01 Mar 2014 1:54 PM:

The value of the properties is taken off the ibi bill, it's the cat astral value and there is a way to calculate it. The lawyers should do this before you buy and tell you that you will probably get a bill for x amount. It is happening with all nationalities, spanish included. As of 2014 they have reassessed these values to match the market place so it should in theory stop happening now. It is a tax that I believe they will have to pay back, in 2006 they had to pay people back foreigners that they charged 35% capital gains and spanish 18% they had to give the foreigners the 17% back but only when the people claimed for it and as many did not know they never claimed. It is wrong and illegal I am sure but one of my friends tried to not pay it and lost the case and on his it was 25,000 euros he had to pay all because the cat astral values remained at the high prices of 2003. Everybody therefore was getting these bills.

Thread: PROPERTY TAX BILL APPEAL ANY USE!?

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28 Jan 2013 10:51 AM:

I am not sure how this would affect me and my husband.  If you have 50,000 in shares in both names does this count as 25,000 each and therefore not applicable as over 50,000 per person, or as it is 50,000 and not over 50,000 does it still need to be declared.

Thread: assetts outside spain

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03 Apr 2012 11:51 AM:

I would buy a spanish plated car, second hand cars are expensive in Spain but some people returning back to their own countries are often selling them reasonable enough.

Thread: Foreign registered cars - Is there a crackdown going on?

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03 Apr 2012 12:00 AM:

Living abroad is not for everybody, some people do come out with unrealistic ideas and some come out thinking it is what they want but find after a few years that it is not and that is fine for them to sell up and go home, what we should not be doing is moaning about everything.  I work in a very spanish office (the only Brit there) and I am amazed at how much the English will moan and complain about, it is no wonder some of the Spanish are racists but I have to say the majority of them are not and if you make some attempt to integrate into the Spanish way of life you will be rewarded by very friendly warm giving people.

I have lived here now for 6 years and I love it, I am a working Brit with a full time contract and I have worked for the same Spanish company for the whole 6 years.  The roads are not congested so travelling 25 minutes into work each day is easy and stress free, the hours are not as long as the hours I worked previously in the UK and whilst costs are almost on par with the UK for food and clothes, tapas bars are cheap, drink is much cheaper and just to be able to sit in the sunshine ands watch the world go by is great.  I am lucky in that I have access to free medical treatment and the hospitals here are much cleaner and waiting lists generally much smaller, I have found the hospital to be very efficient, although I can speak Spanish (not fluently) I always take a translator to any consultations at the hospital so I dont take up too much time of the profesional medical team asking them to speak slowly or worse not understanding medical terms.  Our spanish neighbours in the small village where we live are fantastic with no prejudice whatsoever and always give us crops of something they have grown and include us in any of their private fiestas and into their homes.

I am not saying I would never go back to the UK because we can never say never but it is not on my agenda for the near future, I do miss the shops but you can get so much more on line now than you could 5 years ago that it does not matter too much.  I love my spanish house, I love living in the campo and being so close to the sea at the same time.  We spend every Sunday in the summer on the beach with a picnic and a good book and feel lovely and relaxed for work on Monday.  For the first 3 years here we did not even go back to the UK, after this illness and death meant we had to make several journeys and as my mum can no longer fly we have to make journeys back but only once a year.  After a visit back to the UK it makes you even more contented with your lot when you come back to the sunshine and traffic free roads.

I love the outside life and for at least 6 months of the year that is where we spend our time which we could not do back in Blighty without being cold.  Friends and family come to visit so really it is only the shops that I miss occassionally and nothing else.  It does get frustrating getting official things done and again due to working full time, I generally just pay somebody to get them done for me, saving any stress but I think we just have to tackle these things with humour and not get bad tempered with the Spanish as this only makes them less willing to assist us.

The Spanish do see us as an aggressive race and I honestly can understand why after hearing the way some people tackle their complaints and this is a great shame.

Thread: LOVE SPAIN

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09 Jun 2011 12:00 AM:

In January I bought a car, not the first time I have bought one here in my 5 years.  We were informed we had to use the gestoria of the garage as they had all the papers although I did express that I would rather use the person I have used for the last cars I have bought.

The car has been transferred to my name but when I did not recieve the tax for this year I asked my gestoria to chase it for me and she then informed me the car had an embargo on it, there was also outstanding tax for 2010 with interest 121 euro, we assumed this was why there was an embargo.  I duly paid this tax and tried to claim it from the garage who did not want to know and told me I should not have paid it and anyway a car cannot be transferred into another persons name if there is an embargo on it.  A couple of weeks after I had paid the outstanding tax I asked my gestoria to check now if the embargo had been lifted, the embargo as at June 3, 2011 was for nearly 1,000 social security embargo in the name of the last owner but this embargo is on the car which is now in my name.  Does anybody have any suggestions, again the garage denies all knowledge and takes no responsibility even though I told him this would never have happened if I  had been able to use my own gestoria

Thread: buying a car with outstanding taxes and an embargo

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