Is it possible to deduct the contributions made to a foreign pensions plan in the Spanish Income tax?
Friday, November 2, 2012 @ 3:21 PM
The answer from the Spanish Tax office is yes.
The query submitted to the Spanish Tax Office foresaw the case of a British citizen that was tax resident in Spain and that had left back in the UK a pension plan already opened before moving to Spain.
The Spanish Tax Office states that if the coverings of the British pension plan are equivalent to the ones of the Spanish ones, of course this citizen can deduct these contributions in his Spanish income tax.
The only disadvantage is that the Spanish tax office is not aware of this contributions because the British banks or insurance companies don´t have to inform to the Spanish Tax office about them, (the Spanish ones do), so probably every year the Spanish Tax office will want to check about this deduction.
In any case is a matter of justice, because throughout a lifetime it will be very likely people will have to move because of labor reasons, so it would be very unfair to lose the right to deduct for these contributions and it would be quite uncomfortable to move the plans from one bank in a country to another just because of these movements.
Antonio Robles Jara