Newbie

Are you referring to Spanish firms or British firms, Acer?

Might it be worth providing the details of these firms via a pm to the original poster as a source of potential work?

IVA is chargeable on practically all goods and services in Spain.    The fact that often it is not charged, albeit quite common practice, is illegal.

(That most certainly includes every type of building work)

As Windtalker says, if one does not have a legal IVA receipt for improvement work carried out,  then none of that cost cannot be claimed against any resulting apparent Capital Gain.

For the exemptions to IVA see http://www.spainaccountants.com/rates.html#rates_8

This message was last edited by johnzx on 10/01/2018.

This message was last edited by johnzx on 10/01/2018.

Also no such work is guaranteed, since you have no legal proof it was ever carried out. I think the OP would be better off avoiding working for cowboys - if they aren't charging IVA, they also won't be paying social security for any employees. If they're going to wing it, better off chatting to Tony about the best way to claim UK benefits at the same time...

There will always be an abundance of cash in hand Jack the lad bodges who do not charge IVA, it’s a worldwide situation. The only difference to Spain vs UK is that in the UK they also claim all the state benefits. Housing benefit, council tax, single parent etc. Their existence is due to consumer demand fuelled by greed, wanting something for either nothing or on the cheap, tax dodgers themselves.

In the UK you will need building control certification and part 'p' certs etc to make sure jobs are carried out properly.  

Is this another example of Spain’s poorly run systems?  

John.  I didn’t grasp the meaning of 'then none of that cost cannot be claimed against any resulting apparent Capital Gain.'

maybe a double negative to clarify. 

No doubt I'll hear if I'm wrong, but in my experience of Building Control in the UK is that they only get involved in situations where planning permission was required or there is a change to the configuration of a building etc, or on the rare occasion when this is requested by the principal.

Yes I agree that Spain does not seem to care about part P qualifications or much else qualification wise, but it does not necessarily mean that the contractors are "cowboys".  In reality a lot of work is done in the UK by unqualified electical and heating engineeers - then signed off by qualified people.  Also, in practice the sign off doesn't always happen, particularly if certification is not needed.

Not saying this is good - quite the reverse, but the criticism of Spain is misplaced when the UK system is also far from perfect.

The contractors I've used have all been good - virtually all through recommendation.  I have very limited skills myself, but I know enough to know who knows what they're doing.  I take the view that the price they quote to me is inclusive of VAT.  I've never had a quote where VAT was mentioned.

There's a tendancy amongst Brits to be almost obsessive about trying to find rules that they must follow - the locals are far more relaxed.

Acer ..in the UK they have two types of building control .full planning permission for a new building's or a extension over 10% of a existing building foot print... or building regulations .only if it is a extension to a existing  building that is under 10% of the existing building foot print .in both case's the council building's inspector is in full control.

Brian I didn’t grasp the meaning of 'then none of that cost can be claimed against any resulting apparent Capital Gain.'

If  one buys a property for  say 100,000 spends 30,000 on building improvements,  then sells the property for 130,000.

Without legal IVA receipts for the 30,000,  one appears to have made a profit of 30,000,  thus Capital Gains Tax applies to the 30,000 apparent gain- ç

If one had IVA receipts then the 30,000 could have been legally set against the cost if the property and there would have been no gain, thus no CGT.

I thought with your apparent, considerable knowledge of Spain,  you would have understood that even with the typo !. 

This message was last edited by johnzx on 10/01/2018.

This message was last edited by johnzx on 10/01/2018.

How much IVA would be paid on top for building work of 30,000€'s,  as against paying Capital Gains tax presuming it's  been classed as a house sale profit.

I don’t have a considerable knowledge of Spain John, neither apparent or imaginary!  

But good to see you clarify things, it’s just not right to make mistakes 😦