New Spanish laws......

I spend around 7 or 8 Months in Spain every Year, now I only can spend less than 6 Months otherwise I must give all the information about my properties and  wealth in the country I live in, the other option is to transfer all my buisness to Spain, does anyone have and more details about the new law.....

just Google "Reporting of assets outside Spain" and you will be inundated with info.Look at ex pat forums-eye on spain has a long thead on this.Consult financial advisors eg Blevins Franks.

Basically, if you have assets of more than 50,000 euros in any of the  3 categories - 

1- all bank/ building society  accounts, current ,savings,  including ISAs,

2- investments( inc premium bonds) or

3-property

you have to declare them in minute detail(account numbers,iban/bic numbers, when started, finished etc, balance as at 31st December. Joint accounts have to be mentioned even if your half is below the limit.The form 720 is  submitted online before March 31st , and huge fines can be incurred if you fail to declare everything, or mistakes are made.Submitted forms will be checked against the income tax declarations made previously.

As you have been staying in Spain for 7-8 months every year, you are presumably tax resident here, spending more than 183 days in Spain . If so, then you should have submitted a 720 form this year for 2012, if  the  assets level applied to you.

Ob, as Campo says you are tax resident in Spain having spent more than 183 day in 12 months here, so as from when you started doing that you were obliged to make your tax declaration on your worldwide income in Spain.  That has been the law for many years, not anything new.

The requirement to declare assets became law as from last year.   The fine is up to 150% of the asset you do not declare, with a minimum of 10,000 euros.

Thanks for all the info, now a lot of my friends that are over there now most fo the time will only spend less than the 6 Months so they don't have to pay more txes in spain, and would you believe Ireland is bad but the tax in spain is worse...I think they want people to ider stay or go home, if all the British people go home Spain would shut down I hope they know that....there is only a small amount of Irish there. I think the spanish government must be pea brain to try  and get rid of all the expats.

But what about all the years in Spain when you have been tax resident, having spent 7-8 months here?

What about this year's asset declaration (if applicble to you) for 2012?

I only heard about this in the last few Months, so i will now only spend 180 there and the rest here in Ireland, I pay 40% tax here on my income and I don't want to pay more there, so I will have to put up with the bad weather here.....

Ob:   I only heard about this in the last few Months, ................

Just like elsewhere, ignorance of the law is no defence.  So, as Campo says,  you could be caught for the years you say you spent 7 / 8 months in Spain

If ob123 never said anything how would he / she get caught?

The are now checking passports at the point of entry so the know when you come and go...so there is no way out just stay for less time and all is well then you have no problem.

The are now checking passports at the point of entry so the know when you come and go...so there is no way out just stay for less time and all is well then you have no problem.

Yes of course, but how would the tax people know if you stayed over the time limit...Unless someone snitched on you.

Not sure about that sida of things I will ask her, but I went to my Spanish Abagado and she told me about the new law from last March and she said not to stay longer than 6 Months otherwise I would have to do all my tax and stuff from Spain, so I will stay within the law and spend less time there now, she said the tax laws in Spain are very severe and they attach the debt on to your esketura or deeds so there is no escape, so if you don't pay now you will pay whenever you sell.....

I guess if you arrive and depart at an airport there would be some checks either at the port of entry or by the airline, However I have travelled in and out od Spain at the border with Portugal and France in my French registered car over the past year and never had my passport checked. They may well have CCTV of the car coming and going but no knowkedge of who or what was in the car.

Rossetti

What about the double taxation agrement between EU countries?

Surely you only have to tell the Spanish tax authorities about your asetts and bank accounts, that doesn't mean your going to get taxed on them just because you have them...Does it?

You are supposed to tell all tax offices about what you own so whats the problem with telling Spain, presuming your self employed. 

Can only stay for 6 months, you want 7 months, why bother to worry over just 1 month.

OK, the position is if you are over the 6 Months in Spain you must pay all your taxes in Spain not in your home country then you must tell them about all the property you have and money in your home country, and as I say the tax system is very severe at the moment in Spain, so people want to avoid paying the high taxes there. so there are a lot of English people I know well, and they are not paying there taxes in Span, so they are returning to the U.K. for 6 Months......

Ob        ………………..you must tell them about all the property you have and money in your home country,

Strictly speaking if you spend more time in Spain than anywhere else (7/8 months) then Spain is you home country.  That is why you become tax liable.

Just not staying more that 183 days is not the whole answer. 

This is from the internet:-

You will become resident for tax purposes in Spain if:

• You spend more than 183 days in Spain in one calendar year. You become liable whether or not you take out a formal residency permit. These days do not have to be consecutive. (Temporary absences from Spain are ignored for the purposes of the 183-day rule unless it can be proved that the individual is habitually resident in another country for more than 183 days in a calendar year.)
• Or, your “centre of vital interests” is in Spain, e.g., the base for your economic or professional activities is in Spain.
• Or, your spouse lives in Spain and you are not legally separated even though you may spend less than 183 days per year in Spain

ob123, it sounds to me like you need professional advice.  Blevins Franks mentioned earlier would be a good choice - not cheap, but otherwise you might waste substantially more money and make life changing decisions based on wrong information.

You might well find you are better off becoming a Spanish resident - a friend of mine who is extremely knowledgable on financial matters has opted to do so because he gets taxed considerably less under the Spanish system.  He is Dutch and I don't know how their tax regime compares to UK or Ireland, but a few hundred euros to get some high quality personal advice might be an excellent investment.