At this point you are no longer a non-resident property owner paying imputed income tax but a Spanish resident making an annual income tax declaration in May/ June. The taxes paid in the current year are for your income the previous year. So, for example, if you make a declaration in May/June 2012 it will cover your income for the tax year January 2011 to December 2011. If you were previously living in the UK there is an exception – employment tax is currently deducted in the UK. The tax brackets in Spain will change next year but are currently 24%, 28%, 37% and up to 43% for incomes over €52,360. If you are a UK tax payer and are trying to do the right thing and pay your taxes in Spain … [Read more...] about Avoiding double taxation in Spain
Archives for March 2012
Red Lights: The sceptics are heroes in paranormal movie thriller
In the opening minutes of Red Lights, the new paranormal thriller by Spanish director Rodrigo Cortés, Dr Margaret Matheson (Sigourney Weaver) and Tom Buckley (Cillian Murphy) arrive at a house on a hill to investigate a reported ghost. Big, old and surrounded by skeletal trees - the place certainly looks haunted. But the thing is, it isn’t. The suspected poltergeist is just an unhappy little girl, slamming her wardrobe door to scare the bejesus out of mum and dad. Case closed. By day, Matheson and Buckley teach paranormal scepticism to psychology students and by night and on the weekends, they’re a hoax-fighting duo, exposing alleged hauntings and fraudulent psychics. But they meet their … [Read more...] about Red Lights: The sceptics are heroes in paranormal movie thriller
Starting up and settling in at school in Spain
No matter how much we prepare our children and ourselves, starting school is quite a traumatic experience. For the child it is the chance to be the big boy or girl, to meet new friends and learn numbers and letters. But it’s also the scary big building that keeps them separate from mummy and daddy for more hours than they can count. For mummy and daddy it’s the end of their reign over the child’s world. Now they must jostle with Miss and Pablo/Peter for attention. A whole new experience that they’re not part of. It’s even more worrying when it involves speaking in a different language and entering into a system with which you’re not familiar. You can’t rely on neighbours to let you know … [Read more...] about Starting up and settling in at school in Spain
Athletic Bilbao returns to big-time with Manchester United tie
Considering the global appetite for European and particularly English football, it is often difficult and potentially even dangerous to try and determine whether the behaviour of the fanatical supporter seated next to you at your local watering hole is driven by a genuine affection for the game or a lifestyle choice born out of social compulsion. However, occasionally there are games that by their very nature facilitate the making of that distinction. Games which are rendered significant not by the hyperbolic pre-match bluster of television or the immediate consequence of the result but by historical context, and a certain nostalgia-tinged sense of occasion. For Athletic Bilbao, the tie … [Read more...] about Athletic Bilbao returns to big-time with Manchester United tie
Privatisation through the back door
The messages that have come out of the recent demonstrations in Valencia are not just about the effect of the cutbacks on schools and the poor spending decisions of the Valencian government. Even police brutality is only a small part of the story. There is also the underlying accusation that private schools, unlike the state sector, are having their budgets protected. This is not an austerity measure. This is a political spending decision that will create a trend of irreversible privitisation of schools. And it’s not just in Spain. The coalition government in the UK is responsible for something very similar. As school budgets are squeezed and the UK braces for more cut backs, the … [Read more...] about Privatisation through the back door
Rajoy’s smoke and mirrors have worked – for now, at least
If we have learnt anything about Spain’s new prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, since he took power in December, it’s that his reputation for being anything but straightforward when conveying his intentions is well deserved. Rajoy has often been portrayed as the embodiment of retranca, a tendency his fellow Galicians are known for to answer questions with ambiguity and multiple meanings. The first two months of his tenure have seen Rajoy behave every bit like the stereotypical Galician. An early example of this was when the prime minister deployed his front-line ministers to announce a major tax increase, just days after himself announcing that “my intention is not to raise taxes.” And now … [Read more...] about Rajoy’s smoke and mirrors have worked – for now, at least
La Liga: Higuaín proves his worth once again
The scrawny 19-year-old with the big hair salvaged the ball from the sidelines when 85,000 others in the stadium thought it had gone out of play, played a nice one-two with José Antonio Reyes and slotted the ball into the back of the net to send the fans wild. It was a last minute winner against RCD Espanyol which kept his side in the running for the Liga title, which they would go on to win a few weeks later. The ecstatic Argentine threw his shirt in the air, Iker Casillas ran the length of the pitch to join in the celebrations, Fabio Cannavaro waved the corner flag aloft and Ruud Van Nistelrooy held the discarded shirt up to the crowd as if to announce it: Gonzalo Higuaín had … [Read more...] about La Liga: Higuaín proves his worth once again
An all-too-fleeting break from obscurity for Horacio Echevarrieta
Before embarking on an article about Oliver van der Zee's recent documentary El último magnate, an important question to ask is why this film about the little-known yet groundbreaking Spanish mogul Horacio Echevarrieta has been all but overlooked in his home turf of the Basque Country (not to mention much of the rest of Spain). Perhaps one clue is director José Antonio Hergueta's comment to El País that Echevarrieta “was the man of the moment in Spain, the most famous, the richest; a pioneer and innovator...(but) these days no-one even in the Basque Country remembers who he was.” All attempts to watch this 80-minute documentary (known internationally as The Last Tycoon and part … [Read more...] about An all-too-fleeting break from obscurity for Horacio Echevarrieta
Pound to euro rate rises on ECB loan scheme
In particular, the Long Term Refinancing Operation by the European Central Bank has stoked concerns European banks might be close to collapse, while unemployment on the continent continues to climb. The European Central Bank initiated its second loan scheme this week, called the Long Term Refinancing Operation (LTRO.) The scheme is intended to provide European banks unlimited loans for three years at just 1.00%, and since round one in December has been widely credited with preventing a credit crunch in Europe. In the event this second round proved more popular than the first, with 800 banks borrowing €529.5 billion. On the one hand this is testament to the willingness of the ECB to … [Read more...] about Pound to euro rate rises on ECB loan scheme
Proving you’re a fiscal resident in Spain
Civil residency (the green residency certificate) is, in fact, pretty useless when it comes to financial matters. For example, when there’s capital gains or inheritance tax due. If you can’t prove you are a fiscal resident then you can end up paying non-resident taxes and there are big differences between the two. For example, if you are a married couple with a house valued at €94,000 and have both names on the deed when one of you dies. If the remaining spouse can’t prove fiscal residency then they will be charged €2,375 in inheritance tax. If they can prove fiscal residency then the tax is zero. To be exempt from inheritance tax as a fiscal resident you have to have lived in Spain … [Read more...] about Proving you’re a fiscal resident in Spain