Mark604

My head is going round in circles and I'm hoping I can get some clarification from those who know about these sorts of things and have experience.
In short, I have a house in Spain. I do not have any property in the UK and have not been there apart from about ten days in 2016.
I have only spent three weeks or so in Spain in the last year and my house is either empty or being used by family. I do not have Spanish residency.
I have no income but receive a UK pension which is paid into a UK bank account.
I spend my time (luckily maybe) travelling around different countries, not just Europe but Africa and Asia, but at any one time I rarely spend more than a month in each country. Usually when the tourist visa expires, I move on.
My mail is delivered to my brother's house in Spain.

I've been contacted by my UK bank which at the moment has my address as the Spain house and they want me to verify my identity, initially but I hope finally, by filling out a form called a "CRS Individual Self-Certification Form" giving my name an address.

I don't think I fulfill the criteria to be any more a UK resident, nor probably that of Spain. Practically, I don't reside anywhere but am a UK passport holder.
My fear is that if they do not accept my circumstances, they may block my account or something else which I don't know.
Also, due to my circumstances, it'd be nearly impossible to open another account at any other bank who would require certain paperwork like utility bills etc, that I'd be struggling to provide other than maybe a Spanish one.

I am aware ultimately I may have to speak face to face with the bank to get full info of what the score is, but I'm hoping for now they may just accept their basic form requiring name and address - but will they accept a Spanish address?
Any thoughts?

Mark604

P.S. There is something that is quite mind boggling to add - they sent me a letter about this verification. They notified my online bank account it was sent. I phoned them and said I am not near the UK for some time, so they told me roughly what it was about.
The strange thing though is they said that as my account has just the initial for my middle name, the system wouldn't accept my passport as ID because the middle name is in full. Nor would the system accept a utility bill only using my first and last names, as the middle initial was missing.

I was told I have to go back to the UK, go to a bank branch, change the bank account name to include the full middle name, wait 7 days for the system to process it, go back and use my passport as ID, wait 7 days again to see if it is accepted, go back if it is, change the account name again, now to not include a middle name or initial, wait 7 days, go back, offer my utility bill wait 7 days, go back and change the account name to what I wanted again.
I think I was talking to an idiot.

Loafing Along

Not sure who you bank with in the UK but I would just send the form. It has become standard procedure to ask for this information.
This link explains what it is all about :
https://www.nsandi.com/common-reporting-standard#02

Mark604

Thanks for that info.
I would hope they'd accept my Spain address as I don't have a UK one, and leave it at that.

ned flanders

Are you being chased by Interpol? Where were you born and who do you pay tax on your pension? That must be some pension or do you travel round the world with a sleeping bag?

Mark604

No. UK. UK. Enough.

MikeJ

I would have thought that if you have a UK passport and a UK pension and pay UK taxes then you must be legally domiciled in the UK whether you have an address or not. Although I could be mistaken.
Maybe you should organise an accommodation address in the UK for convenience or you may end up having to prove that your only address (Spain) is your default residence and therefore have to declare to all your worldwide income to the Spanish authorities and pay Spanish taxes. The system doesn't like nomads.

The bank form is a standard process to prevent money laundering - sounds like your bank is run by plonkers or I'd have suggested them for the address. Do you know a good solicitor or family member you could trust?

PS, next time your near one of those exotic marinas you could ask one of the bloated plutocrats on his enormous yacht how he manages his taxes

Mark604

"I would have thought that if you have a UK passport and a UK pension and pay UK taxes then you must be legally domiciled in the UK whether you have an address or not."
Me too.

I'm also now in the process of setting up an accommodation address, though I did have one before and had very, very poor service from them whenever I received a letter. So I stopped it a few years ago.
The concern is that they will take the Spain address and I'll end up having to pay Spanish taxes etc on my UK (unfortunately not worldwide) income.
I'll have a word with my mate Alan Sugar and Roman Abramovich and see what they do.

snikpoh

There's a big difference between domicile and residence.

Most of us, even though we live in Spain, are still domiciled in UK!

Mark604

Does that mean you don't have a UK address? If so, is your bank ok with that?

Loafing Along

I don't have a Uk address bank quite OK with that situation .

irismary

We had the same sort of letter from one of our banks in UK asking for verification of identity and address. This for an account we have had for over 40 years, and an address here in Spain for the past 14 years. The identity problem easily solved with a notarised copy of passports - but, oh dear! the address was difficult. To submit utility bills for our Spanish address would have meant notarised translations, and as the facturas are in my husbands name, and the account was joint, nothing to verify my address! All this for an almost dormant account, just kept because of the difficulties of opening another. I had already made a monthly standing order into this account for a paltry sum just to keep it open. I spoke to the banks customer services, who agreed that we were in some difficulty regarding the address verification, and they would make a note on our account. However, we kept getting more reminders to identify ourselves. I got so fed up that I have closed the account. That in itself wasn´t easy as you have to empty the account into another bank before closing it. And, we are still getting reminders to verify our details.....I may as well say, the bank is HSBC.

Mark604

Yes, well, the bank I have is the HSBC as well. This may happen to me.
As mentioned above, I have spoken with the bank who mentioned about the name problem, i.e. middle initial on the account, full middle name on passport and no middle name on utility bill and the ridiculous way it would have to be resolved.
Unfortunately it is my main day to day account so I will need to sort something out.
I've emailed for now what they have requested and I'll have to see what their reaction is.

Eric S

Sorry for possibly opening up another can of worms, but...

If you are not resident in Spain and own property there, do you pay non-resident's tax for that property to Spain?

- Eric S.

Mark604

Yes.