Cancel my Residencia

Hello, This is my first post. In Decemer 2009 I wanted to buy a car for my holiday home here which I spend 3/4 months a year in. I was informed my the garage i would need an NIE number and residencia. This I did and got the car. I got a telephone call from my bank yesterday saying the police had contacted them and may freeze my only Spanish account as I had not been paying any tax for being a resident. I now have to cancel this residencia. How do I do this. I currently pay all taxes etc through Abaco but rather than pay them, thought I would do it myself and save some money. Any accurate help please?

Sounds strange, something not right. Cant see why the police would get involved in civil matters, i would have thought Agencia Tributaria(Spanish tax office ) would have contacted your bank if there were problems. What tax are you referring to? Income tax?, Non resident property tax?

Sounds like you are a non resident as you only spend a few months in Spain so dont know why you had to get residencia?

The NIE is required but i have not been required to provide a residencia for a car purchase.

Hello, I understand now I did not need a reidencia but garage still took and copied it. It was the bank that called to say I had a non resident account and should be a resident account and I should be paying income tax even though I have none here. All I want is to cancel the residencia

 The office that issues NIE can cancel the residencia.  I think it costs €10.20.  And, no, the garage steered you wrong on this.  Buying a car requires NIE and a copy of the deeds (to prove where you live) plus passport.  Residencia makes it easier as you don't need those items (except the passport).  Abaco will charge you 50 to 70 euros to do it so you will save quite a bit.

Hi, thanks. I was only renting at the time so had no deeds. This was probably why garage wanted residencia. I will try where I got it. Hope they speak English

All my income tax is paid in UK. I pay all I have to in Spain through Abaco

Thanks everyone. I have decided to go with abaco and let them deal with it

Hi Garyizme if you are doing nothing wrong then you have noyhing to fear and it will get sorted but I'm personally pleased that the taxman can do this as I know a man in Spain who is on a fantastic wage , gets paid over 10 000 euro a month into a spanish bank account , isn't paying any tax whatsoever. He dissapears to the U.K for a few months during the year and pays no tax there either. He isn't a resident legally of any country and works in Saudi Arabia month on /month off. He bought a car in Spain , has an N.I.E number and owns a lovely property in Spain also. He needs catching and his bank account closing . He's so mean he won't even pay any child maintainance to his only son in the U.K. so the taxman isn't the only one his greed is ripping off. So this is good news to me and hope you get your situation sorted as you will have pay slips etc etc with proof of income tax in the U.K. this person I know doesn't .

 Hi Garyizme,

We were wrongly advised to become residents, which caused us problems. We had a call from bank also saying Police had frozen our banks and had to phone Madrid to sort (And yes...It was Police and not tax office).

Don't know where you live, but we went to the Orihela Costa Town Hall near La Zenia and queued to see a Policeman in the office where they renew residencia's etc, who needed to have copies of Passport, Residencia, NIE and a letter to state why we did not want to be residents anymore. We found a nice lady in one of the townhall offices who wrote the letter for us in Spanish, saying we wanted to spend more time with children in Uk, as we did not want to write, that we are only holiday makers and had made a mistake. We also had a form that we got from solicitor which is only very straight forward and only one page. The Police Man took all this stamped it and said fine.

We now pay non residents tax of €50 a year. Hope this helps.

  Sorry Gary. As far as the Spanish tax office is is concerned registering on EU foreign citizens register (sometime wrongly called residencia) means you are tax resident in Spain.

Surely that''s wrong.  The rules (I think) say you have to register if you are staying in Spain for more than 3 months.  However, you don't become a fiscal resident unless you spend more than 6 months in Spain.  How can spending 3 months and 1 day in Spain a year make you liable for tax residency?  

Very interesting subject.  When we took out our residencia 5 years ago we were completly in the dark and paid a gestor lots of money to assist us with this and many other things.  I remember the horrendous queues and unhelpful attitude of most of the officials.  Now we also are returning to the UK and because of many bad experiences with officials here we are considering just r completing our tax return for this year, paying what we owe to the various utilities then closing our residents bank account here and returning to the UK.  What (if any) is the practical effect of not bothering to cancel the residencia.  And whilst we're on the subject what about canceling the S.I.P. card.  Is it not the case that on return to the UK and informing HMRC and Dept of Health that you are now resident in UK that automatically cancels any reference to Spain?  

 Regarding my last post, I wasn't implying that Johnzx was wrong as he has more experience than most.  I meant that if that is now the rule then the system is wrong.  

Abaco have charged 70 euros for this. I waited 4 hours yesterday with one of their representatices at Elche Police station to be told it has to be Alicante. I go home on Monday and Abaco have promised to cancel this on Monday for me. I am back in 3 weeks and will bring proof that I pay tax in the UK. This may be hard as I do not work and live off my savings only and don't earn enough interest to pay any tax. This is due to a change of lifestyle after an accident in which I was nearly killed. I come to Spain to relax. This week has been anything but relaxing!!

Wow! looks massively complicated. Was hoping to go to Spain myself for 3-4 months to chill out. I too dont pay tax and live on my small savings and dont qualify for pension for 2yrs. Can do without all the hassle might have to look at Portugal instead. Sad! 

Hello and good luck to everyone. Pete

 flyingpete212

It's not that bad, only if you are hear for longer than 183 days. If staying for 3-4 months, no problem, stay as non resident and just pay the non-residents tax of about €50 per year. You will only need a NIE number and padron if you own property.

It is worth it, and I am sure Portugal will be no different.

kcp

Staying for 3-4 months and paying non-residents tax? Have I misunderstood?  Surely that only applies to those who own a property and use it for less than 183 days a year.  Anyone who merely visits the country (e.g by renting a villa) for up to 183 days is classed as a holidaymaker and doesn't pay any tax.  Being a resident I haven't paid much attention to the non-resident status but it would seem odd if you had to pay tax as a visitor.  Another point that hasn't been mentioned is that there is a difference between being a resident and being a fiscal resident (i.e. paying taxes in Spain).  It is necessary to register separately as a fiscal resident.

 dinasaurio,

Oops sorry yes, was assuming flyingpete212 had a property.

 Interesting thread.  I owe a property in Spain and normally visit for 3-4 months each year.  Last year I was in Spain for nearly 6 months and this year I intend to stay for 8-9 months.  I pay tax in the UK and run a UK limited company.  I pay my Spanish non-resident tax every year.  My UK accountant has informed the UK tax office that I am a UK resident but non-domical.  I work  from Spain using the Internet.  
I am not sure about this 183 day rule.  What happens if I stay in Spain for longer than 183?  Am I not allowed to live in my own spanish property for more that 183 days a year?  These laws don't seem to make any sense, I thought we we all part of the EU and could travel freely between countries.

I am happy to pay my taxes in one country but can't see the point on switching when I move from country to county.