Property Retention Tax

Hi,

Can someone please tell me if there is a time limit for the Tax authorities to repay your Property Retention Tax after you sell up?  I paid around 5,000 Euros to the Elche Tax people over 5 years ago and still there is no sign of it being repaid.  I employed ABC Solicitors in Playa Flamenca to submit the paperwork for me and often ask for an update which is always "still no progress".  I have to keep paying money into my Spanish bank account to keep it open,  I am now facing imminent surgery and I would like to close this issue for my wife's sake.

Thaks for any advice.

The tax authority (AEAT, aka Hacienda) has 6 months in which to repay any or all of the 3% retention - assuming of course that the amount retained was greater than any capital gains tax that was due from the sale.

The six months is counted from when Hacienda have received a correctly filed form 210 and have received any further documentation requested (in other words, it can be more than 6 months from the date of sale). Any errors in the filing, or incomplete information, or indeed any previous property taxes not paid - and the claim will not be processed. Once a complete and correct claim is accepted, if any refund due is not repaid within the 6 months, they will pay interest. It's not unusual for refunds to take a little longer (and therefore include interest payments), but after 5 years I really do suspect that your solicitor has not been honest with you about the status of your claim. 

First things first - do you have a copy of the form 210 that was supposedly submitted on your behalf to reclaim any of the retention due? And if so, is it stamped and dated when it was received by Hacienda?

Hi Roberto,

Many thanks for your reply, the history is as follows;

On 1 October 2013 I sold the property and 5,400€ was retained for Property Tax.  I was not given a copy of the Modelo 211 and the buyer’s party did not submit it.  I kept chasing them for it but they would not respond.

On 20 January 2015 I approached ABC Solicitors in Playa Flamenca, Orihuela Costa, and asked them to help.  I paid them 150€ + IVA to make an enquiry then another 200€ +IVA to submit the forms.  I then had to pay a fine to the Tax authorities because the buyer had not submitted the forms on time.

On 5 March 2015 the form 210 was submitted to the Hacienda, I have a copy of this document but it is not stamped.

Every time I ask for an update from ABC Solicitors I get a different reason for the delay.

The Modelo 210 was accompanied by a form that says this...............

-----------------------------------

INFORMACIÓN DE LA PRESENTACIÓN DE LA
DECLARACIÓN
MODELO
Registro
Presentación realizada el 05-03-2015 a las 08.22.35
Expediente/Referencia (nº registro asignado):  201321017140162D
Código Seguro de Verificación: (A security number)
Presentador
NIF Presentador: 73997895H
Apellidos y Nombre / Razón social:
Vía de entrada:
Número de justificante:

AVID
Colaborador
Presentación por Internet
2104123507141
DEVOLUCION

I feel very sorry for you, but without sight of all the relevant paperwork and full details I can't offer much more assistance. Also, I am probably not qualified to advise too much; you may be better off asking Maria de Castro (via PM). Meanwhile, for what it's worth:

I'm assuming you did not have legal representation at the time of the sale? (Otherwise, you would have gone back to whoever that was, rather than approach ABC). This is a shame, as they would have been able to chase the buyer for the 211 - which by law had to be submitted within 30 days of the sale, and the retained funds paid to Hacienda. Failure to do so would have incurred a fine for the buyer - not you. This is NOT your responsibility! The buyer "retains" the 3%, and is 100% responsible for paying it to Hacienda - that's the whole point of a "retention" at the time of sale! 

Are you sure the fine you had to pay was for late submission of the 211? Are you sure you were fully up to date with your non-resident taxes at the time of the sale?

Once the retention has been submitted (with modelo 211), the seller has 3 months in which to file the 210 and claim any of the retention due back (or pay any additional CGT due). So it's a little odd that your 210 was not filed until about 18 months after the sale. 

I assume that the copy of the 210 you have does in fact show you are due a refund? You did sell at a loss, presumably? You are certain you didn't owe any non-resident property tax at the time? I only ask, because I can't understand why after almost 4 years ABC are still giving you vague brush-offs - not to mention the €350 you paid for them to help with this, which in itself seems rather extortionate for something that's normally quite routine.

I can't help feeling this may be a lost cause. Sorry to be negative, but it may be best under the circumstances to write off your loss and move on.