Tag Archives: real estate

Residents in Spain are required to declare their assets abroad

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Spanish Royal Decree 1558/ 2012, published on 15 November 2012 introduces new reporting requirements for taxpayers residing in Spain: they should declare to the Spanish State tax authority rights and property, such as real estate, bank accounts, stocks, bonds and insurances, held or managed abroad.

This statement should be made exclusively by means of telematics through the Internet, transmitting it with an electronic signature produced when selecting a personal certificate installed in advance in the browser for this purpose. Application deadline is from 1st January to 31st March of the year following that to which the information relates, although the declaration for 2012 will take place during March and April 2013.

The information to be reported to the tax authorities on accounts in financial institutions located abroad includes the following items:
1. Company name or full name of the bank or savings bank and location
2. Full identification of accounts
3. Date of opening or cancellation, or, where appropriate, date of issuance and withdrawal of the permit leading to the liability of the concerned reporter.
4. And, logically, the balance of the accounts at 31 December, and the average balance for the last quarter of the year.

Anyway, no one is obliged to report on the status of the account, if the final balance on 31st December does not exceed, in total, EUR 50.000. The submission of this declaration in the following years will be only required when either of the joint balances of the accounts (the one at 31st December or the average one of the last quarter of the year) experiences an increase exceeding 20.000 euros.

A similar provision is established when the foreign assets are such as securities, stocks, mutual funds, life insurances or disability insurances and temporary or lifelong rents.

For real property located abroad, the information statement will contain the following data:
a. Identification of the property with a brief specification of its typology, as  will be defined by a future order of the competent Ministry.
b. Location of the real estate: country or territory in which it is situated, city, street and number.
c. Date of acquisition.
d. Cost of acquisition.

In the case of timesharing contracts or similar arrangements and in case of usufruct rights the reporter should also indicate the value of the property on the 31st December. The applicable quantitative liability limits are the same as in the previous cases.
This obligation to declare assets is accompanied by a closer cooperation and a increased mutual assistance between tax authorities. We are going to discuss about that in a future article.

Carlos Prieto Cid, Lawyer

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Buying property in Spain: a way to get a residence permit to non-EU citizens

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This announcement made by the government of Spain in mid-November has been widely reported in the media. This legal measure is under consideration and we really do not know how it will be finally configured.

The government’s intention is to give a new argument to attract prospective buyers of property in Spain, especially from countries such as Russia or China. For sellers of property in Spain, who have not been able to find a buyer for years, despite the constant reductions of the sale price, the measure can also be a new opportunity.

Carlos Prieto Cid, Lawyer

For more information read the following article (2011)

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If I rent my holiday house in Spain, what kind of taxes should I pay?

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Most tourists who visit Spain choose for their accommodation a holiday flat or a holiday home. If we own a property in Spain and we want to rent it during the touristic season to others, we must know what taxes we are required to pay to the Spanish public finances.

The most common situation is that we rent a holiday home for a period of time not longer than three months. In this case, the income from the leasing of this property will always be considered property income and must be included in the annual declaration of our income tax. The expenses necessary to maintain the holiday home and for its promotion in the touristic market will be deductible from this declared revenues, but only if these expenses are billed in the time period in which the holiday house or apartment is leased to a third party. Nevertheless, we must not forget that even in periods when the holiday homes are not rented, they generate anyway revenues that must be declared according to the income tax regulations. That is because the Spanish tax laws regard as property income the mere possession of a property that is not used as regular residence, also when it is not leased. This fictitious revenue is the amount that results from applying a small percentage to the cadaster value of the property, a target value that established by public finance authorities under certain valuation rules. During these periods of time when the property is not rented, no deduction of expenses allowed.

Presenting an annual statement of the income tax of individuals to the Spanish Tax Office is mandatory for all owners of property in Spain, if this dwelling is not officially considered the regular residence. This means that all owners of a holiday home in Spain, whether resident or non-resident, whether or not renting it, are anyway required to file annually with this statement. Many foreign owners are not aware of this obligation. They think everything is solved, when paying the community tax (called IBI) and they oft forget to pay this compulsory income tax.
Despite all this, holiday house renting could be considered an economic activity and would have to be declared as such according to the income tax regulations when entered into under the following circumstances:

  •   There is at least one room dedicated exclusively for the management of the activity.
  •   There is at one full-time person hired to work in the development of the activity.

