place at the College of Journalists of Catalonia. The information comes via Diario Jurídico, which reports the announcement.
The initiative comes from the Catalan delegation of AEDAF, the Professional Association of Tax Technicians of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands (APttCB), the College of Economists of Catalonia, the Barcelona Bar Association, the College of Administrative Managers of Catalonia, and Pimec. Among the three blocks of measures are 11 proposals aimed at facilitating succession in businesses, providing more legal security, and protecting the competitiveness of Catalan SMEs.
Facilitating generational change
One of the most significant measures removes the requirement to be at least 65 years old to make donations with tax reductions. Additionally, the donor could continue to hold executive functions for a maximum of four years. The proposals also expand the beneficiaries of the reductions up to the fourth degree of kinship and relax the transfer to employees linked to the business.
Another point suggests equating the tax treatment of the transfer of self-employed businesses with that already received by commercial companies. The entities also request that the 95% reduction applicable to family businesses be compatible with the general exemption in inheritances from parents to children.
“The generational change of a family business does not happen overnight. It is a process that requires planning and, in many cases, a gradual transition between generations.”
Cárdenas argues that taxation should accompany this process without becoming an obstacle for viable businesses, job maintenance, and their roots in the territory.
A widespread problem in Catalan businesses
According to a survey by the Observatory of the Pime of Catalonia conducted with 250 family businesses, 73% believe that the lack of succession could jeopardise the continuity of the business. 82% state that taxation influences the decision to transfer the business to the family.
The same study indicates that 47% expect to face succession in the next five years, but 55% do not yet have a succession plan. Due to the lack of successors, 66% consider selling the most viable alternative, while 15% point to liquidation and closure. Furthermore, 72% believe that donation would be more viable if the owner could continue to perform executive functions during the transfer.
Planning as a foundation
From AGM Abogados, they maintain that succession should be approached in a comprehensive and preventive manner, with fiscal, asset, commercial, and succession planning. The six promoting entities believe that the modifications would reduce litigation and avoid differences in treatment in similar situations.
The proposals are included in a public document that the entities have published on the Pimec website, where the complete eleven measures can be consulted.
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