Tag Archives: taxes

Planning your succession by setting up a company

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One of the most important legal topics for owners of apartments or houses in Spain is how to transfer this property to their heirs with minimal tax and handling cost. An interesting option is to set up a trading company (or other type of legal entity) and transfer the property to it

The following pattern is very often repeated in many families, who spend their holidays every year in Spain: a couple buys a property by the sea to come here every summer with their children; the children grow up, create their own family and continue spending the holidays with their own children in the house of the parents. The grandparents, often pensioners, keep the property in stand and handle all related processes, while the children spend with the grandchildren their holidays there. This situation persists without any problems until the moment where the grandparents can no longer take care of the property for reasons of age. From this point on, and especially after the death of grandparents, the new co-owners have to face, if no precautions have been taken, apart from the usual problems of handling an inheritance, the problems of the management of the property, which is alternately used by the heirs. In addition, the summer residence of the family is often not used exclusively, and the time periods in which the family does not use it personally, is rentes to tourists, thus creating rental income from property.

One way to simplify the procedure of inheritance and, above all, to allow easy control of the house and the income it can generate, is to create a commercial company, which eventually becomes the owner of the property. It would be ideal to set up the company before the acquisition of the property takes place. In this case, the company would already would be the owner of the property from the beginning and the cost of the transfer of the property from the previous owners (the grandparents in the above example) to the company does not arise. But even if this is not the case, the tax costs of this transfer are lower than that of the transfer to the children through inheritance or gift. Shareholders of the company may change over time (you can include other children and even their spouses) without change of ownership, which would imply costs and taxes on the transfer of property.

Carlos Prieto Cid – Lawyer

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Further increase in the final costs of the transfer of property in Spain

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The costs associated with the transfer of ownership may affect the decisions of both parties, buyer and seller, as the net price that the seller receives after deducting expenses and taxes may be much less than expected in the beginning, and the final price to the buyer by adding costs and taxes may be much higher than previously thought.

The parties of a contract for the transfer of property (usually a purchase contract) can decide freely about these matters. However, we are going to analyze now what the laws say when the parties do not achieve an agreement among themselves:

  • The municipality tax on the added value of the property sold, in the case of urban land, is one of the costs to be paid by the sellers. This is a percentage of the difference between the declared value at the time of purchase and the estimated value of the property at the time of acquiring it by the seller.
  • The income tax on the increase in value is also an expense of sellers. If the seller is non-resident, the buyer must submit a deposit (3% of the price) as an insurance tax directly to the tax office. For this reason, this amount is usually subtracted from the purchase price. Subsequently, we have to calculate the payable tax, which also consists of a percentage of the difference between the declared value at the time of acquisition and declared value of the property at the time of sale.
  • The tax on the transfer of property is the buyer’s responsibility. The tax has been raised again in Catalonia and other regions of Spain, and now the buyer has to pay 10 % of the selling price for this concept.
  • The account of the notary (exclusively for the purchase contract) is according to the law at the expense of buyers, unless the parties agree otherwise. The role of the notary in Spain (unlike other countries) is only a formalization, converting the final contract in a public document. This contract has been issued in advance by the parties with the assistance of a lawyer. The notarization of the contract of sale in accordance with Spanish law is not absolutely necessary, but it is very appropriate, because a contract that is not contained in a public document cannot be registered in the registry of property. And such recordation of the change in ownership is not only a guarantee for the buyer, but also a prerequisite when the buyer has to finance the price with a mortgage.
  • What we have just commented justifies as well that the cost of recording the change in ownership in the registry of property has to be paid by the buyer.
  • The costs of preparing the documents to be submitted along with the case, is to be paid by the seller (these documents are normally processed or checked by lawyers). The cost of a lawyer could be common to both parties, as well as the lawyer provides the following services:
    • To provide consulting and legal assistance during the whole process of transfer of ownership.
    • To translate the will of the parties to the legal and technical language.
    • To make a final agreement of sale and prepare it to be notarized by a notary.
    • To foresee the tax consequences of the transaction for both parties and to prepare and submit formally and in time the tax returns in the most convenient manner.

But it is always better for the parties to agree in advance (even in an oral form) the main terms and conditions of the contract, so that the lawyer is able to represent the interests of both parties without any kind of conflict, simply because he develops the sales agreement already adopted by the parties.

Carlos Prieto Cid – Lawyer

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New campaign of the Tax Agency to demand the payment of income tax to non-residents

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Even if they are fiscally non-resident, owners of real estate in Spain must file a separate income tax return each year and pay the so-called income tax for non-residents (IRNR) for revenues earned from the property .

The Spanish state tax authorities have not been very demanding until now regarding the payment of income tax to fiscally non-resident property owners. Many homeowners are not aware of the existence of this tax liability and can not understand why they have to file a tax return and pay this tax in Spain, despite the fact that they are not getting any income. They come to Spain just to spend their holidays: they do not work, they do not receive interest income from cash deposits in the bank, they do not rent their property. However, the mere possession of a property in Spain, as in other European countries, is considered by the law as income, even if the property is not rented. State tax rules require that the owner gets benefit of his own real estate anyway, even though these objects are not leased. The only exceptions are the cases in which the property is one’s own domicile or if the property is devoted to economic activity. Both cases can never happen with non-residents.