Everything we have said refers to income tax of individuals. With regard to the added value tax, the general rule is that renting of holiday home is considered tax-exempt as long as the landlord is not required to provide any of the services of the hotel industry, such as cleaning the dwelling and changing the bed linen and towels at least once a week. However, we must clarify that although we rent the house only for one week, the law does not consider as complementary services of the hotel industry both cleaning the inside of the apartment and changing its bed linen and towels at the time of the check-in and the check-out of the period hired by each tenant, as well as cleaning the common areas of the building and the technical assistance services for repairs and maintenance of plumbing, electrical, glass, blinds, locks and appliances.

Carlos Prieto Cid, Lawyer

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Legalization of buildings outside the law

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Traditionally it has been possible in our country to legalize buildings outside the law through the mere passage of time. However, the Law 8/2011 has added new requirements when recording new buildings in the register of deeds, giving more legal security to the system.

When selling a property, the buyer usually requires financing. To obtain financing is not only very difficult nowadays, due to the current banking situation, but also virtually impossible if the buyer can not offer a mortgage to the bank that lends him the money. To make it possible for the bank to register the necessary property mortgage, the real value of the estate to be charged should be reflected in the register of deeds. This is only achieved when the elements that provide greater value to the property, that is, the existing buildings on it, are properly registered. To register these edifications, a notarial declaration of the new building is always been necessary and this document must be submitted to the register in order to be recorded, accompanied by many documents to control its urbanistic legality.

Despite this, there was always a back door to buildings that violated the law, which could end up sneaking in urban registration of the property, with the economic and financial consequences discussed above. The mere passage of time with no reaction of the relevant planning authorities, the municipalities, leads to the possibility of regularization of these illegal edifications. As the deadlines for the sanctioning procedures passed and the planning authorities could no longer prosecute these buildings, they could end regularized, if certain conditions were met. But in the present days, the last reform of the Land Act we mentioned above, has added a key requirement, prior to the possibility of recording the irregular building in the register of deeds: we should show a municipal certification defining the content of the situation outside the law of the building we intend to record.

Article 20.4 of the Act indicates that
“4 …. in the case of constructions, buildings and facilities for which no appropriate measures to restore legality involving urban demolition can be taken, because the relevant limitation period has passed, the registration record of the completion of the work shall be controlled by the following procedure:

  • a) the notary deeds with the statement of a new building can be recorded in the Land Registry if they are accompanied by a certificate issued by the City Council or by a competent technician, or a descriptive notarized certification of the property or a cadastral descriptive and graphic certification of the property, when these documents confirm the completion of the work in a specified date and the description coincides with the title. For this purpose, the Registrar shall verify if there is a notation in the Register of Deeds because of the initiation of an urban discipline procedure for the property subject of the construction, building and installation in question and that the site is non demanial or affected by easements for public use.
  • b) The registration entry will record the outside-the-law position of all or part of the construction, building and installation, in accordance with applicable urban management. It will be necessary to provide the administrative act by which the situation is declared outside management, with the proper delimitation of its contents.
  • c) The Registrar shall report to the City the respective entries in the cases included in previous issues, and such notification will be recorded in the inscription”

This new regulation, in force throughout the state, which requires prior to registration the provision of a municipal certificate on the content of urban illegality is coherent with the goal to be reached with the law of passing “registration measures designed to ensure and strengthen certainty in the real estate contracts and business, through the Land Registry” and “emphasizing on register protection measures which aim to prevent and prosecute in the future situations that occur today and that are impacting very negatively on investment in real estate, both domestically and internationally“.

Let us hope that eventually these legal measures have the desired effect and strengthen the security image as necessary to encourage property investment, especially by foreigners.

Carlos Prieto Cid, Lawyer

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The reintroduction of Spanish Wealth Tax

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A few months ago, US President Barack Obama announced to Congress: ”This is not class warfare, it’s math.” If the crisis leads to a fall in revenue for public authorities, spending must either be cut or taxes increased.

If we assume that governments cannot cut back on social services because the social rights they have achieved should not be touched due to the crisis, then new tax increases become necessary. Instead of raising existing taxes, the former Spanish government had preferred to try to maintain the level of revenue it needs by reintroducing a recently-abolished tax: the IMPUESTO DE PATRIMONIO, or Wealth Tax.  This tax was never actually abolished, although the full rate was indeed scrapped in 2009 with a 100% rebate. The government has therefore simply done away with this rebate in order to reintroduce Wealth Tax.

