Has anybody had experience about tax when no property is involved? Only a small bank account and a 12 year old car. Is it necessary to pay tax on this?

Do you have any assets outside spain?
Are you resident or non resident?
It's impossible to answer your question without more information

Thank you for the quick reply. You are right of course about the lack of info.

Non resident. No spanish will.

Everything cut and dried in Germany (no property or assets)

The question is should one inform the bank in Spain about this death as the wife also is authorized to use the account? I have heard about leaving things the way they are for 5 years. Does this still apply?

If the husband and wife had a joint account and you notify them of his death they could freeze the account which could then give her problems. I was lucky when my husband died because the bank manager informed me that although he knew that this had occurred he totally understood the difficulties that freezing the account could cause problems so he would not do this. However, I have heard that most bank managers are not so understanding and will follow the rules to the letter.

Rosemary

Thanks for the reply. Maybe best to put her cards on the table with the bank but she has opened a new account to pay household bills etc. No problem there if they would freeze it though. We´re not talking about millions of euros!

If she has a separate account in her name only then things should be very straighforward for her. I had done that too prior to my husband dying because he did not want me to run into any difficulties with paying the bills.

I am so sorry that I did not give you my condolences in my last post, could you pass them on to the widow too. If I can be of any further help please tell me.

Rosemary

Thanks for the kind words. She just wants to spend a few quite years in the sun and not have any surprises later on!