David Rowe Spain

 In these cash strapped times most of us are seeking bargains and I must say that Super Sols new bargains are offering great value for money and if you register on their website they send you discount vouchers!. An example of good value was the recent deal on chicken breast at 2.99€ per kilo. Other supermakets selling price upwards of 4.50€ per kilo.......I have so far collected 7€ in vouchers.

Thanks SuperSol.

I have just found this, i think it makes an interesting read....

Newly released figures estimate that, of the 65,000 holiday homes rented every year in the Málaga province alone, 75% are not declared, meaning a total loss to the taxman of a breathtaking €104.8 million.

In order to recoup this money, the Agencia Tributaria has enlisted the help of the electricity companies; armed with proof of electricity consumption during periods when the offending apartments, townhouses and villas are allegedly empty, the tax authorities will be able to pursue the offending landlords.

Since so many of these holiday lets are owned by foreigners, it has been claimed that much of the problem can be attributed to ignorance. One of the Costa del Sol's English language newspapers, the Euro Weekly News, quotes an unnamed real estate agent: “Although there is no excuse for people not declaring holiday home income, it can be very difficult for foreigners to find out when, where and how one is supposed to go about things. There is so much red tape involved it is often hard to know where to go for proper advice.”

The good news is that it is not at all complicated to place your rental agreements on a completely legal footing:

• Firstly, for full security, your rental contract should be registered with the housing department. This means that you will have full legal protection in the event of any court case about your rental that could arise. Only registered contracts, where the landlord is completely legal in his operations and declares the rental income for tax purposes, have the full protection of the law, although in reality it is often the case that many landlords don’t do this and the rental contract is valid in Court.

• Secondly, if you hire a real estate agency or management company to handle your letting, they must add 18% of VAT to the rent, which must be paid to the tax agency. These companies will normally charge around a 15% commission for their services.

• You must declare your rental income and set aside 24% of the rent as a withholding tax payable to the Spanish government every month or if you apply, every quarter.

• You should know also that you must declare this income to the UK or German tax authorities – wherever you are resident. The double taxation agreement between the two countries means that you can claim back from Spain what you have paid in the UK, so you are not taxed twice but you must declare in both countries.

• If you are a tax resident in Spain, you should add your rental income to your other income when you make your annual Spanish income tax declaration. If you register your property as a tourist letting operation, you can put down the maintenance expenses of your property as a business expense and deduct this from your tax.

Adhere to these five, very simple rules and you can enjoy the additional income that accrues from the rental of your Spanish property, secure in the knowledge that your will not receive any unwelcome communications from the tax office!

The Bank of Spain will demand banks, financial entities, fund managers and brokers disclose monthly every single operation in their stock and fixed-income portfolios, starting January, reports Cinco Dias in its Wednesday Internet edition, citing financial sources.

Spain's central bank will then turn this information to the European Central Bank, which will become essential to set the bases for the creation of a European banking union, the paper adds.

Up until now, the Bank of Spain would collect only operations carried out with nonresidents in Spain. Under the new regulation, all transactions, included those between Spain residents will have to be reported to the central bank, according to the newspaper.

 I would like to recommend a great book i have just read called Guernica, by Dave Boling, I was aware of some Bomings in Spain by the Luftwaffe during the Civil War but I have not heard of the story of Guernica. I was aware of the painting by Picasso If you are looking for a good read and a moving story this summer I recommend this book.  

David Cameron has offered Spain information on banking clients in offshore islands
David Cameron has offered Spain information on banking clients in the Virgin Islands, Bermudas and Caiman, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Isle of Man, Anguilla, and Monserrat.
The Spanish media are describing this as ‘a small grand step’ towards the ending of the opacity in financial havens.
Last Wednesday the Chancellor, George Osborne, said the off-shore territories were working closely together in the fight against tax evasion, and that this agreement would allow Britain to share the information with Germany, France, Italy and Spain, the four countries which have been fighting fiscal fraud for a year.
Spain has noted that Jersey and Guernsey are not on the list, having refused to take part in the exercise.
There is one difference in reports from the UK and Spain about what the Chancellor said. The UK reports don’t mention Gibraltar, but the Spanish reports do.