Re: Pension while in Spain
 

When I lived in Spain I was just receiving my NHS pension, my wife was getting her state pension, my NHS pension wasn't taxed in the UK as it was below the UK threshold but I did declare it, through a gestor, in Spain and received a bill for €8, I had left Spain before my state pension had kicked in so new got into anything like that.

Re: Pension while in Spain
 

What surprises me is that the Spanish government doesn’t analyse which residents are declaring tax in Spain and who is not. It doesn’t appear to be very joined up. Ok there are legitimate reasons e.g. under the threshold to declare. However they know who owns a property and those with an NIE are foreign. If not paying non-resident tax on property then does this make them resident? Likewise a property is owned by a foreigner and neither tax is paid this would make me look at that individual more closely (maybe they do). But you see occasionally posts like the OP as non tax resident. I recently spoke to someone who had no idea about Modelo 720 but were unsure if they did one previously but had no idea whether they needed to resubmit (they give annual figures the their accountant for tax who never says anything is their defence)

Maybe you can obtain a TIE without being tax resident but I thought to get permanent residency after 5 years no more than 10 months out of Spain in 5 years making you tax resident in at least some of those years. There’s probably some loopholes I haven’t considered.

Re: Pension while in Spain
 

To be fair the op mentioned having just got their UK state pension whether they have other income from the UK or elsewhere who knows?

Re: Pension while in Spain
 

As in above posts some pensions (government) are taxed in the UK but should still be declared in Spain. You don’t pay tax twice but it seems like you aren’t declaring in Spain anyway. Private pensions, SIPPs, state pension all to be declared in Spain for tax purposes if over declaration threshold. Maybe no tax due depending on values but should be normally declared.

Are you earning interest on UK banks accounts, taking dividends from investments, selling investments (stocks shares property) Premium Bond winnings, anything in UK ISAs? ALL should be declared to Spainish tax man if amount is over the declaration threshold.

Re: Pension while in Spain
 

Yes it seems to be that by doing the right thing making a tax declaration one opens themselves up for scrutiny and possible penalities for any errors whereas those that make no declaration seem to get away with paying nothing without any penalty. I don't know how joined up obtaining the TIE is with Spanish tax authorities? You would think if one has a TIE or green card the tax authorities would want proof of either paying tax in Spain or where you are paying tax but it doesn't appear to work that way.

Re: Pension while in Spain
 

You are Tax Resident if you spend more than 183 days in a country in any one year, End Of. you seem to have been living tax free in Spain for 10 years. Sack your accountant he is telling you to break the law.

Re: Pension while in Spain
 

For the last 3 years I have started to make a tax declaration but when I put my NIE into Modelo 100 I get the message " no obligado" so no tax bill for me.

Re: Pension while in Spain
 

There are rare exceptions - notably the UK's now-abolished "non-domiciled" status, but for the vast majority of people the 183 day rule is unavoidable in most developed countries.

Re: Pension while in Spain
 

In broad terms the tax threshold for a non economically active person will be around €15,000 so if your income is below that then you should not need to submit a return.
That presupposes however that you have previously submitted at least one return, as everyone is obliged to do whatever their income, and correctly informed the Spanish tax man about any bank accounts you hold outside of the country, they already know about accounts with Spanish banks. In future years it will be information gleaned from all your accounts which will determine whether or not a tax return is required or not.

Having paid tax in previous years due to higher income, for the past 2 years my income has been lower and below the threshold so like you have received 'No Obligado'.
I have to say that it surprises me a little when receiving 'No Obligado' that while there is a submit option, and there are reasons for doing that, there does not appear to be any way to actually make a declaration if for instance, because of your actual income, you knew that they must have made a mistake which you needed to correct.

Re: Pension while in Spain
 

In the new Foreigners Act published a few months ago it now explicitly states all NLV need to spend 183 days a year in Spain - so all persons on NLV need to be tax residents. If they aren't the visa is not renewed. All NLV need therefore to make tax declarations. Presumably not making one as you earn less than 15.000€ would not necessarily cancel your visa but you would then need to prove 183 days in Spain or alternatively all NLV should have incomes above 15.000€ - I am not sure how that part works. However the OP is not on a NLV so not specifically bound by the 183 rule but the previous rule - which is similar to EU nationals.

Also note that any tax owed is only in the last 4 years as Spain has a statue of limitations.

Re: Pension while in Spain
 

I don't know about Spain, but some countries have a longer statute of limitations if the non-payment of taxes is deemed to be fraud - deliberately evading ones tax obligations.

Re: Pension while in Spain
 

As long as OP has paid tax in UK or at least declared it it is anything quite as bad as people want to imply. As I said I got a full investigation for non declaration and the tax man was fine. Believe you me in a country where the government ministers have envelopes of money and accounts abroad, where the partner of the head of Madrid was faking tax returns etc La Hacienda is quite happy for people to voluntarily offer to get everything straightened out.

Re: Pension while in Spain
 

That is the same in Spain.

Re: Pension while in Spain
 

Alas, poor Yorick - we seem to have scared him off!

I thought all residents were obliged to make a tax return regardless of income to keep their affairs in order and prove their situation to the AEAT.

Re: Pension while in Spain
 

When we first moved to Spain, we lived on capital only for the first eight years and our only income was interest on savings. After our first year of residency, when I thought we should submit our first tax return, I made an appointment at our local Hacienda office to use their free service to complete the return for us. I took along bank statements to confirm the amount of interest received and explained our situation. I was told that as we had no other income such as pensions it was not necessary for us to submit a return and I should just come back when we started to receive our pensions! I had seen advice that a nil return should be submitted, but when I was told by Hacienda face to face that it wasn't necessary, that was good enough for me. After my husband started to receive his pensions we make another appointment and had them complete our first return. That was 11 years ago now and no questions have ever been asked about the absence of any returns for those eight years.