The chit-chat area

I read that Javier Garcia Leon  (leader of the socialists in fuengirola) claims that The municipality is close to bankruptcy.

If he is right, let´s hope our road is done before that.

Has any of you paid more taxes last year than the previous years?  I think that I heard about some taxincreases on property - but I do not think we paid more last year. But maybe the bill is in the postbox.

 Hi when peter went passed the station  on Monday  the roof on the train station was nearly finished, and ken confirmed yesterday that it is completed not sure if they had to change the roof due to the weather a couple of weeks ago Irene. 

The tax we paid was comparable with the tax the year before...

Most of the time the tax will come in May, however I've read if you pay all tax at once you get a discount of 5%.

And not like other years paying before June.. correct me if I'm wrong about this..

We'll see what happens, we'll go to the Townhall in 2 weeks to try to pay it all for the 5% discount, because the interest at our bank is a laugh...

c.u.

Corrie

 Hi Corrie 

I know Irene, but I want to talk about the discount of 5%

The tax for our car is ready to be paid, but as far as I understood to get the discount you have to pay all soon in the year.

I'll keep you informed.

Kind regards, nice weekend,

Corrie

We pay all our taxes by Direct Debit - so always get the discount regardless of when it is due. The only thing we go to the TH for is to renew our registration on the Padron every couple of years to get the 25% discount.

I am sure Fuengirola TH is nearly bankrupt just like nearly every other TH. In theory at least this should not effect our road as the money was contributed by the developers and is supposed to be ring fenced so could not be used for anything else. We are hoping the road up from the "hotel" will also be fixed but this is less certain is it is dependant on the TH being able to cover the cost.

Thanks David,

I also want Direct Debit, hope it will be possible, it's easier. This is what I meant in my last writing.

As far as I understand Direct Debit the TH takes the money we have to pay from our Spanish bank every year and we will get a discount of 5%. It will be great, now every time we have to go to the Townhall to pay bills.

Regarding the 25% the TH said we were not allowed to get the discount, because we are Dutch residents (we went a few times to succeed, but were sent away). To get the discount we had to declare that we are Spanish residents, so we decided to pay the full amount. So it's not thanks to us, that the Townhall is nearly broke (hihi).

We've heard many spanish people (and also foreigners) don't pay any tax, a lot is wrong in the system compared to Holland, because when you refuse or ignore the tax you will have to pay a lot more because of the high interest. The tax will be paid, whatever happens, they succeed and also in a very short period. Spain could learn something about that system, I think a lot of problems will be solved then....

Have a nice weekend,

Corrie

We too pay by direct debit. I was just wondering if we are charged a new tax , will that automatically go by direct debit too - or do we need to go to the Townhall and ask for direct debit payment?

Almost certainly you will have to go to the TH and ask them to set up a new DD for any new tax - as we did when we bought a car.

from my experience taxes are deducted out of my bank account every September. As David says, set up by direct debit to get the 5% discount and then register on the padron every 2 years to get a further 25-30%. its well worth it!

I have found them to be friendly and respond to emails in English.

see info below, Regards Andy 

IMPORTANT

CONFIRM YOUR STATUS ON THE

PADRÓN!

Citizens from the UE have to confirm

their status on the Padrón every 2 years.

In person:

-Councillor´s Office for Foreign Residents. – 4th floor.

Open to the public: Mon.-Friday. 9 am – 1 pm.

-Estadística. - groundfloor

Open to the public: Mon.-Thursday, 9 am – 1 pm.

* Remember to bring your valid Passport or ID + your

Certificate with your NIE.

By post, fax or e-mail:

By post – please refer to our full postal address on

page 2.

By fax: 952 58 94 40

By e-mail: foreignresidents@fuengirola.org

* Remember to include your full details + your NIE. ¨

AYUNTAMIENTO DE FUENGIROLA

Concejalía de Extranjeros Residentes

Councillor´s Office for Foreign Residents

Boletín Informativo “Extranjeros Residentes”

Newsletter “Foreign Residents”

NÚMERO/NUMBER: 166 - ABRIL/MAYO – APRIL/MAY 2011

Councillor´s Office for Foreign Residents

Send your enquiry to:

Ayuntamiento de Fuengirola

Concejalía de Extranjeros Residentes

Plaza de España, 1 – 4ª planta

29.640 Fuengirola (Málaga) - España

By fax: 952 589 440

By e-mail: foreignresidents@fuengirola.org

By phone: 952 589 440 (only short enquiries)

More info. on our website: www.fuengirola.org

Free service provided by the Council for

foreigners living in Fuengirola and/or foreign

tourists with a property in town (open since 1997).

