Are you inheriting a property in Spain? Or are you receiving gift property? The taxes to be paid are Successions/Gift tax and Capital Gains Tax (Plusvalía).

Successions Tax

When you inherit property after somebody dies.

When you are the beneficiary of a life insurance policy and the insured person dies.

Gift Tax

When somebody gives you his/her property while he/she is alive.

Who has to pay the tax? Where and when?

a) Mortis Causa (when somebody has passed away) The tax has to be paid by the heir getting the property. The heirs are named on the Will. If you are named on a Will but do not accept the inheritance, you do not have to pay the tax. If there is no Will, the heirs will have to be appointed by a Notary or Judge. Normally if there are children, they will be the heirs in the first place. The tax has to be paid where the deceased person had his/her domicile if he/she was a Spanish resident. If he/she was not a Spanish resident, the successions tax has to be paid where the property is located.

b) Life Insurance. The beneficiaries have to pay for the tax. The tax has to be paid where the deceased person had his/her domicile.

The term to pay the successions tax is of 6 months starting at the date of death. If the tax is not paid within the 6 months, you will have to pay a late fee.

c) Gift. The donee or person receiving the gift has to pay for Gift tax. The tax has to be paid where the donee resided. If the donee is not a Spanish resident, the tax has to be paid where the gifted property is located.

The term to pay the tax is when you receive the gift.

Plusvalía (Capital Gains Tax)

The Plusvalía tax has to be paid when receiving a property (inheritance or gift) and when the property is sold. If you receive a property and then sell it after one year, you will have to pay the Plusvalía tax twice, at the time you receive the property and at the time you sell it. If you sell the property you have received within the first year, you should pay the tax just once.

The tax has to be paid to the city council.

The term to pay the tax is 6 months.

The tax is calculated by the council and takes into account the increase of the value of the land and other details as future value. This is why sometimes we are required to pay the tax even if we have lost money with the sale. The Spanish Supreme Court ruled that if there is no actual gain when selling a property, the council should not charge the tax and the taxpayer has the right to claim it back.

Claiming it to the city council can be very complicated because if they do not solve the problem out of court, you should send a claim and the cost of hiring a lawyer and court representative is normally higher than the tax to pay. So the councils just wait to be sued because most people will not waste their money on this.

With Cc Lawyers help, you can get a divorce very easily at a Spanish Notary without visiting the Notary or even coming to Spain.

There was a law passed in 2015 in Spain allowing Notaries to celebrate marriages and also grant divorces.

However, not everyone can get divorced at the Notary, there are some requirements. If you meet those requirements you can divorce at a Notary and you will not need to go through Court which is slower.

The requirements to get divorced at a Spanish Notary are:

-Mutual Agreement Divorce (amicable)

-No children between the spouses

If you had children or it is not an amicable divorce, we will deal with the divorce at Court. You should know that to get a divorce in Spain, your last address in common has to be in Spain, otherwise, you will not be able to get divorced in Spain.

The Notary will need a divorce settlement agreement signed by the spouses. Cc Lawyers will help you drafting this document on your behalf to make sure that it is according to Law.

We can also act on your behalf before the Notary to get divorced with power of attorney.

Therefore, you will not need to attend the Notary if you grant us power of attorney to deal with the divorce on your behalf.

If you own a property, we can also help you with the transfer to one of the spouses or with the sale of the property.

Contact us and we will advise you on your specific situation and will inform you about the documents needed.

Every legal consultation is free!

Warning! If you bought a property bargain in Spain, the Spanish tax office might require you to pay extra tax!

The Spanish property market is low and properties are being sold at low prices, but the Spanish Tax office still wants to get the transfer tax according to their property value.

The tax office has a value for each property that is not always according to the market. When buying a property, the tax is paid according to the sale price, and if the sale price is low, the tax will be low, and the tax authorities might not like it. Therefore, they have a minimum value established for each property, and when the property is transferred, the tax authorities might check the sale. So what happens if the tax paid is not the right one? They will require you to pay an extra tax.

The tax office has up to 4 years to claim you to pay the tax.

Cc Lawyers Alicante advice:

If you are buying a property at a low price, we advise you to make sure that the price is according to its minimum tax value. If the price is under its minimum value, and you think that the sale price is realistic and fair, you should get an appraisal before the purchase or before doing any works or renovations on the property. If you get the appraisal before the purchase, you can ask the Notary to include it in the Deeds. Therefore, the tax office will see the report with the property value and this might stop them from claiming anything. At least the tax authorities will know that you will fight the extra tax in case they claim you.

If you receive the extra tax claim, you can appeal it. For appealing it you must get an appraisal, but if the tax authorities claim you the tax difference 3-4  years after you purchased it, the property value might have raised (renovations, higher market, etc.).

Cc Lawyers Alicante will check the minimum value of the property for you and will inform you if the sale price meets the tax office requirements. If it doesn’t, we will advise you to get the appraisal in case you have to appeal.

Checking the minimum value is included in our property purchase service.

You can contact us here.

Cc_~Lawyers will protect your interests and will make the purchase of your property in Spain a stress-free experience

The Occupation Permit or First Occupation Permit (Licencia de Ocupación) is a permit granted by the city or town hall when a property is built.

This permit certifies that the property is legal and that it is in a habitable state.

When buying an off-plan or new build property, we advise you to request the first occupation permit to the builder or agent to make sure that the property is legal.

In the Alicante area, a Second Occupation Permit is required when you sell your property or when you buy a second-hand property.

You will need this permit for changing the utilities’ contracts or if you want to do some works at the property.

In order to get the Second Occupation Permit, an architect will have to visit your property.

The architect will write a report describing the property and certifying that it is in a habitable state.

Then, this architect’s report must be taken to the city or town hall. The Town Hall will stamp the form with the Permit and will require you to pay for a tax.

The costs involved with the permit will depend on the architect fees and the city or town hall tax.

Apart from the visit to the property, a copy of your Deeds, your NIE number, and the last IBI tax receipt will be required.

The permit will take approximately 15 days and it will depend on the town hall.

Here you have a link with the Second Ocupation permit information from the Alicante city hall

A case of a client who bought a property in CAMPOSOL (MURCIA) won against BANKIA at the First Instance Court no. 4 in Alicante.

We have won a case against Bankia for our clients, who purchased a property in Camposol, Mazarrón (Murcia).

The properties never got the occupancy permits and the clients lost the deposits paid to the builder.

Our case was based on the precedent set by the Judgement from the Spanish Supreme Court in December 2015.

The legal grounds that we used in our claim against BANKIA are: if the deposits were paid to any of the developer’s bank account, those deposits have to be refunded by the bank.

So it doesn’t matter if the property buyer didn’t have a guarantee (general or individual) nor if the buyer paid the deposit to a special bank account.

The Judge sentenced the bank BANKIA to return the deposit paid by our clients plus interests since the deposit was paid to the developer’s bank account.

The Court has also decided that the bank has to pay for our clients’ legal fees for this case.

We are very happy with the Judgement because we will help our clients to get their deposits back after 16 years.

If you are one of the buyers who purchased a property  in Camposol,  please contact us and we will study your case and will give you free legal advice.