as a pensioner I don't normally respond to midnight posts until the sun has come up over the mountains, so sorry if it seems a bit late.

sorry for the earlier post by one of our "members" who doesn't even live in Spain anymore, such a post shows the forum in a very bad light.

What months are you considering spending in Spain and has your compass started pointing you in any particular directions yet? or is it still dancing around all over the place?

Spain is a very diverse country and tbh you will find a wide range of weather conditions on any one day. And although we don't always hit the lows that parts of Scotland reach, we actually have many parts that are at lower temperatures than most parts of England in the winter.

For retirement, even on a part-time basis this country has so much to offer from just plain relaxation to sightseeing with an abundance of historical places.

Hope you enjoy the looking and eventually moving out here. the BH and I have no regrets.
rgds

that's where I live

tell them to seek me out & I'll either know what/who they want to know about or I'll know how to find out

I don't mind the editing, Jim, I'm just not sure that you're right. Early on in the week I was only just the driver but listened to a Spanish solicitor explaining an extremely complicated case to an English couple concerning tax, inheritance, two deaths, Spanish nationality etc etc, where my baffled wife was interpreting for the baffled couple from the UK.

The Spanish solicitor was totally neutral, unlike Blevins and Franks and the other tax advisors advising us expats who want us to buy their products; and when it came to fiscal residence in Spain where tax was already being paid elsewhere (e.g. the UK), the 183 days rule wasn't quite what we tend to think.

We all had a coffee or two after the official meeting with the solicitor and found that the earlier bafflement persisted even after the caffeine injections.

Hello again, and thanks for the welcome. I'll try not to inundate you with too many questions at a time, but I will ask.....

My husband worked abroad for many years. He has now retired and can't stand the cold up here in the north east of Scotland. Hence the months we are thinking of are from December to April. From what I can gather, the south coast would seem to offer what we need weatherwise, but the prices might be prohibitive. I've been looking at the Martos area and I really like the look of it.

Can anyone tell me what it's like in the winter? I did look online, but it seemed to be warm and sunny all last year, which confused me a bit.

Thanks again.

It's cold ... and dont let anyone tell you different.
Firstly, the houses are designed to keep them cool, not to keep heat in. So you will need the heating on, especially in the evenings when the sun has gone down. Conversely, I have sat out on the terrace to have lunch on many occasions in December and January.

Depending on the area you choose, you can go through a period of high winds. Especially true in the CB North in the areas South of Valencia down to Denia / Javea

Having said that, compared to the UK winter, its a relative doddle. Just dont assume that it is all warmth and sunn during the winter months in Spain

The 183 day rule is pretty much set in concrete and if you exceed that you are tax resident in Spain..

There may well be circumstances where you still pay tax in the UK, but that doesn't change your tax residency - UK government pensions and some other UK generated income are still taxed in the UK while you are Spanish tax resident.

That may be what he was alluding to.

Agree with Mitzy, Martos can be cold. I think we have someone here that lives there , maybe they'll pop in and give you some detailed info.
This is from a few years ago, but it's hardly changed, from someone that lives there answering the same question elsewhere. If good weather is a prerequisite maybe the Canaries would be an option.

I got the impression that the Spanish solicitor was advising that merely living in Spain for more than 183 days did not automatically make you a tax resident. He seemed to consider being a Spanish tax resident being an advantage to foreigners in Spain, which needed permission from both the UK tax authorities to leave their jurisdiction and the Spanish ones to allow them to participate in their system, which was by no means automatic in either case.

Becoming Spanish tax resident is the default unless you can challenge it on other (rather complicated) grounds. You certainly need to get HMRC to agree with the change to avoid being considered tax resident in the UK - if you don't do that they will continue treating you as UK tax resident.

Being a Spanish tax resident can be an advantage ....... IF:

A) You don't own property in both Spain and the UK
B) You don't selfishly die before your partner
C) You have a State and Government pension

Although:

the above is subject to change without any notice whatsoever. Your investments and life in general can go up as well as down dependent on what happens to some two bit country in a land you know nothing about, or a new Political party takes over in Government in Spain and decides to wreak havoc amongst the general expat population

Thank you for your replies. I hope someone from the area does come on to reply. We live in a coastal village and it's the sea wind that prevents us from going out, it seeps right into our bones. I wouldn't mind cold at night because we never go out much at night. Sunshine during the day would be good.

A very interesting post, could you please explain further point B in your post.

Also it would be very helpful for some posters if you could elaborate, as to how that situation can be avoided.

I am trying.....but....

I'm assuming that all of us pay tax somewhere, probably the UK before we come to Spain. I'm also assuming that we don't turn a funny colour after 184 days and people jump out of bushes to grab us to pay Spanish taxes. We can't anyway, HMRC need to give us permission to pay our taxes elsewhere, I believe it's quite complicated and needs documentary proof from our new place, Spain in this case.

The recent furore over Osborne's overseas taxes threat relate to British people hiding money in Switzerland, just like good old Barcenas, the significance being that Switzerland is outside the EU and not subject to mutual tax laws within the EU.

The UK and Spain are both EU members and already fully cooperate against tax evaders.

I don't know the answer but does it really matter if a few expat pensioners still pay their tax in the UK even if they've lived in Spain for a few years? It's all in the EU isn't it and Brussels just floats the money around to those that need it most.

Ha hah ... partly a tongue in cheek post - To be honest its not easy, and to some extent thats why I'm not living there any more. For those that havent accrued large sums or big assets it's not such an issue. For others, its a question as to if they want to risk their hard earned cash

I suppose, now I'm not resident there or worried about comeback, I could explain how I might do it again.

A. If I owned property in both countries then the safe option would be to either have one in the UK owned by someone else (i.e. daughter) or by a limited company with you as one of the directors

B. When I was in CB North, if I pegged it my wife would have suffered no IHT, subject to a few points of issue, such as living in the house for another 10 years ... now, I believe it is moving away from that. So pegging it now can leave your spouse with some hefty costs, which at our time of life are not appreciated. How you get around that, I dont know .... but you have to accept that you will be paying IHT to a country that you haven't lived in for long ... or not accept it.

C. Two different tax allowances, one in the UK and one in Spain. (Government pensions)

I do know all that, we have moved for that very reason............but I thought you had some cunning plan.......... that nobody had thought of, to wriggle out of your point B problem.