House embargo

Hi,

I have heard several horror stories about owners of property in southern Spain being asked for thousands more in tax, which should apparently have been paid when they bought their property. One lady I spoke to said the junta de Andalucia demanded 7,000 Euros in tax 4 years after she had bought her property, although she maintains everything was paid at the time of purchase. She says the Junta have embargoed her apartment until the sum is paid and she has no right of appeal.

Has anyone else heard of this, and how can it happen?

Thanks, Jane

I started a thread on this topic a while ago as I was interested in finding out how people got on if they appealed. See below.

From thread: Transfer tax - re-assessment by Junta Andalucia - based on deemed value?
 

Anyone received a notification from the Junta de Andalucia (or other community) demanding additional transfer tax due by reference to their deemed value rather than the actual value?

For anyone confused let me explain.

The Spanish tax authorities have not heard of the recession and the impact that has had on property prices!

They say that you must declare a price at a certain multiple of the catastral or rateable value. This multiple varies from one area to the next and the impact is really felt where catastral values were revalued at the peak of the market. An example of an area badly affected would be Benalmadena who I think re-valued in 2006.

Anyone in Andalucia wanting to check acceptable values can do so by clicking on the following link: http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/economiayhacienda/apl/surweb/consultas/bienesUrbanos/valUrbana.jsp

All you have to do is look at your IBI receipt - enter your catastral value - select your province and localidad and that tells you the so called acceptable value for a property transaction for any year.

I would appreciate knowing if anyone appealed and if they were successful or not. If you don't want to post details then just PM me. I am not looking for any personal details other than to hear your experiences and how you got on. It's all research on the abuses of the Spanish legal and tax system.

Thanks for that Faro but I am confused - I went onto link and put catastral value etc., into table and it came up with 0 value at the bottom?

Ok Faro I have put in 50,000 as valor catastral as per IBI receipt then at the bottom of link page you sent it comes up with a figure around 10,000 - what does this actually mean??

Thanks,

Jane

It could be figures for your area are not included.

But if there are you have to enter:-

Valor catastral

Province

Localidad

Ejercicio

Press acceptar and it should tell you the minimum values that would have been accepted for the year you bought the property etc

You've got to be doing something wrong as it's always a multiple of catastral value.

PM me the details below and I'll see what result I get.

Valor catastral

Province

Localidad

Ejercicio/year

Ok thanks - catastral value is 50,410.96 -

Mijas-Golf

Malaga

I bought the apartment in 2006, but that catastral value was on 2009 IBI receipt

Thanks again, Jane

Catastral values tend to increase by 2% per annum.

That being the case as long as you paid more than EUR95k for your property you have nothing to worry about.

If you're planning on selling then you would need to sell for more than EUR102k to avoid problems on sale.

The amounts above were calculated by playing around with your 2009 catastral value to calculate 2006 & 2010 catastral values.

Mijas appears to be working off a multiple of 2.

thanks very much - I paid more than 95,000 and am not thinking of selling now until market picks up. Officially paid 100,000 but you know how that normally works.

Thanks again, Jane

PS - why aren´t people told of extra taxes when they buy their properties?

Some lawyers do check and advise their clients to expect a letter!

The problem has come to light more recently because property prices have fallen and also I think they are looking for more money. The Junta probably has told their staff to go back over old files and see if they can find so called under declared transactions.

If you claim a tax refund the tax authorities seem to look at the transaction from every angle to see if they can get money back somewhere or avoid making the refund.

One real problem area is Benalmadena. You can buy there for EUR100k less than the Junta value. My view is the Junta should stand by their value and be prepared to buy at that price or else wake up and smell the coffee!

Some lawyers do check and advise their clients to expect a letter!

The problem has come to light more recently because property prices have fallen and also I think they are looking for more money. The Junta probably has told their staff to go back over old files and see if they can find so called under declared transactions.

If you claim a tax refund the tax authorities seem to look at the transaction from every angle to see if they can get money back somewhere or avoid making the refund.

One real problem area is Benalmadena. You can buy there for EUR100k less than the Junta value. My view is the Junta should stand by their value and be prepared to buy at that price or else wake up and smell the coffee!

Yes unfortunately it seems another way to con money out of unsuspecting ex-pats.

You said it!!!

They are certainly not creative in finding ways to put life back into property sales.

Thanks for your help, Faro,  Jane