The office is open to the public from Monday to

Friday, from 9 am to 1 pm.

Thanks for your support. neighbours,

We will go the Townhall to arrange it, will be great, never to late..

Have a nice weekend,

Corrie

Hello again

I do not think we have ever done the "padron thing", we must check that out in summer.

We have once been to the TH to pay tax. Every time we wanted to pay , the man told us to go to 4.th floor. When we went to 4.th floor and waited for our turn, they told us to just go downstairs again and pay. After 2 hours up and down, I lost a bit temper and asked the lady on 4.th floor to write a note in spanish, to say all we wanted was to pay.  We went happily downstairs with our spanish note, just to find out they had closed for the day.

After that we asked our lawyer to set up direct debit. But in the meantime we have changed lawyer and I think the amounts paid in juli and december are very similar. I wonder if we pay the same tax twice.

I am still trying to find out about what taxes we pay in Spain, and if we are paying what we are supposed to.

Just checked out what was taken from our spanish account last year.

5. april   Fuengirola Townhall                 E   5,51

8. July   -                                                      E  19,79

8. July  -                                                       E 277,71

8. July  -                                                        E  46,72

29. december    Hacienda Publica       E 273,95

29. december   -                                        E  19,95

Is this almost similar with other neighbours?  Are you paying more often or less?

I do not really know what we are paying for. The taxes paid in December are done by our lawyer.

Grethe

Hi Grethe,

The TH payments include garage entrance tax, refuse collection tax and council tax on apartment, garage space and store if you have one so the April and July payments look OK. Setting up DDs can be done in the office on the right as you walk in through the TH main entrance. We were helped by someone working there who spoke English.

Your lawyer has probably paid the income tax (La Renta) which is based on the assumption you rent out your apartment and don't declare the income and is charged whether you rent out or not.

The TH wants as many people on the Padron as they can get as their income from central government is based on the number of people registered and that is why they give the big discouint as an incentive for registering. It is not the same as "residentia" which means you become tax resident and can access health services etc. You sign up for the Padron in the foreign residents office. We didn't have any difficulty. we just said we wanted to register on the Padron. We had passports NIEs and a Nota Simpla with us and we registered without any problems.

I have twice been to the office in the last few years and both times was turned down. She told me I had to be resident there to receive the discount. Solgre, go to your bank with your town hall bills. They should be able to set it all up for you. Far easier and you still get the 5% discount. Any new photos of the road. Has anyone actually lifted a shovel yet.

Well Westport my problem was that I did not have any bills - only money taken out from my account without knowing what I was paying for.

David - thank you for helping me out here.

As far as I remember in 2007 Spain charged wealth tax. This was cancelled from 2008. But I am quite sure, I have heard that this tax is reintroduced. But it dosn´t seem like we are paying wealth tax in 2011 - unlesss the bill is in the postbox.

Grethe

Difficulties with the Padron may depend on who happens to be working in the Foreign Resident's office. We weren't even asked if we were resident. On the other hand, when you are in Spain, which you obviously are when you visit the TH you are "residing" in your apartment so you are "resident" at that moment. Play on words I know but if you tell them you are non resident they are probably obliged to say you are not eligible. 

The Weath tax is coming back but it only applies to people with assets in excess of 700,000€ in Spain at least for 2012 & 2013 so not many people in Don Juan I imagine.

When we wanted to inscribe (right word?) she asked us if we were more than 183 days in Spain, if not we had no right to fill in the forms for the discount.

I did not want to lie about our being no residents and told her, we are about 4 - 5 months in Spain, so a lot.

But she kept on telling us it was impossible to inscribe as long as we were not more than 183 days in Spain.

But thanks to David and other neighbours, trying to help us, we're grateful,

Kind regards,

Corrie

Has there been much development with the road since the "digger" arrived?

Regards Andy

Wow, 2 diggers, 2 wagons and a 10 strong workforce working hard all day.  Unfortunatly this was up the hill.   Whats happened down the bottom  NADA.

Martin.

Maybe they are starting on the golf course at the same time :)