IBI demand

As a non resident I find it difficult to be in Spain when my IBI is due. Up until now I guess I have been lucky and have been around and paid it on time. 

However this year I missed it, (illness in the family etc). I have received a letter titiled "Notification de la Diligencia de embargo de bienes inmuebles" demanding the original payment of E250 plus additional costs of E185.52 which seems a bit high. I dont mind  10%-20% charge for being late. There is no obvious indication of how to pay this bill.

The property is in Javea, does anyone know

1. How I go about paying this bill? Do I take the letter to my bank or to the Town hall?

2. Are these additional charges normal? Seems a little unfair to nearly double the charge.

3. Is it possible to set up a Direct Debit for this to be paid?

Any help would be appreciated.

I have paid such accounts by DD for around 30 years, Has worked well

In your case now I would suggest you go the the town hall and sort it.  You may even be allowed to pay with a UK based credit card.

Firefly

 However this year I missed it

Do you mean 2015 or 16? I can't believe they have started embargo procedings for non payment of 2016 IBI 

Have you inadvertenly missed a year?

As John says the only way to sort it out is to contact the town hall

Hi Johnzx and Team GB,

Many thanks for your comments. Maybe I have inadvertently missed 2015 and or 2016, the passed year has been a difficult one. Its not that I don't want to pay, I am happy to pay just the system makes it easy to miss, if you aren't on the ball, especially as a non resident

I guess its a Town hall visit for me. Hopefully there is someone who can speak English as my Spanish is not brilliant. 

I have never been to the Town Hall in Javea, do you have to make an appointment at the Town Hall or do you just turn up?? Pity this kind of thing cannot be resolved with a phone call or via the web. Seems to be making an easy job unneccessarily complicated.

Not sure what embargo proceedings involve, but sounds a bit serious, hope the Town Hall is open between Christmas and New year, as thats the net time I am there. :-O

As a non-resident, I can't really understand why you don't already have things like this set up by direct debit. Also, it must be pretty clear from the letter which year this bill refers to, even if you don't understand the Spanish. Since Xmas falls on a Sunday this year, it's highly likely the town hall won't be open between Xmas & New Year, but if not, I suggest you just take the bill to your bank to pay, and at the same time ask them to set up the DD for future bills.

Firefly. I have just called my town hall.  They said will be open on 26th 27th and 28th Dec.  I would assum (although I know that can be dangerous) the same may well apply to all town halls in Spain.

Does your town hall have a Facebook presence? I am never around to pay our IBI and outr council don't even send out bills, you merely get a notification that there is something at Correos that will be returned in 7 days. I have found our Town Hall very helpful on Facebook and they do offer direct denit with a discount and option of 2 instalments. Maybe yours will do the same?

Mark

In your area the payments are handled by the Suma office, if you pop into your local office you can pay by a bank card, that will bring everything up to date,  then at the same time ask them to set up a direct debit for the IBI in future, take you bank details with you so you have them ready, job done

I can't see how DD can work. Don't you have to fill in a return form every year ?

You don't have to fill in anything for IBI - it's automatic if you own a property. Are you confusing this with non-resident income tax? 

Worst thing in our area (Mijas Costa) they don't send out the IBI bills by post or e-mail - You have to go into the town hall and collect it - with such a high number of part time residents it's not the best way to ensure promt payment

Here in Almoradi, we have a dedicated SUMA office, and I suspect most towns will have a similar one. Here, they offer (if you go and ask) the opportunity to pay all at once, or in 2, 4, 6 or 12 installments, with no added penalty. They even include my car tax in the total. Just renews itself annually, sometimes with a slight adjustment if necessary and notify me in writing. They even send me a text message to say they are going to take the payment seven days before, and another seven days after to say they have taken it!

Surprisingly easy . . . . . .for Spain!!

Steve

Sten46.

Here in Almoradi, we have a dedicated SUMA office, and I suspect most towns will have a similar one

Well, they will have if they are in the Alicante region. SUMA is the tax collection agency for the Alicante region.

'Here in Almoradi, we have a dedicated SUMA office, and I suspect most towns will have a similar one

Well, they will have if they are in the Alicante region. SUMA is the tax collection agency for the Alicante region'

Well well - I never knew that they were just in the Alicante region! You learn something new every day on here.

Many thanks for the info, Bob.

Steve.

Firefly

SUMA does not handle tax payments in Javea.  You need to take the paperwork and your bank details to the municipal offices above the Portal del Clot car park at Avenida Amanecer, no 2 (close to the Old Town branch of Mercadona).

There's a Help Desk there for foreign residents staffed by English/French/German speakers.

Hi all, I got it sorted in the end. The Town hall has a website to which you can submit enquiries. I must admit to being pleasantly surprised to get a reply to my enquiry,(within 1 hour), with all the required paperwork allowing me to easily pay the outstanding anount that day via my bank online. Very easy, was totally surprised! Well done Javea :-)