littlelambfound

Just a heads-up....apparently a new law comes into force requiring all non resident bank account holders to register their status with the police. Until they do, the account will be frozen.
Anyone have any more info?

debandsie

is this some sort of joke ?
what do you mean by status ?
i cant believe that there is any truth in this whatsoever. It will be an extremely brave or stupid person that would attempt to freeze my account.

jdr

Not heard a thing about it.
They just keep a percentage of the interest paid on your money if the account is non resident to pay the tax with.

littlelambfound

No joke. I've now read on two different forums with people claiming that they are unable to access their monies because they haven't got their status certificate from the local police station.
I know that on opening a non-res account, we are required to submit this, but many banks just ignore it. And they are also required to re-check your status every 2 years.
As my in-laws have a non-res account, I shall off to the bank pronto manana to see what's what.

jdr

The only renewal form I know of is one telling you that unless it has been changed to a resident account they will have to abide by the law and take a percentage of the interest on the account to pay the taxes.

Hillybilly

If you change your status to resident you should also change your bank acct to a resident's one from a non-resident's one. Friends had their non resident's acct frozen when they failed to do this after becoming resident (but this was under the old resident's card system). Is this what you mean/have heard?

Fred James

They do the same on a resident's account so I don't see where there is a problem.

littlelambfound

Having seen two threads on seperate boards remarking on the freezing of non-res bank accounts and having never heard of any type of penalty for not registering ones' status (and keeping in mind the difficult period some banks are going through)....my elbow started to itch.

snikpoh

As per several recent posts (on this forum) about this topic my situation was as follows;

Over 18 months ago I notified my bank that I was now resident and asked them to change my account accordingly. They failed to do so. They then contacted me threatening that as I was now resident (I can only assume that the police notified them of this as I am told this is possible), my account would be frozen unless I converted it.

Again, I provided them with copies of our residence certificate, passports etc. etc. but once more they failed to action the request.

Eventually, just two months ago now, they closed all my accounts and opened new ones - what a hasstle that was with DD's etc.

Any way, it's now done and I am once again legal.

Beachcomber

This is not a new law, it has been in existence for many years.

Every two years banks have to request non-residents to confirm their non-resident status and apply to the police for confirmation of continued non-resident status for which the client is charged about €10.

Failing to complete the form sent by the bank could result in the account being frozen.

Rotor

Then dont have an account in Spain because the authorities have this power!! Ive heard of this happening to people who are late paying motoring fines and taxes and it can take weeks to reopen the account, the authorities also have the power to help themselves to your money without notice

Now perhaps you will understand why there are so many safe/ strong boxes on sale in Spain!!Black money still rules here!!

Rgds

Rotor

debandsie

thanks rotor, however safe/strong boxes do not earn you interest. Please explain exactly what you mean by the authorities can help themselves to your money.( which authorites and for what reasons )
i have a non residents account - however, my bank, of their own doing opened a residents one for me so that i could earn some interest ( as there is a significant amount in my account ). so should i stay with that or move the money to the uk/ or elsewhere, where the spanish authorites cannot touch it ?

jurdyr

Not heard a thing about it and would think banks would email you are posted some think out if was a new law ........ Many be you account would frozen if your in the funny money are bussines lol

gill556

I have two sets of friends who have had their bank accounts frozen. This was because they returned to the UK and did not change their status and left their accounts as resident. They were paying regular amounts into their accounts to pay bills etc. which was somehow notified to the police who closed them and although there was money the banks refused to pay the D/D's or allow them to put further money into the account. They only discovered this when their electric was cut off for non payment. Eventually they opened a non residents account with another bank

Beachcomber

The only part the police have in this is to provide proof, or otherwise, of non-residence. They would not have closed the bank account. This would have been done by the bank either of their own accord or on the instructions of AEAT.