British Expats

British Expats (https://britishexpats.com/forum/)
-   Spain (https://britishexpats.com/forum/spain-75/)
-   -   Declaring assets/income (https://britishexpats.com/forum/spain-75/declaring-assets-income-822922/)

Fred James Jan 27th 2014 1:28 am

Re: Declaring assets/income
 

Originally Posted by Porth (Post 11098717)
Is the tax year in Spain please Jan - December? So if one became resident in say July 2014 would the revenue stream be split between countries or would the fiscal residency test cut in and then election to pay taxes comes into being?

The tax year is the calendar year. If you become tax resident in Spain then you are deemed tax resident for the whole of that year, irrespective of when you actually arrived.

The UK is different and they, by extra statutory concession, allow split tax years either when leaving or returning.

Porth Jan 27th 2014 1:33 am

Re: Declaring assets/income
 
thanks am grateful

missile Jan 27th 2014 2:18 am

Re: Declaring assets/income
 
Residents in Spain are taxed on their worldwide income in Spain, just like residents of USofA are taxed on their worldwide income in the US.

CapnBilly Jan 27th 2014 6:21 am

Re: Declaring assets/income
 

Originally Posted by marcbernard (Post 11098709)
The first thing to remember is that a RESIDENT of Spain in receipt of two (or more) pensions one of which is as a result of having worked in the Civil Service, Police or similar organisation, has until recently (see below) benefited from two seperate countries' tax allowances. The CS etc pension would be taxable in UK (and tax would be due if the UK personal allowance(s) are all used up). The State and other (private) pensions would not be taxable in UK provided of course that the required registration as a Spanish citizen had been made. These items, along with other world income, would be taxable in Spain unless the threshold had not been exceeded.
An exception to the above would be if income arose from property within UK, and this would be subject to UK tax, and also in Spain; but the machinations of a Double Taxation agreement would come into play so that you would only pay tax on this income at the higher of the two regimes.
Another quirk has now apeared in that whilst the existence of a CS etc pension was ignored totally in Spain up to (probably) 2013, a revised agreement, which has I understand yet to be implemented, allows for the UK element to be taken into account in calculating the rate of Spanish tax on world wide income. However there can still be no tax deducted by Spain on the UKCS etc pension. Thus, on my understanding, if your total world income minus the CS etc pension does not of itself give rise to Spanish Tax liability, none would be due.

It calculates your marginal tax rate, less the various allowances, that you would pay if the Government pension was included. It then applies this rate to any income that is taxable. So in a sense you are correct if your income in Spain is below your allowances, but if you have a state pension, it doesn't take much to take you over.

According to my calculations, an individual over 65 will start paying tax on any income in Spain over €7200 (£6000 - basic state pension) if you have a government pension over £2450. If you are under 65 and have the same level of income in Spain, it's a Government pension of about £1700

HBG Jan 27th 2014 7:14 am

Re: Declaring assets/income
 
Perhaps it's mainly because of our sheer numbers (a million), we have expat 'help' organisations for anything an expat could possibly want help with.

But we've come unstuck with modelo 720, and no longer give advice on foreign asset declarations and even recommendations for tax advisors who have all been getting it wrong.

It's uncanny; we've sorted out the residencia and Spanish driving licences, inheritance tax, funeral insurance and neighbourhood watch, but this latest tax, or just the threat of it . . . . ?

Porth Jan 27th 2014 8:12 am

Re: Declaring assets/income
 
So to get one's head around this. Say 70 years of age and for discussion only with collective annual income made up of State + private pension of £30000 what would be the tax payable in Spain? Indeed in Spain is a household tax or is one taxed on individual earnings?

Last year at the Parador in Javea Blevin Franks suggested one would be better off paying one's tax in France and hence a resident. But he went further and said that was the only advantage he could see by living in France and not Spain!

Such a difficult concept and not to be taken in isolation. There are so many other things to take into account and no-one I know has yet come up with a spread sheet that takes everything into account.

