Fred James

I have closed the original thread as we have now gone well past the final date for asset declarations for 2012.

The original thread ran to well over 1500 posts which is a record for a thread on the main Spain forum.

More surprisingly it was conducted extremely well and off topic posts were almost non existent until a day ago and there were no personal attacks. This must be a first for such a long thread!

No warnings issued, no PMs and no deleted posts (apart from a recent crazy off topic post about printer paper!!) It makes my Mod's job easier for a change!

My thanks for this go to all the contributors, and there were many.

This new thread is in place to enable the discussion to continue, not so much about the way to make the asset declaration as that has been well covered. It is to discuss what happens next.

Will all the declarants get backdated tax demands?

Will those that did not declare get chased and fined for not declaring assets over 50K? If so how will Hacienda find the hidden assets?

Will Hacienda introduce new taxes on these assets?

Will they reduce the wealth tax threshold?

Who knows - I certainly don't.

There have been a number of posts on this subject on the old thread over the last few days but it is not practical for me to incorporate them in this new thread.

You can always go back to the old thread and cut and paste comments and reply to them or just start a new post.

The original thread is at http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=784875

Let's see if this one runs to 1500 posts!

jackytoo

Well hopefully it will get nil posts as no one is chased for tax

me me

And the Queen will abdicate and run off with Peter Andre.

Now back to the real world

Domino

I would like to say Thank You to Fred James for his continual monitoring of the Overseas Asset Declaration thread, nudging and very rarely pushing back into place. He seems to have become by default our Expert on the subject and has answered repeated questions with calm and knowledge.

I personally have recommended to several people both BE and that thread knowing that you wouldn't let false information get through
Because of the hard work there were 1637 posts BUT 74,388 viewings, surely another record
Thank You Fred,

Lospacoshombre

Here Here! Fred James is a total star! The thread has helped me decide on my next course of action. I can only admire The dedication of Fred and other members.

Best regards
Al

jamiest

Ditto from me.

jennieJ

Fingers crossed from me as well. Well done Fred

bobd22

Fred you as always have done a great job providing accurate information, thank you

jimenato

Fred

HBG

You're a control freak, what a terrible way to live.










































You're a control freak, what a terrible way to live.

megmet

Thank you and well done Fred.....I hope your head has stopped hurting now.

CapnBilly

I thought this was an interesting post on the original thread for two reasons.

We would have had a bit of a dilemma if we had still been there. We always paid tax on income entering Spain but never declared income from stocks, offshore dividends or property. The Spanish way was always offer them a fair tax payment and they will leave you alone, our Gestor said the same. If we had fully declared we could have been liable for at least 4 years back tax plus surcharges. If we didn't declare we would have always been scared of the massive fines for non-compliance.....

Firstly, there is an interesting moral issue, about whether it is right to just declare income that you were happy to pay tax on, and ignore other income that you had elsewhere. I also find it interesting that a "professional" advisor, tells you thats it's okay.

The second issue is, following the announcement on Thursday about a greater exchange of information between countries of the EU. Does this mean that you are more likely to be found out, and if you are, and you have become non-resident, you would presumably still be liable to back taxes and fines, for when you were resident here. In other words, is the exchange of information just current, or is it retrospective.

Neptuno

Fred said they should have paid the taxes when they were due;Obviously a lot didn't, according the number of adverts that offer to legalise your tax affairs and get a tax refund from the UK. What if they decided to be legal and pay their taxes-they will be so scared of the fines and back tax that they will continue to live under the radar.Isn't the stick approach counter productive?
Why not get them to see an accountant who will liaise with the hacienda, and come to an aagreement-better to start paying tax now than nothing.All the holier than thou people subscribing to this post-are your tax affairs whiter than white?did you start paying your taxes the minute you became tax resident?thought not!

CapnBilly

Not sure of the basis of your comment, I personally have submitted a tax return for every year that I have been a tax resident. I'll let others speak for themselves.

Neptuno

The use of the word in my post"you" is general , not personal to any poster.I am just saying that if someone now wants to be tax legal in Spain it will be very difficult for them , and it would be better to encourage people and get their taxes than let them continue under the radar.many expats I have met since coming to Spain have never paid tax here and have no intention of doing so; It annoys me, as I pay mine, and worry over everything. It would be interesting to know what proportion of ex pats are tax legal here.