swinbc

Could someone advise how you go about deregistering Residencia (European Register Cerificate) when you want to return to the UK. What documentation is necessary to complete, who to notify and if it is better done before or after returning to the UK.
Also do you continue to be taxed in Spain until the end of the Spanish tax year.
I assume it is better to wait until your property is sold and completed but then I would be immediately leaving Spain and no time to run around.
Any accurate upto date advise would be very much appreciated.

Fred James

You deregister in exactly the same way as you registered - same office, same form, different box to tick. All you should need is your existing certificate and passport.

If you exceed 183 days in the year you are deemed tax resident for the whole of the year.

Neptuno

I'm in the same boat.
Once you've deregistered, you are no longer covered for free healthcare, as you are no longer a resident.
If you should become ill, or have an accident between deregistering and starting your journey back to the UK,you are in no man's land. You are not covered by Spain or UK.
I've asked this before, nobody has ever answered this.
Regards tax , you have to deregister from the tax system, yet you are resident for tax until the end of the tax year if spent 183 + days in Spain
Logically, you should only pay tax upto the day you leave if you deregister from the Spanish tax system
Also how does it affect your exemption from Cgt, being over 65, tax resident, having lived in the main residence for three years, if you return to UK after selling your house?

snikpoh

Why would that be logical? Spain has different rules - UK has different rules. UK runs April - March and Spain January - December.

You get annual allowances and the tax system is annual.

Why is one system any more logical than the other?

Neptuno

You deregister from the tax system,but still have to pay for the whole year?

Fred James

Yes you do. Unlike the UK, you cannot split tax years. Even in the UK, although they allow you to split tax years on entry or exit, it is by special concession, not by law.

You cannot de register in Spain as such. Your tax situation is determined by the facts. Even if you advise the tax office that you consider yourself no longer tax resident they are unlikely to accept that without proof that you are now tax resident in the UK.

it's the same if you leave the UK. HMRC will not normally consider you non resident until you prove you are tax resident somewhere else. Becoming a tax nomad is extremely difficult!

I would not worry about the health care aspect. If you qualified for health cover as a UK pensioner that is not connected to your tax residency. The UK will keep picking up the cost until you have signed back onto the UK NHS.

Also, if you sell the house in the year that you are tax resident and were over 65 at the time, you will not pay CGT.

Neptuno

But what if after you show the Notary your tax cert, so 3% is not deducted, you go back to the UK, before you've spent 183 days in Spain. In that year.
Although you fulfilled the criteria at the time, will the taxman then say later that you were not tax resident for that year?

Fred James

I have no idea. He probably won't, but if you really want to know, you will have to try it.

CapnBilly

If you sell your property after you have been here 183 days, and then return to the UK, you complete a tax return as normal the following year, and claim reinvestment relief. You have to report the sale in order to qualify for the reinvestment relief.

In the changes to the tax legislation this year it was confirmed that if you sell your residence as a non-resident (i.e before 183 days) then you qualify for reinvestment relief if you buy a property in the UK, providing you follow the procedure. Essentially this means that the 3% is deducted, and you then report the sale on the Modelo 210, and you can also claim the reinvestment relief at the same time if you have already bought in the UK, or claim that you will be reinvesting. They have amended the guidance notes to reflect the change, and created some new codes to reflect this, although they are not showing on the system yet.

Saxy

On the point about deregistering and the health situation. When registering with a surgery in the UK, now, because of rising 'Health Turism', the NHS Fraud dept. require them to ask for proof that you are no longer a Spanish resident (I believe a lot don't ask this, but mine did!) If you have the stamped deregistered document, there will be no problems and the NHS will get your medical history from Spain. If you haven't deregistered, I'm told that the Spanish will not surrender them, as they will claim that you are still resident in Spain!
Without the dergistered document, the surgery may refuse your aplication.

Neptuno

If you are tax resident, over 65 and have lived in the property for 3+ years, you are obviously going to show the Notary your tax sertificate at time of completion
Afterwards you go back to the UK, and are treated as non resident
Are you saying that,despite the fact that you have the advantage of not having to have 3 % retained, because you fulfil the criteria, you should actually not show the Notary your tax certificate, because you are returning to the UK before 183 days?

Fred James

What document are you referring to? One from the national police or one from the taxman?

Maybe the town hall give you some sort of documentation when you sign off the Padron.

jimenato

No, the town hall just remove you from the register they don't give you anything (at least that was the case where we did it and I believe that's normal).

We were asked if we had been resident in the UK for more than 6 months. Had we said yes that would have been the end of it. However because we said no we had to have an interview and present evidence that we were resident in the UK. They were happy with house purchase docs, removal company invoice and dog re-registration docs. We were not asked for de-registration docs from Spain.

I guess, like Spain, different offices require different evidence.

Neptuno

It sounds as if you are talking about the Padron, not the deregisration document from the National police, which is what the other posters mentioned

Rosemary

Although the town hall does not give you a de-registration certificate they do have the ability to produce one so you can request one for a small fee. Part of sorting out the paperwork when Graham died involved me gaining such a certificate dated for the day he died to show that his padron had been terminated properly. I had not done this but of course because I live in a small town they had dealt with it when they heard the news. It cost the princely sum of 65 cents.

Rosemary