Culebronchris

My partner is going to work in Qatar from September. For the last eight years or so she has been resident in Spain and paying tax on her work as a teacher.

The new job in Qatar has no tax. She hopes to maintain a Spanish bank account to deal with payments such as car tax, car insurance and the like.

She is going to visit a Spanish tax lawyer to find out what she needs to do. Does she need to make herself "unresident" in Spain? Can she deal with the 2013 tax return when it comes without being resident etc? What will happen when she "repatriates" any Qatari money when she returns to Spain at the end of the two year contract etc?

Any information or advice you can give would be helpful either to counter what the tax lawyers say or to make sure that she asks the right questions.

Fred James

She is tax resident in Spain for 2013 so she will make a tax declaration before the end of June next year. That will have to include any Qatari income in 2013.The fact that she is no longer resident makes no difference.

She needs to make sure that she doesn't return to Spain before the beginning of July in 2015 as she would be considered tax resident in Spain for the whole of 2015 and would be liable for any income from Qatar during 2015.

She should officially declare herself non tax resident using form 030 when she leaves although as she has exceeded 183 days in Spain in 2013 she will be tax resident for the whole of 2013.

Keeping bank accounts in Spain is no problem but she should change their status to non resident accounts until she returns.

guirijohn

I would be inclined to “sell” the car to the partner. If you retain a car and a place to live it suggests that Spain remains your centre of economic interests, in which case you would continue to be treated as tax resident in Spain. There is a big difference between zero tax and Spanish tax on all earnings.

Culebronchris

Thanks both for the responses

Domino

depends on how long she is going to Qatar for.
as Fred says, if she has done more than 183 days in Spain all worldwide income will be liable to taxation for that year.

if it is only for a year or so then the taxfree sum can be used to pay the tax back home.

if it is permanant then all ties will have to be cut - but what is the situation about becoming a Qatari resident - is that allowed ???