My elderly neighbour takes a bus ride to a gestor to register her tax return,as a resident,each year.She owns her little apartment & has,I believe some modest savings.Each time she doesn't pay any tax but gets a small rebate which actually doesn't cover the amount she pays the gestor.Why,I ask myself,does she need to make a tax declaration,except it provides a fee for the gestor.Can she stop ??

She certainly doesn't need to pay a gestor to do it. She can either submit the return online ( it took us less than 10 minutes each to complete and submit our returns online a few days ago), or if she is not confident to do that herself, make an appointment online with AEAT (the system for booking appointments online opens on 9 May this year) and go to their office where they will complete the return online for her, free of charge, from the income figures she supplies (no supporting information required other than her passport, NIE number and IBI bill if she is a homeowner).

If you are in the system, having made a declaration before (which she has done) it is not strictly necessary to make a declaration if there is no tax to pay.

Fred - I thought it was necessary for us Expats to make an annual declaracion to maintain our fiscal residency?

Some banks used to offer a free tax declaracion service for account holders.

Fred thanks for that but what about the Fiscal Tax Residency certificate required at the notary to prove tax residence when selling a property Is this obtainable without having submitted declaracions?

In theory yes, but not submitting annual returns could make it more complicated. That's why I recommended doing nil returns.

Thanks Folks for your info.I think she will just continue as before!

Since getting my residencia in 2016 my bank filled in my past two returns. Now they have decided that they don't do it any more, So I went to the AEAT site. It is a nightmare, there are forms for just about every eventuallity, but I am blowed if I can find one for " proof of paying tax on income form another ( still eu) country" if anyone could tell an idiot ( with a degree in science!) which form to fill in, it would be gratefully appreciated. Whats an IBI bill ? I just pay all mine( car tax, ayuntamiento, luz, etc ) by direct debit when they are due.
Pete.

IBI bill is basically your main rates bill. Usually comes around June and has to be paid by Sept ours is set up by direct debit.

I'm a bit unclear as yo what you mean by this - car tax is IVTM, Luz is electricity bill but what's ayuntamiento ? I know ot means town hall but they, in themselves, don't have a tax.

There is IBI (property tax), basura (rubbish), for us an ECO tax (used to be part of basura)

Can you explain why you need a form as proof of paying tax on income from another country? If you are paying UK tax on a Crown pension, for example, you just enter that income in a separate box for renta exenta on your Spanish tax return. If you need to obtain an NT tax code to avoid paying tax on other pension income in the UK as well as in Spain, you download and complete the Form Spain (Individual) Double Taxation form from the HMRC website. It has two versions, one in Spanish and one in English. You submit the Spanish one to AEAT to request a Certificate of Fiscal Residence (Convenio) from them, and once you have received that you send it, together with the English version of the Form Spain (Individual) to HMRC who will amend your tax code.

OK perhaps I overelaborated. in trhe past it was all done for me, I just got copies of the documents I was asked for and submitted them. Now I am on my own and it all seems very complicated.I have a p60 from a british steel pension. which shows tax paid for the year. All I need to know is which form do I fill in , from which web site and to whom do I sent it? I went to a gestor this morning and he tried by entering my NIE and numero de supporteo from my residencia targetta into thre system and the system said I was unknown, after several attempts he just gave up and told me to go to the Agencia tributario in Osuna. Having never been self employed I am not used to the minefield of tax submitiom forms.
Pete

A British Steel pension doesn't qualify as a Crown Pension, I'm afraid, so you would need to go through the process I described above (declaring the income in box 003 on the Spanish tax return as it is not income exempt from taxation in Spain) and pay tax on it in Spain, then reclaim the tax paid in the UK via the Double Taxation relief process. You wouldn't have to do that every year, as once HMRC have allocated you an NT (no tax) code it should stay the same. If you have submitted previous tax returns (I hope you have copies of them) via your bank I don't understand why the AEAT system doesn't recognise you. You may well have to do what the gestor suggested and make an appointment (you can do it online) to visit your nearest AEAT office.

This is the list of all the pension schemes which do qualify as Crown Pensions from the UK.

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-man...ual/intm343040