There is another tax, the municipal tax on property ownership, the so-called IBI (Spanish Impuesto Sobre Bienes Inmuebles), the payment of which the local municipality requires to property owners each year, and which is calculated and declared by the administration itself. In contrast, in the case of the state income tax for non-residents – IRNR-, the tax inspection is not mandated to prepare tax returns for the non-residents, but it is the taxpayer himself who is required to provide an annual tax return, and calculate and pay the property taxes on its own initiative.

This month, many homeowners who spend their holidays in their own apartments or private homes in Spain, received a letter from the Spanish tax authorities, reminding of the existence of the tax on the income of non-residents and the obligationy of paying it. Earlier, the state tax agency was very generous regarding this tax. Now, however, given that the economic situation is so bad, it appears that IRS has become stricter, requiring submission of tax returns and payment of this tax by all non-residents who own property in Spain.

Carlos Prieto Cid – Lawyer

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The risk in buying inherited real estate

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Buying real estate is always an important decision because it involves a significant investment. Thus, you should always think about the consequences and know exactly what you risk in your case.

Each case has its own set of problems. Today I want to consider a very specific situation: the children or the surviving spouse inherit a house or an apartment, where the deceased person had his or her permanent residence. During the signing of the necessary notary documents, to reduce the high Spanish inheritance tax, heirs are happy to listen to the proposal for including a declaration in the document of acceptance of the inheritance saying that they have no intention of selling the property in the next five years: this way, it will save quite a large sum for payment of the tax or even pay nothing, and the instrument of acceptance of the inheritance may also be registered in the land registry without problems.

As time passes, the heirs forget that at the time of the acceptance of the inheritance they have signed this declaration to take profit of this exemption from the tax, which was notarized, and then someone appears offering  a very reasonable price for the property (it has happened often so in the golden days, long before the crisis began). Then the heirs decide to sell, and therefore the buyer acquires the property and agrees to pay a high price. It can even be possible that a bank finances the operation with the warranty that the property the buyer is going to acquire is theoretically free from encumbrances. But this is not quite true: there are responsibilities in respect of the property, which are recorded in the register of deeds but of which very often no one thinks (nor the buyer who acquires, nor the notary who certifies the transaction, neither the bank who risks his money): State tax authorities have the right to review the tax declarations filed in each transfer of ownership, and if they do not agree with the calculation and the amount paid at the time of the acquirement, they can unilaterally make a new calculation of the tax, having the warranty, that the property is encumbered in any case to cover potential liabilities to tax authorities, regardless of who nowadays the owner is.

This would mean in our example that the tax authorities could present to the buyer a nasty surprise if it turned out that the conditions for exemption at the time of acquisition of the property by inheritance have not been met: as the real estate acquired by inheritance using the tax deduction should now be charged with a liability to which the current owner has nothing to do. And the tax, which is calculated by the tax authorities unilaterally to be paid by the children or the spouse of the deceased person, the former owners of the property, may represent a high percentage of its value.

That is why we always recommend not signing any contract or pre-contract of sale without first checking with the lawyer the problems that may arise in each case. This case is just one example of the many troubles, lying in wait for buyers at the time of signing the contract without diligence. However, there are many other cases, which include a big risk. The tax authorities are currently in need of resources due to the crisis and have at their disposal a large number of idle officials, who are currently engaged in audits of all types of legal transactions in the last four years (inheritance, sale, donation, etc.), looking for an excuse to be able to submit payments of additional taxes that are still enforceable, and require the additional appropriate amount.

Carlos Prieto Cid – Lawyer

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The European tax authorities strengthen their cooperation

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Over the years, we have seen from our office how the Spanish tax office has improved its channels of cooperation with other European tax agencies to the extent that they now share all kinds of information about their respective taxpayers.

This cooperation was limited so far to the prosecution of real estate registered in public inventories in Spain under the name of taxpayers of other countries who had debts in the stage of execution owed to their corresponding state treasury. The Spanish tax office acted as a debt collector to recover the foreign debt, which remained unpaid by the taxpayer, being resident or not, through an action against his property in Spain.

Now, cooperation between tax agencies is going ahead and is being developed in the framework of management or control processes initiated on the basis of data and indicators provided by foreign tax authorities.

The most common case is the experience of foreign retirees living in Spain, with rents, which are in principle tax free, but who are obligated to declare them due to the progressivity of taxes on personal income. Double taxation agreements between Spain and other countries declare as exempted from payment of tax on personal income in the State of residence the pensions paid from public funds of the other State. Starting from this premise, many foreign pensioners living in Spain considered unnecessary to comply with the obligation to provide an annual declaration of personal income. However, many of these retirees receive income from the rental of real estate or bank interests, which must be declared to the Spanish tax authorities. In addition, most of these retirees supplement their income paid out of funds created by the state with other pensions paid from private funds, which are generally much higher than the amount that is considered exempt. Due to the progressivity of the tax on personal income, the percentage that would correspond to the total income earned by a resident in Spain is the one to be applied to calculate the tax on these other private rents which are not exempted. As a result, the final amount of tax paid to the fiscal authorities may be much higher.

