An insight into the good things happening with Spanish Tax

By Barry Davys
This article is published on: 16th July 2014

We are pleased to report that there are a number of proposed schemes to reduce the amount of tax paid in Spain. The proposed reductions in tax apply to personal income, corporation and savings (capital gains) taxes. This will reduce the burden of taxes and some schemes, such as the “Beckham” scheme for retired people, if it passes from a proposal into law, will be particularly beneficial.

Yet it is curious that these proposed changes are getting so much press. In some cases, the proposal is simply to reduce tax back to where it was before the crisis. In addition, there are already other schemes which have already passed into law which are very useful for people living in Spain. For example, if you live in Spain but work outside Spain there is an exemption from income tax for the income from that work. The maximum allowance is 60,100€ per annum.  Mark Twain’s famous quote “reports of my death was an exaggeration” could also be applied to the “Beckham” scheme. There is still a version of this scheme which can be extremely beneficial for people who wish to sell property outside of Spain.

Then there is the taxation of pensions and investments. In the best case, and I emphasis this is the best case, the taxation on pension income and investment income can be as low as 3.25%. A recent report in the press was highlighting a proposed detrimental change in taxation to dividend income without also mentioning this other rate of investment tax.

During the next 6 months there will be up to 17 changes in tax in Spain. Most of the changes will be beneficial. We work with a number of tax lawyers and specialists and we give clients access to these experts for a reason. Spanish Tax need not be painful, but you do need someone on your side who knows their way around the system.

We recommend a strategy for making the most of the changes by taking the following action:

1. Have a review of your Spanish Tax situation to ensure you are compliant.
2. See if there are any back taxes you can claim for the last four years
3. Use the most appropriate of the new rules when they are passed into law (you can only do this if your affairs are in order).

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