Nedmonds

Good Morning Folks,

Im going to be moving to Murcia at the beggining of next year, i have lined up a lot of properties i want to view and im heading over in january for a visit and to hopefully put a deposit down!.

Im looking to move possibly into a gated communitie, resort type place with expats etc. So my missus has expats to speak to with partners working in similar circumstances to myself. Also so i know that my family are safe when im at work!. I work in Oil and Gas in Yemen.

the property will be rented in my partner name and ill be living there so to speak. The reason for this is i am citizen of UK and resident of Yemen, I pay no income tax and im the sole provider of income into our household.

Im wanting to put my Children into Public schools and allow them to adapt to the culture and language! My partner wants them to go into private school and be taught only in english. The oldest is 6! Plenty of time to adjust no?

Does anyone have any reviews of the Murcia Area? Or any finer details to watch out for??

Cheers

Rosemary

As Concierge for the Spanish section of BE I would like to say hello and welcome.

BE is a very large expat website, so if you have problems finding your way around we have concierges who will try to direct you. The moderators for the Spanish forums are Mitzyboy and Fred James, moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderador who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge of the issues of living in Spain. At the top of the page you will find a quirkily named thread called Free Beer which is full of important and useful information. Hope you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

flotsum

I live in inland murcia, which area are you looking at,?
The rest of our family live near the coast so I also know that area a little. My children are both in state school and started at the age of 10 and 6, they are thriving! We do have to make an effort for my youngest to learn to read and write english otherwise he will not be bi lingual as children do adopt the language they are taught in. Personally i do not know of many private schools in the area that teach in English, there is Kings College in Murcia city, but I am not sure on the coast. I think that if you decide to go down the english teaching route you may well have to look at schools and then the accomodation because otherwise you will spend your entire time travelling to school and back and not enjoying life, also if the children go to school in another town they will not find making friends locally very easy! Some private schools do have bus service from other towns so bare this in mind. Remember too pack warm clothes when you move its cold here now. My husband also works away from home so I know what it is like to be alone with the kids in a new place.

mikelincs

Please note, that if you are living in Spain for more than 183 days a year then you will have to make tax returns and pay tax on your worldwide income in Spain. You will have to become a Spanish resident, not citizen. You will also have to provide private health care for you all as you will not be eligible for the Spanish Heath service.

lynnxa

and even if he doesn't spend that amount of time here, it's entirely likely that he will be considered tax resident simply because he is supporting his wife & children who will be living here full time

Lynn R

And if the OP wishes to put his children into Spanish state schools, should he not be prepared to pay tax here to contribute towards the cost? Why should Spain, especially given the current state of the economy, provide it free of charge for someone with a well paid job overseas?

flotsum

yes we pay tax here and autonomo and my husband is now going to start paying Tax in the UK as over the last 9 months all his regular work is in the UK so he will be resident in the UK and spain as we live here full time.

Rosemary

Surely he would need to be paying into the system in order for his children to receive the eduacation free. I agree with you that Spain should not pay for someone who is not here financially contributing. My friend is a teacher and is ill at the moment due to the fact that the school is only heated for the first 2 hours of the day and then the council switches off the heater because they cannot afford the heating bills. Very sad state of affairs.

Rosemary

mikelincs

AKAIK He can only be tax resident in one country, so if he lives more than 183 days a year in Spain he is classed as tax resident in Spain, and will be taxed on all his income there. There is a system in place so that he will not be taxed twice on his income, and s Lynn has said as he will be supporting his family in Spain he may well be considered tax resident there.

lynnxa

very good point & I totally agree

& that's probably why he'd be considered tax resident here, even if he wasn't physically here himself

lynnxa

if his wife & children are resident here - by fulfilling the income & healthcare requirements, then the children can go to state school

of course, his wife would have to do a tax return each year as a resident, so maybe there would be tax to pay ??

as I said though - simply by virtue of the OP's wife & children being here he would almost certainly be considered tax resident & have to pay tax if it wasn't paid elsewhere to a country with a reciprocal agreement

flotsum

I think he will need to see if there is a tax treaty between Yemen and Spain.

lynnxa

exactly

even if there is a tax agreement though, if Spain considers him to be tax resident then he would still have to declare his income

he might not have to pay any tax - but I suspect that would be unlikely, since you do have to pay tax on worldwide income in Spain - & the OP says he doesn't pay any in the Yemen

ionie

OP says partner not wife and therein lies the key with some Spanish authorities. The mother might have to prove that she can support her children as a single mother.
Parents living together but not married are often considered single people and as he doesn't seem to be interested in Spanish Residency there might be obstacles in the way of public education and health.
Or they might get lucky and it's all easy but with the new rules of having to prove income it might get tricky.

jackytoo

They would be contributing by paying local taxes, IBI and IVA.