In these difficult times, the Spanish state has resorted to claiming the difference between the amount really paid and the ones that should have been paid. It also requires the respondents to perform their official duties. And all this thanks to the valuable cooperation it receives from foreign fiscal authorities, who once benefited from the pursuit of real estate in Spain to their countrymen.

Carlos Prieto Cid – Lawyer

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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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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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New legal requirements for holiday homes

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Our costs welcome millions of visitors during each season. Not all of them are owners of an apartment or a property or stay in a hotel. The majority of them decide to rent a holiday home during the stay. A new legislation fights against the black market on this sector and wants to guarantee the maintenance of our touristic brand.

The new legislation addresses to the touristic sector not (like in the past and without any great success) to the housing sector itself. This law considers a “vivienda de uso vacacional” those properties that are conceded by the owner, directly or indirectly, to other persons in exchange of a consideration. Because of this, every accommodation must have a “cédula de habitabilidad” and ensure that there is enough furniture and equipment according to the number of offered places for visitors. The “cédula de habitabilidad“ is a proof of flat’s habitability which is prepared by the architect and has to be proposed at local housing authority.

How to convert a house or an apartment into a „vivienda de uso vacacional“? The law simplifies this procedure by using the so-called „régimen de comunicación previa“. Hereby it is only necessary to display the intention to rent the flat at the local administration and without any delay it could be started with renting. In this display the owner declares the responsibility to ensure the necessary amount of above-named equipment. He also needs, besides the identity card, the „cédula de habitabilidad“, a confirmation of energy supply and an insurance contract with an adequate coverage.

In this point the municipality is getting involved. This means that it is possible that the community charges a certain fee which could be established in the financial regulation. It would be desirable that administration wouldn’t take advantage of this to generate new revenue. The law intends to secure the quality of the offered holiday homes and it doesn’t want to increase costs which could have the opposite effect namely a promotion of shadow economy. The success of this law depends on an easy handling without further costs as well as on a resolute control.

A holiday homes status as a “vivienda de uso vacacional” means that it could not be turned into a main or secondary residence. The owner has to register guests’ personal data and, in accordance to local security service, send them to the central administration of the police. The stay in a holiday home with this status could not last longer than three months.

Another question that should be answered is that it is not allowed to split the holiday homes. Some owners of larger estates usually rent single rooms to different persons. Or in some cases there are different segregated fully furnished apartments. In these case the law states that rent is only possible if there is an own „cédula de habitabilidad“ for each lodging. If there is none, the „régimen de apartamentos turisticos“ is applicable. For this it is necessary to show a reception with at least 10 square meters. Furthermore the minimum standards for hotels like weakly cleaning are to be maintained.

Carlos Prieto Cid, Lawyer

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The donatio mortis causa

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The death is not predictable, but in certain cases we should be aware of the end, for example in cases of high age or severe disease. In Catalonia the law gives us an almost unknown possibility of partitioning our heritage and foreseeing its costs in advance.

This method is called donation mortis causa and it has many advantages compared to a common donation. The donation mortis causa is a kind of donation which could always be used if the object of the donation is real estate in Catalonia. It has many advantages in comparison to a common donation or the regular heritage. But you have to keep certain rules to ensure its acceptance by authorities.

Mainly it is a donation where the transfer of property at first does not occur but it takes effect in the moment of the donator’s death. The Spanish common law (that is the civil law of the regions of Spain with no own law, such as Catalonia) doesn’t really regard it as a donation: it is simply considered parallel to a legacy. But in Catalonia there is an own legal instrument which admits the donatio mortis causa under the following conditions:

  • Free revocability for the donator, which also means that the transfer of property at first doesn’t occur.
  • Its ineffectiveness if the donee predeceases, which means that the expectation is ineffective if the donee dies before the donator. In this case the property remains at the donator without any limitations.

The most important advantage in comparison to the common donation is a fiscal one. In case of the common donation the tax becomes due in the moment of the property transfer. In case of a donatio mortis causa the due date is not before the death of the donator.  And, on the other hand, the common donation is liable to the gift tax. At this kind of tax there is no amount of exemption allowed. But the donatio mortis causa is treated by authorities in the same way as a legacy, which means that it is liable to the inheritance tax. Here we can take profit of the legally alllowed amount of tax exemption.

But there are even more advantages in comparison to other possibilities of property transfers in the occasion of death, especially the simplicity of handling. It is neither necessary to define the successor exactly, nor to constitute who has to pay out for a certain legacy nor has the efficacy of the testament to be confirmed. This is especially important in cases of property transfers in case of heritage by foreigners. Here the law of the foreign country is always applicable. This is a point where foreign authorities come into play and make things more complicated. With the donatio mortis causa we avoid this in the moment of the formation of the contract and also in the moment of the enforcement of the property transfer as well. The title of ownership is created according to the rules to the lifetime of the donator. And for the enforcement  of the property transfer only the death certificate is needed (and no other documents else).

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

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