Tax for non residents

by Him & Her Sun Nov 02, 2014 10:59 am

As non residents what will we need to pay each year/month apart from electricity and water, I know we will have council tax to pay but have no idea how this works also will we have to pay Tax or any other charges per year ?

by pete_l Sun Nov 02, 2014 3:22 pm

Him & Her wrote:As non residents what will we need to pay each year/month apart from electricity and water, I know we will have council tax to pay but have no idea how this works also will we have to pay Tax or any other charges per year ?

There is also a charge for rubbish collection and some sort of property / council tax: IBI.
The way it seems to work is that you give the Ayuntamiento (Town Hall) your bank account number and they randomly take money at irregular intervals, without warning.

You'll also have car tax to pay (and insurance, too)

by Him & Her Sun Nov 02, 2014 4:45 pm

pete_l wrote:
Him & Her wrote:As non residents what will we need to pay each year/month apart from electricity and water, I know we will have council tax to pay but have no idea how this works also will we have to pay Tax or any other charges per year ?
There is also a charge for rubbish collection and some sort of property / council tax: IBI.
The way it seems to work is that you give the Ayuntamiento (Town Hall) your bank account number and they randomly take money at irregular intervals, without warning.

You'll also have car tax to pay (and insurance, too)

Thanks Pete, no car tax and insurance yet only holiday non resident so we hire a car.

I hope your joking re reandomly taking money! Surely we will be told the annual amount ? Or am I being silly ??? Question

by Lurchio Sun Nov 02, 2014 6:21 pm

As long as you are a non resident (like us at the moment) you will have to pay an 'Impeustos' tax. Its payable to the Taxman against your NIE number in the Granada tax office. Simply put. its an assumption that if you are not here all the time, you MAY be letting your place out! Unfortunately, it doesn't matter that you don't do that, they think you may and that's it! Payable yearly (or proportions of a year if you have owned the place for less than 12 months) IPT for 2014 will be due by the end of 2015 and is calculated against your valor catastral. If this sounds scary, it isn't and the final amount due will be probably three figures starting with a one., or may be a bit less than one hundred euros, depends on your valor! I asked our Gestor (the one we used to buy the house, etc) to do it, price for the service was 25 euros and she did it online, so why stress with the local taxman? Give you an idea, our Valor was 39000 euros, and we paid 118 euros last year, plus Gestor fees.

by Him & Her Sun Nov 02, 2014 8:45 pm

Thank you that takes the fear factor out of it !

I was/am a bit worried about putting any cash in our bank account in case it just gets taken ! I was surprised to be charged for debit cards and insurance for repatriation,
bank charges etc from the bank, I have been told this is all normal we are just used to free banking in the uk and I was a bit surprised!

Do people normally pay by debit card(spanish account) or is most paid by cash and I mean in the big shops not the local little shops??

Thanks

by La Mancha Sun Nov 02, 2014 11:41 pm

It has become easier to pay by card in the bigger shops, like Carrefour, Eroski, Media Markt and Aki especially the ones in the major cities like Granada and down on the coast. They used to ask for ID but last couple of times I paid by card in Media Markt at Lorca they just wanted my post code.

by Clarky Mon Nov 03, 2014 10:07 am

Hi. . You are right to leave a small balance in your Spanish bank.
They can and do take some money as it pleases them.
Have you been charged for your police security checks/certificate yet. ?..
You don't have to pay Ibi by direct debit. Just arrange with the town hall to receive your bill via the post. It contains a tear off section which you can present to a bank just like a giro slip. You can pay your water and rubbish this way certainly around here near Caniles.
That way you have more control of what comes and goes from your account.

by Him & Her Mon Nov 03, 2014 11:05 am

Clarky wrote:Hi. . You are right to leave a small balance in your Spanish bank.
They can and do take some money as it pleases them.
Have you been charged for your police security checks/certificate yet. ?..
You don't have to pay Ibi by direct debit. Just arrange with the town hall to receive your bill via the post. It contains a tear off section which you can present to a bank just like a giro slip. You can pay your water and rubbish this way certainly around here near Caniles.
That way you have more control of what comes and goes from your account.

Unfortunately as we are not living in Spain this will be our holiday home for the time being so we will have to pay direct debits as they come in we have no choice really but I am a little concerned I have to say !

I haven't paid for any police/security checks/certificate yet what is that about ??

by Lurchio Mon Nov 03, 2014 12:45 pm

Sometimes Forums scare people, especially as your are not here, it makes for the jitters sometimes. Its a story repeated on loads of sites out there, so this isn't anything personal. The only money the Town Hall take is normally what you owe them anyway (I get the feeling you don't mind paying whats due, so that's out of the way!) They take it when they want because that's how it is, but it averages out at about every two months for water and bins. Paying by direct debit when you are not here could be a good choice for peace of mind, alternatively, SOME Spanish banks (can only speak for Unicaja) allow the account holder to pay online just as in the UK, so no problem there. Theres nothing worse than having a bill waiting for you when you arrive at the Spanish home that is either overdue or due very soon, that can spoil your holiday / break. Worse still is the bill that appears on the day you are leaving, how do you sort that when you are due at Malaga at 2pm? I am enthralled by the 'Police checks', do you mean the NIE application or residency.....or what??? Its kinda scary to some to just 'say it and leave it'.

by Him & Her Mon Nov 03, 2014 12:59 pm

Lurchio wrote:Sometimes Forums scare people, especially as your are not here, it makes for the jitters sometimes. Its a story repeated on loads of sites out there, so this isn't anything personal. The only money the Town Hall take is normally what you owe them anyway (I get the feeling you don't mind paying whats due, so that's out of the way!) They take it when they want because that's how it is, but it averages out at about every two months for water and bins. Paying by direct debit when you are not here could be a good choice for peace of mind, alternatively, SOME Spanish banks (can only speak for Unicaja) allow the account holder to pay online just as in the UK, so no problem there. Theres nothing worse than having a bill waiting for you when you arrive at the Spanish home that is either overdue or due very soon, that can spoil your holiday / break. Worse still is the bill that appears on the day you are leaving, how do you sort that when you are due at Malaga at 2pm? I am enthralled by the 'Police checks', do you mean the NIE application or residency.....or what??? Its kinda scary to some to just 'say it and leave it'.

