Expats are the target of a new law on worldwide asset declaration
Tuesday, April 2, 2013 @ 2:04 PM
A recent report on national Spanish TV makes it clear that expats have good reason to be worried about a new law obliging them to declare their assets outside of Spain.
The new law “affects all residents in Spain, including the 1 million foreigners who make tax declarations in Spain,” explains the news clip, which was aired on the national news (RTVE) on March 17th.
According to Spain’s new reporting requirements all residents have to declare assets abroad worth €50,000 or more (per category) before the end of April.
Relatively few Spaniards have assets outside of Spain, but hundreds of thousands of retired European expats living in Spain have properties, bank accounts, trusts, and pension funds back at home. This law hits them harder than anyone else. Experts suggest it was designed to do so.
“We think this law goes for the collective of retired foreigners resident in Spain, who live on our coasts, and who normally maintain links with their country of origin…. bank accounts, properties,” explains Estebán Raventós, a partner of the prestigious international law firm Baker & McKenzie (starting at 0.16 in the clip). “Watch out! These people are obliged to report [their assets] before the 30th April this year.”
Source: SPI