The tax applies from 18 September 2011, although the concession is scheduled to increase once more in 2013. This means that Wealth Tax declarations need only be submitted for the years 2011 and 2012 (due on 31 December each year). It is important to remember that non-residents are also obliged to pay this tax. Declarations must be submitted to the tax office each year together with the income tax declaration.

The most important changes to the rules on Wealth Tax introduced in the Real Decreto-ley 13/2011 are the following:

1. Tax allowance on residences: the maximum rate for tax exemptions on the value of the own residence (for residents) has been raised to €300,000 (previously €150,253.03).

2. General tax allowance: unless the autonomous communities rule otherwise, the general tax threshold is €700,000.-

Whether these new rules and the reintroduction of the tax will have any real impact or affect public authorities’ revenues is debatable. It appears that the Socialist Party intended to make political capital through the reintroduction of a ‘tax on the rich’ (elections took place in a short time after de tax reform and they were a spectacular failure for the Socialist Party anyway ), but the real impact of the tax’s reintroduction will not be able to solve the difficult situation surrounding the public finances.

Carlos Prieto Cid, Lawyer

This article in German

Income Tax for foreign property owners

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Foreign nationals who are not registered for tax in Spain but own property in the country must submit a tax declaration for their income tax to the state tax office every year. This involves the so-called Impuesto de la Renta de No Residentes (Income Tax for Non-residents).

Many property owners do not understand why they must declare and pay tax in Spain even though they earn no income here because they only come here for holidays and therefore neither work nor are involved in any economic activities or receive interest from banks on financial investments. There is usually no rental income from property either. Despite this, in Spain (much like in other European countries), simply owning a property is regarded as income, even when the property is not let or leased out. The state tax system assumes that a profit is made from the property even if it is not rented out, it is not the own home or if the property is not dedicated to economic activity, which for non-residents can never be the case.

How is this fictitious return calculated? Spanish law stipulates that income earned from the simple possession of a property equates to a certain percentage of its cadastral value. This percentage is either 2% or 1.1%, depending on the year in which the Spanish Land Registry (or rather, the respective municipality), updated its property values. The Land Registry (Catastro) is a national register of properties, answerable to the Spanish tax office, which gives the authorities information about these properties (owners, size, use, year of construction, boundaries, etc.). The information stored at the Land Registry can be submitted by Land Registry officials themselves, the municipalities or the owners of the property. One of the most important pieces of information on every property is in fact the cadastral value. This value is dependent on many other objective details and here on the coast can generally be a lot lower than the market price that we would set for the property.

Despite this, this objective value is decisive for almost all authorities and provides the basis for many taxes, including income tax for non-residents. This percentage of the cadastral value is therefore the basis for income tax for non-residents, which is currently 24%. Every year, the owners must pay the resulting sum by 31 December the following year. This means that foreigners who own a property in 2011 must submit their tax declaration to the tax office and pay the tax by 31 December, 2012. In 2008, the tax office changed the forms for this declaration, which caused problems for many foreigners who did not hear about this amendment in time. Until then, Form 214 was used, but now Form 210 must be completed. The change was a consequence of recent tax reforms, which saw the abolition of property tax. However, the tax for non-residents was retained because it is regarded as a form of income tax rather than a property tax.

Otherwise, for non-residents there are only the local rates, the so-called IBI, which are paid as a municipal tax that every municipality demands from property owners each year and which is calculated and demanded by the local authority itself.

Carlos Prieto Cid, Lawyer

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Save taxes by planning your inheritance

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After years giving advice to foreign residents with property in Spain, we can offer our experience to those with a little forethought who want to save their loved ones a lot of problems and, above all, a lot of money, by planning the inheritance. A good tax planning can significantly reduce expenses and taxes payable by the heirs. This is true in all cases, but especially when dealing with a legacy of non-residents, that is, assets in Spain who are or have to be registered to the name of people without tax residence.

If you have property in Spain (real estate or personal property, such as deposits in banks or cars) you must expect that your descendants or the people you have appointed in a will as heirs, will have to arrange various legalizations after your death to officially become ownerships of the inherited assets (so that the heirs of these estates can actually take profit of them, that is, sell them or obtain a mortgage). Each of these instruments is taxed. If we want to avoid problems to our heirs, we can plan a few things so that our heirs can simplify everything at the moment of the acceptance of inheritance.