So taken in the round where should it be folks UK/France/Spain or somewhere else? Or just somewhere where you truly are happy?

Perth Jan 27th 2014 9:58 am

Re: Declaring assets/income
 
So, Sylvia (that's my friend) has come back with this question (as you are mostly discussing incomes) - what about the proceeds from the sale of her shop? Will she face taxation on that? Thanks again :)

missile Jan 27th 2014 2:49 pm

Re: Declaring assets/income
 
Presumably at present she is tax resident in USA? She will be selling her shop before she leaves and will thus be subject to pay whatever tax is due in USA.

Perth Jan 27th 2014 11:03 pm

Re: Declaring assets/income
 

Originally Posted by missile (Post 11100130)
Presumably at present she is tax resident in USA? She will be selling her shop before she leaves and will thus be subject to pay whatever tax is due in USA.

Yes, of course, she expects that, but was wondering whether she would have to declare the sale to the Spanish gov and be taxed again.

I think the question here is really whether what she has made in income or holds in assets in another country PRIOR to taking up residency is even relevant.

It's a pity for them because she has a successful British goods shop here in Florida and might even consider opening one in Spain. She's now having second thoughts about even moving there.

Fred James Jan 28th 2014 12:25 am

Re: Declaring assets/income
 

Originally Posted by perthhomeschool (Post 11100570)
Yes, of course, she expects that, but was wondering whether she would have to declare the sale to the Spanish gov and be taxed again.

I think the question here is really whether what she has made in income or holds in assets in another country PRIOR to taking up residency is even relevant.

Remember that in Spain you are always tax resident for the whole year so if you sell a property in say, February, before coming to Spain then arrive in Spain in June, you will be deemed tax resident from January the first so there would be a tax liability on the sale.

The same goes for pension lump sums.

Neptuno Jan 28th 2014 2:00 am

Re: Declaring assets/income
 
I wonder how many realise that? Very few I bet! If this is the case, then someone who goes back to the UK would have to pay IHT to Spain if her spouse died in the UK, or CGT if she won the lottery? Can you see that happening?Surely, if de registered properly from the Spanish tax system, these taxes would not be due?
Actually, I have seen a question regarding this situation on another forum, and the lawyer answering said that any CGT due on a house (their only house) sold by a person resident in the UK, then moving to Spain afterwards in the same year, would be due in the UK!
Confusing!

EsuriJohn Jan 28th 2014 8:36 am

Re: Declaring assets/income
 

Originally Posted by CapnBilly (Post 11099530)
It calculates your marginal tax rate, less the various allowances, that you would pay if the Government pension was included. It then applies this rate to any income that is taxable. So in a sense you are correct if your income in Spain is below your allowances, but if you have a state pension, it doesn't take much to take you over.

According to my calculations, an individual over 65 will start paying tax on any income in Spain over €7200 (£6000 - basic state pension) if you have a government pension over £2450. If you are under 65 and have the same level of income in Spain, it's a Government pension of about £1700

Fred posted this on another thread:-

[QUOTE=Fred James;10573517]As for your question about rates and allowances you get a personal allowance of 5151. If you are over 65 you get an additional 918. This goes up to 2040 at 75.

You also get a general allowance of 4080 – 2652 (sliding scale on incomes from 9180 – 13260)

My comments would be:-

The UK State Pension is currently £107 per week that is £8564 pa. If you gross that up at €1.20 that's €10276 pa.

A 65 year old with just a state pension would have an allowance of:-

€5151+€918+€4080 giving a tax allowance of €10149 just a smidgen under the UK State pension. However if like us your wife is on less than the full pension level a joint submission shows no tax to pay.

If you are correct then even with the changes to the DTT affecting our Government Pensions will show no extra tax to pay.

CapnBilly Jan 28th 2014 9:17 am

Re: Declaring assets/income
 
[QUOTE=EsuriJohn;11101537]Fred posted this on another thread:-


Originally Posted by Fred James (Post 10573517)
As for your question about rates and allowances you get a personal allowance of 5151. If you are over 65 you get an additional 918. This goes up to 2040 at 75.

