serveco

The taxation of donation and gifts in Spain is very high, and the higher the amount of the gift the higher the taxation.

The normal marriage economic regime in Spain is called gananciales and it means that assets and goods belong to the marriage not by halves to the husband and the wife as in the marriage economic regime called separation of goods, which is the normal one in Great Britain.

The problem was that Spanish law considered that if a couple married under the economic regime of gananciales made a gift to a son, (or whoever) the was only one donation, and then the Tax Office calculated the tax over the whole value of the gift, and not the half of it per each member of the marriage, as it would happen in case the very same couple was married under the economic regime of separation of goods.

As the taxation increases as the value of gift increseases, it is not the same taxation to receive a gift of 1.000.000 € than two gifts fo 500.000 € each.

Supreme Court of Spain has said that it is illegal, and so, it doesn´t matter what is the economic regime of the marriage that grant the gift, the person who receives it will pay tax over two halves, and then, that person will pay much less tax.

So good news.

Antonio Robles Jara

antoniojara@serveco.es

Lawyer of www.serveco.es www.tecnivalorestate.com