Maybe1day

If I buy a used car from a dealer on say the 10th of January, Who is liable to pay the annual car tax?

Dxf

Hola,

Car tax is payable on the 1st January by the owner of the vehicle; however, many local authorities don't publish the price until February or march so it can be agreed between the buyer and seller as to who pays

Davexf

Maybe1day

When I have been the owner on the 1st of January I have always paid. Here in Torrevieja last year I bought a car in December, I duly received the request for payment around April of this year. Regarding the other car which I had sold at the end of January of this year, I received the request for payment in July with a small fine due to my not having paid in May because my address had changed and I had not received the payment module.
IBI was a similar issue, I bought the house on the 28th of January, Suma here told me That I had nothing to pay for that Year.
The case of the second hand car dealer is a bit different, who am I buying from, the previous owner or the dealer? If it is the previous owner then
there should be no IVA but with a dealer yes,

Maybe1day

Referring to your "Agreement" The first house I bought here was in May and we split the IBI. The second house I bought a few years later in January, the owner left me in the poop in many ways so i made no effort to pay IBI and he paid it for the whole year. On the last house also bought in January, SUMA here said I had nothing to pay and that they were already on the tail of the previous owner.from his bank account.

Maybe1day

Should just add another point, Maybe the seller of the car I might buy late in January traded it in in September for example, so who owns
the car from September to late in January?

spainrico

I was told at the notary last August that it is now becoming more common practise (I guess this means in Alicante province) to agree to split the IBI between seller/buyer - (which I agreed to) but I guess the house buyer can still object and refuse to pay.

Good question re cars - I don't know if the dealers actually register them in their names - I would doubt it.

Maybe1day

Re the house, There were many letters that arrived for the previous owner which I duly returned to sender, Around July I saw that 2 were for SUMA, so I took them personally to them.
They opened them saying they were for IBI and Rubbish collection and that they were none of my business, They told me they were already taking measures for
the monies due. As they had my bank details too they said that this year they would deduct automatically from my account all dues which is what they have done,
after I had received the advices.
No complaints and no contact from previous owner.

bfg69bug

Second hand car dealers never put the car in their own name, and will generally take photocopies of all paperwork needed when they buy the vehicle.

so the old owner will own it until they sell it. if the 1st of january passes, the owner of the vehicle is liable, I would assume that they could go to the town hall and ask for a refund, citing the fact that its sat on a car sales parking lot.

Maybe1day

That is what I thought it would be and I have always done things correctly. If I get a chance to go past the SUMA office in TV I will ask about the official line but the Gestoria I dealt with recently was very clear too on whose responsibility it was. (Mine) but there was no intermediary such as a car sales Co.
Anyway thanks for the info, I might buy before the end of the year either privately or otherwise, with a DGT check. So it may not matter but if it gets close to the end of the year
it may be worth delaying for a couple of hundred euros.

bfg69bug

if there was no intermediary then its even clearer. The payment of the road tax is the responsibility of the owner of the vehicle on January 1st of each year. (although in some town halls the road tax bill is not sent to the houses until march / april etc) It has to be paid and then refunded (stupid computer programming) - if its not paid, it appears on your record as an unpaid bill, and accrues interest.

if i sold a car at Christmas, then the tax bill would be for the new owner. If i sell a car in February, then i would pay the car tax, then apply for a refund the next day, showing the bill of sale dated February, as well as the details of the new owner.

The same applies to a car parked up on your land but not yet scrapped etc - a project or parts car for example - the tax is applicable jan 1st wether its on the road or not. in the case of my 2nd Renault, thats only 52€ / year, but in the case of my mums Opel Omega, thats nearly € 300.00 to have it sitting there... It´ll be scrapped this month if nobody expresses an interest in it.

Maybe1day

I didn't know anything about a refund if I sold a car in say February or at least after Jan1st. I will go and ask our local Suma office next time I am in the area..
In my case before, I sold at the end of January, tried to pay the tax (BASE in Catalunya where I was living) They said I could not pay until 29th March.
I forgot and remembered again in July, I contacted BASE and they sent me a mail with the payment module (8 euros extra tax/fine for late payment etc)
which I went and paid immediately. I mentioned that I had sold the car in January, they said that I was the owner on the 1st Jan and that was that!

bfg69bug

If you can prove the sale then you can apply for a "devolucion" of the road tax. it might be instant, or they might drag it out for months. When its a 9€ / year moto nobody bothers and doesnt notice it coming out the bank.. but if there are 10,000 motos in the town all paying 9€ each.. its a big chunk they are recieving "twice" in effect... imagine it were 10,000 opel omegas at 300 each...