You also get a general allowance of 4080 – 2652 (sliding scale on incomes from 9180 – 13260)

My comments would be:-

The UK State Pension is currently £107 per week that is £8564 pa. If you gross that up at €1.20 that's €10276 pa.

A 65 year old with just a state pension would have an allowance of:-

€5151+€918+€4080 giving a tax allowance of €10149 just a smidgen under the UK State pension. However if like us your wife is on less than the full pension level a joint submission shows no tax to pay.

If you are correct then even with the changes to the DTT affecting our Government Pensions will show no extra tax to pay.


I think you need a new calculator or keyboard, as a number of your figures are incorrect.

Firstly the basic state pension is currently £110.15 pw and is going up again in April to £113.10, so thats either £5,727 or £5,881. I rounded it up to £6,000.

I'm afraid that Spanish tax doesn't work in the way you describe. It will take your total worldwide income ( including government pension) and deduct your earned income allowance. It then works out the tax on that amount, and deducts the personal allowance at the basic rate, and the amount is then calculated as a percentage ( this is what I call your marginal tax rate) say 8%. So this the rate at which you would have paid if you had been paying tax on all your income.

It then applies this rate to the income that is taxable in Spain.

I can assure you that the figures I have quoted are more or less correct, as I put them through the Padre model to make sure they were right.

Whether you believe them or not is upto you. I posted them for information, so people were aware if what is likely to happen.

EsuriJohn Jan 28th 2014 10:01 am

Re: Declaring assets/income
 
[QUOTE=CapnBilly;11101602]

Originally Posted by EsuriJohn (Post 11101537)
Fred posted this on another thread:-




I think you need a new calculator or keyboard, as a number of your figures are incorrect.

Firstly the basic state pension is currently £110.15 pw and is going up again in April to £113.10, so thats either £5,727 or £5,881. I rounded it up to £6,000.

I'm afraid that Spanish tax doesn't work in the way you describe. It will take your total worldwide income ( including government pension) and deduct your earned income allowance. It then works out the tax on that amount, and deducts the personal allowance at the basic rate, and the amount is then calculated as a percentage ( this is what I call your marginal tax rate) say 8%. So this the rate at which you would have paid if you had been paying tax on all your income.

It then applies this rate to the income that is taxable in Spain.

I can assure you that the figures I have quoted are more or less correct, as I put them through the Padre model to make sure they were right.

Whether you believe them or not is upto you. I posted them for information, so people were aware if what is likely to happen.

Just goes to show you should not do mental arithmetic whilst listening Liverpool beat Everton in the derby.

I use PADRE to do my returns and it has not yet shown any tax to pay on our two state pensions. My wife who has a broken record only gets a proportion of the full state pension about £ 86 pw. Two years we have chosen the separate calculation but last year doing it that way showed a very small amount to pay for me so I recalculated on a joint basis and that reduced it to zero once more so that was the one we chose to submit.

It seems I am a year out of date and missed the £3 per week rise. I understand what you say about the complex calculation that PADRE carries out.

I am not sure how it will cope with a joint declaration when both partners have a State Pension and a Government Pension where one partner just exceeds the allowance and one is well below with the State Pensions will we still be zero overall. My GP and SP would mean I would pay tax but my wife would not on the individual basis but a joint submission should still show zero?

Fred James Jan 28th 2014 6:43 pm

Re: Declaring assets/income
 

Originally Posted by CapnBilly (Post 11101602)
I can assure you that the figures I have quoted are more or less correct, as I put them through the Padre model to make sure they were right.

I can confirm that. The calculation, when government pensions are involved, is less than straightforward and in most cases, although the government pension cannot be taxed directly, the effect is to increase the total tax bill, in some cases quite significantly.

I have run a series of simulations on PADRE and it is surprising what a big effect it has, even on relatively small incomes.


All times are GMT -12. The time now is 9:44 am.

Powered by vBulletin: ©2000 - 2026, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright © 2026 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.