A possibility is to try to transfer the property during our life to save taxes: but we must be sure which taxes are also to be paid in the case of a free transfer or a donation of real estate, to avoid that this transfer of ownership in lifetime does result more expensive than the acceptance of inheritance in case of death. In a purchase contract, there is another tax, but it can have also as a result a very significant amount. As a rule, in case of non-residents who have purchased the property many years ago, the sales tax can be cheaper than the gift or inheritance, but each case must be examined separately.

For non-residents it is a typical procedure to pass the net property to the younger during the life of the older ones. We recommend to formalize a transfer of bare ownership, because despite the age of the parents it is a bit cheaper anyway than to sell the whole property (nuda proprietas or bare ownership plus usufruct) and much cheaper than a gift or an inheritance of the object (pay attention: we are talking exclusively about non-resident: for the resident, thanks to the recent tax reforms, the inheritance is seen as the best mode of transmission as a rule). If we formalize a sale of the bare ownership to the eventual heir, the taxable return for the transfer (that means the purchase price declared in the deed), is the value of this bare ownership, actually the result of the full value of the property minus the value of the usufruct, because the older ones just maintain this usufruct on and what the purchaser gets then is only the bare ownership (ownership without usufruct). We save taxes because the value of the usufruct is deducted, although this value is usually very low due to the age. The usufruct, which is not transferred in this moment, can be deleted after the death of the parents without tax costs.

In any case, it is highly recommended to get advice from a lawyer, as only he can provide proper advice and legal assistance when translating the will of the parties in the legal and technical language, formalizing the definitive agreements, preparing the deed of the notary and foreseeing the fiscal implications of the business. We want to reiterate that the role of lawyer and notary in Spain is totally disconnected (unlike in other countries). Here in Spain, the notary must never represent the interests of a party, even consultation is not allowed. He is only one official, who certifies the businesses that are already negotiated, accepted and formalized and who controls that all required taxes are properly paid by the parties. For this very reason, the involvement of a lawyer is so important, because he represents only your interests and gives you independent advice.

Carlos Prieto Cid, Lawyer

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Buying property without risk

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Before buying a property in Spain or signing a contract agreeing the sale of a property, it is important to be aware that, without the necessary guarantees, this signature can represent a major risk. The cost of consulting a lawyer is very small compared with the substantial costs arising from any possible legal proceedings resulting from a legal dispute. However, legal disputes are very easy to avoid if you receive the correct advice beforehand.

The services of a lawyer during a transfer of ownership can cover the following:

Prior inspection of the property:
– Register details: ownership, description, liabilities and tax liabilities
– Cadastre details: description, cadastral value
– Tax details of the property: outstanding tax
– Urban planning details of the property: valuation, planning, liabilities, legality of new building
– Horizontal ownership details: debts, special taxes and duties
– Condition of the building: implementation and monitoring during the preparation of a survey report
– Property value: implementation and monitoring during the preparation of a valuation report

Regulation of register, cadastre, tax and planning details

Financing and tax analysis of the project

Foundation and registration of a company with the tax office

Registration of natural persons with the tax office

Supervision of mortgage financing

Preparation and legalisation of documents
– Arrangement of power of attorney
– Application for apostilles
– Request for simple and certified translations

Drafting and verification of the private contract of sale, option contract, service contract etc.
– Drafting and negotiation
– Verification
– Guidance when signing the contract or signing in the name of the client by means of the power of attorney

Drafting and verification of certificates (for purchase, mortgage, acceptance of inheritance, building project etc.) together with the notary.
– Preparation and verification of documents necessary for issuing the certificate
– Drafting of the proposal and verification of the certificate text drawn up by the notary, based on the project
– Guidance when signing the contract or signing in the name of the client by means of the power of attorney

Processing of tax declarations and payment of tax

Entry into land register

Contracting party’s change of contracts with energy/water suppliers and phone companies etc.

Guidance in negotiating with the following persons/organisations:
– Seller/buyer
– Estate agent
– Builders
– Chief architect and technical architect
– Notary
– Registry officials
– Valuer
– Surveyor
– Bank
– Insurance company
– Property management
– Tax office
– Local council and other public authorities

Carlos Prieto Cid, Lawyer

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