Thank you, yes I am a bit concerned but happy to pay what is due when it is due ! We are getting our NIE in January when we go to sign for our little house and get the key's (can't wait) so maybe that is what is meant by police checks ! who knows? hopefully we will be enlighten at some stage, thanks again for your input.

by Clarky Mon Nov 03, 2014 2:31 pm

Sorry. Did not mean to scare you. . What I meant is that all banks when or soon after you open an account here whether resident or not
apply to some Central police department to effectively register you
as having an account. Anti money laundering I believe. (Chance would be a fine thing! !) They charged us I think around 30 euro each
for that privilege! We had no choice it just came out. .
Not sure if its an annual thing..?
Incidentally what was the charge for repatriation? ? What did they mean by that. ?
Having done our nie in January this year in Baza and residence just after. If you need a hand with anything pm and I'll help of I can.

by pete_l Mon Nov 03, 2014 2:45 pm

Lurchio wrote:SOME Spanish banks (can only speak for Unicaja) allow the account holder to pay online just as in the UK, so no problem there. Theres nothing worse than having a bill waiting for you when you arrive at the Spanish home that is either overdue or due very soon, that can spoil your holiday / break.

Yes, depending how long you go between visits, a bill can become due and then become delinquent (maybe even have a summons issued against you) before you get to see it. Worse still, the Post Offices in Spain only keep letters for a couple of weeks before sending them back - so you may not even know that there's a bill pending.
Far better to have direct debits for all of those.

I have accounts with Caja Mar and Caja Rural and they both have online banking facilities. Though it did take a couple of weeks to set up and I had to go into my branch to pick up cards ;n; stuff. You can also sign up to Endesa's (the electric company) website and go "paperless". Though it did take them several months between me applying for this and getting the first bill emailed to me.

by Him & Her Mon Nov 03, 2014 4:16 pm

Thank you Clarky & Pete I really appreciate you input, such a big learning curve, we used to live in Cyprus and it was just like the UK we have a awful lot to learn about Spain without the language problems and that's another subject altogether, suffice to say the evening classes are not going too well !!!! Sad

by Mariposa Tue Nov 04, 2014 4:15 pm

1. Annual Property Tax - IBI - to be paid Sept to Nov ish for Galera
2. Water, Rubbish (sort of Council Tax) - quarterly for Galera
3. Property Insurance - Annual (or you can pay quarterly, etc... but it will cost a bit more.
4. IPT for non residents/tax return for residents.

Galera are currently approx. 1 year behind with water bills. Check your bill carefully to see the period the bill is for (this is not the bit with the dates to pay it!) to make sure it is actually your bill.

You will probably get a Bank Account with the Caja Rural in Galera, in which case you can, as the others have mentioned, do online banking and keep an eye on what is coming out of your account from the UK.

Please don't forget to take water and electric readings when you purchase your property!

Good luck!

Caroline

by Him & Her Tue Nov 04, 2014 4:45 pm

Mariposa wrote:

1. Annual Property Tax - IBI - to be paid Sept to Nov ish for Galera
2. Water, Rubbish (sort of Council Tax) - quarterly for Galera
3. Property Insurance - Annual (or you can pay quarterly, etc... but it will cost a bit more.
4. IPT for non residents/tax return for residents.

Galera are currently approx. 1 year behind with water bills. Check your bill carefully to see the period the bill is for (this is not the bit with the dates to pay it!) to make sure it is actually your bill.

You will probably get a Bank Account with the Caja Rural in Galera, in which case you can, as the others have mentioned, do online banking and keep an eye on what is coming out of your account from the UK.

Please don't forget to take water and electric readings when you purchase your property!

Good luck!

Caroline

Thanks Caroline, that helps a lot, yes we have an account with Caja Rural in Galera and I think we are still on the developers electricity no idea about the water, the house is owned by an English couple at the moment so will be taking over from them, hopefully fingers crossed it will be straightforward with the help of SIP to guide us.

by Mariposa Tue Nov 04, 2014 5:56 pm

It should all be fine. Find out if the house has a mains water meter, if it does, you must take a reading. I can come and help if you need me to - NO CHARGE!

If the couple pay towards the builders electric, you will need to take a reading. If they don't, you will at least need to know where your meter is, so that you can re-set it if it trips. You might only have a very low power supply until the mains electric is fully connected? Again, try and find out, so that you don't over use the power. Better to know before hand, than to wonder what is going on!

Are you responsible for paying to go onto the mains electric, or has it already been paid for?

Caroline

by Him & Her Tue Nov 04, 2014 6:49 pm

Not Sure Caroline I will find out and thank you for your very kind offer, I may well take you up on that! We will have lovely neighbours who brought just before us so I can check with them in January when we are next over, can't wait , Very Happy

Thank you again

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