bobd22

Not my views Fred just intrigued me when I saw the post and a link I found referring to discrimination.

Fred James

No Bob, that wasn't aimed at you!

bobd22

The only way I could see possible discrimination is for those with joint bank accounts as in reality they must declare their savings / investments at 1/2 of the 50,000 limit as it is the total not the amount you own that counts. You could say well they could just put into a seperate account, however it could be that they are in a tied account with penalties to change. I would imagine that more EU expats than Spanish will own property outside Spain I.e. their home country but as you say hard to make a case of discrimination there.

Mitzyboy

Yes but thats just circumstance, not discrimination.

If I were a Spaniard I would probably have moved dosh out of Spain, but they tend to go for the blanket option :-)

At the end of the day it goes back to the original 720 discussion. You either accept it .... or you move on where you arent so concerned about it

guirijohn

The EU Commission has said that it is not against the declaration of assets in principle. However, it has agreed to investigate a complaint that 720 is contrary to the free movement of capital because it discourages outward investment to other EU countries.

The grounds are that, there is no equivalent requirement to declare assets within Spain; the fines are disproportionate and much higher than those for not paying tax due on onshore assets; there is no automatic presumption that onshore assets are funded by undeclared income; there is no time limit for prosecuting non declaration of offshore assets, whereas there is a four year limit for tax evasion involving onshore assets where no money laundering is involved; there is part remission of fines for late and voluntary disclosures of tax due on Spanish assets, not so with 720.

720 is unlikely to disappear but Spain may well be required to revise the penalties.

classified

Thank you all for enlightening me.

bobd22

I am not concerned about it at all as non resident. Again just a view in relation to the discussion.

chopera

This makes sense.

Fred James

Not strictly true. Wealth tax still exists and all assets, including assets in Spain are included in this. Admittedly, the first €million or so may be excluded, but it is still there.

guirijohn

Precisely, the limits for wealth tax are more lenient and the penalties less harsh. An incentive not to invest outside Spain.

bobd22

I suppose as well which Spanish residents are more likely to have moderate investments or properties outside of Spain, your average Spaniard or average EU expat not just UK? Anyway I would imagine even if they did get told to either do away with it or water it down would that make much difference? Given that many have now either gone the non resident part time route or admitted all! They have the information now.

chopera

The problem is that if the Spanish authorities are told to water it down, what happens to previous corruption cases where the 720 has been used as evidence? Such a the Pujols who, I imagine, have rather expensive lawyers working for them.

bobd22

That I have no idea on, without doubt there will be some very wealthy Spaniards caught up in this I suppose we will just have to wait the no doubt years for the EU to grind its way through its motions of looking at the legal issues.