Just had that a Spanish guy has had his bank account embargoed as the tax authorities say that they owe him money as his property was paid in part by black money. They want 8,000 euros. Has this happened to anyone else?

There was a thread running on this some time ago, I seem to recall.

It's all because the authorities are revisiting property sales and where they believe the property has been sold 'too cheaply' (based on cadastral value I guess), then they are claiming the unpaid tax.

The tax authorities say they owe him money? That'd be a first!

Graeme has quite a few customers who this has happened to but I think people tend to be keeping quiet about it. I think the taxman is catching up with everyone who didn´t declare the full amount when they bought their property. Perhaps next will be the turn of the illegal workers.

It does happen, we got a rebate after several years of trying to get our IBI sorted, honestly two weeks ago it arrived in our account
(oh IBI is now sorted lol)

You can't trust the banks here (unless you own one, of course). Best keep money under the colchón.
And a large Doberman handy...

In the window of my branch of the CAM bank there is a large poster in the window showing a man and, in English, the words "Due to my excesses, I hit rock bottom".
Do the Spanish understand irony?

Oh yes, the directors of CAM ran off with over 200 million euros each while CAM is the most rotton of all the Spanish banks

They understand irony alright

Not sure if this helps, but, while recently helping out an ex Spanish property owner (English), I found out that, if the tax authorities did not claim anything from them, within 4 years of the transaction, they could not enforce it. This was in Mallorca, so maybe this is different in other parts of Spain.

Happened to us about 4 years ago and had to pay an extra 1600 euros tax because the tax office decided we had under declared, which of course we had but were advised to do so by our solicitor.

We were charged more too back in the 90's. We got a demand about 6 months after purchase for a few thousand extra. The annoying thing was that we declared the full sales price. Hacienda have a fixed price and won't budge. There is an appeal system but our Lawyer said it is rare for anyone to win. If you appeal you still need to pay the money first, getting a Lawyer to handle it costs and then a high fee for the technico to do a valuation.

You shouldn't get an embargo if you pay up.

I'm pleased I left my main bank account with a good old English bank back in the UK. It was Abbey, but it's now called Santander. I was assured that it's an English Santander, if that makes any sense.

My previous bank manager here in Spain, who has since retired on a fantastic pension, once told me that in the case of an embargo, he could change my account over so as not to include it. I'm still glad it never happened and only leave a minimum amount in my Spanish bank for standing orders and the like.

If the tax is not paid there will also be an embargo against the property. If you want to sell there will be loads of interest to pay it off...even interest on interest

The UK Santander should be run fully independently of the Spanish Santander.

They recently received a warning not to try using UK funds to prop up their Spanish business.

Having said that the UK Santander had a dreadful track record during its first few years, though more recently it's said that steps have been taken to improve things.

That's my understanding of it too. And who can you trust in the banking world?

I used to bank with Nat West, then they became RBS and are now practically skint. God knows what's going to happen with Barclays. I was with the Woolwich once and still have a pass book, but they seem to have disappeared altogether.

(I won't mention Caja Rural Central, it's too embarrassing).