Spanish Inheritance Tax

Judgement in the case of European Commission v Kingdom of Spain (C-127/12) is due to be given next Wednesday, September 3rd.  It's not before time - I made the complaint in 2010.  It could be far ranging.

Here's hoping for a much fairer system than the present one!

Congratulations Norm, great result!

Lets hope Spain implements this ruling quickly.

Not much publicity yet but found this on the Wall Street Journal of all places.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/eu-court-rules-against-spain-on-inheritance-taxes-involving-foreigners-1409739933

tic tac tic tac tic tac...

Would someone explain the ruling please.The link comes up and fades out.

We won with costs against the Spanish Government!!!!  We now have to wait for them to act on it.

Well done Norm!

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/09/03/uk-spain-inheritance-idUKKBN0GY1ZX20140903

http://www.fiscalidad-expatriado.com/inheritance-tax-in-spain-is-incompatible-with-the-eu-rules-can-we-recover-the-taxes-paid-before/

Now can something be done to get rid of the injustice that is that because of these regional allowances, depending on where you live, you may pay nothing, or many thousands of euros on IHT. Take away the regional allowances.

IHT should be a state matter. a decent state allowance many times more than the derisory  one we have now.

Congratulations!

Good for healthy European Justice!

Maria

I suppose that the allowances which are higher than, say, Murcia, will be downgraded to the lowest level. Talk about race to the bottom! Maybe we will all live long enough to find that something is done???

Any regional allowance will be higher than Murcia's, as they were abolished last year !

if you live in the Valencian or Andalucian region, you priobably won't pay any IHT, the allowances are very generous, but 1 cent over and you'll pay IHT on the lot!One thing I , and I bet many ex pats  didn't know is that you have to have been fiscally resident in the region  for 5 years to be eligible for the allowances, so  not much use moving to another region, which might abolish theirs too.

AN IMPORTANT NOTICE: IF YOU PAID IHT IN SPAIN AS NON RESIDENT DURING LAST FOUR YEARS, YOU CAN CLAIM FOR A REFUND NOW

Maria you are inviting non residents to apply for compensation, but what about residents who have lived in their region for less than 5 years?

Non residents feel it is unfair that that are not allowed the regional IHT allowances that residents are eligible for.

residents cannot take advantage of these until they have lived in the region for 5 years, so for this period they are in the same position as non residents.

therefore,  are they  too entitled to a refund of  overpaid tax they have paid in the last 4 years?

also, will something be  done about the huge differences in the amount of allowances  between regions? 

No use having a change in legislation if the overall situation is unfair.

Using this recent European Court Decission, I would claim for a refund too in those cases too Camposol

How about if you are a resident and have paid IHT on the property of a parent in the UK - can you get a refund for that?

What wonderful news that at last purchasers of Spanish property are to be treated with respect, after 8 years we are still unable to obtain the Habitation Certificate for our Spainish apartment, inland Costa-Blanca, 3 years we have been unable to use our apartment because of health & the builders nonpaying squatters. At a high cost the vandalisum has been repaired, Hopefully the Spanish courts will consider the problems those like us have gone through and clean up the laws for all non Spanish property owners. Perhaps at last being retired in Spain will be the dream we all bought into. We don't need to take work, we just wish to live in the beautiful country we invested our entire savings in. 

seems my previous post on this thread has been removed (must have upset someone important)

Anyway congrats Norm and job well done let;s hope everyone gets their money back soon

Surely not everyone will be entitled to get their money back?

depends on a lot of things

maria can you answer  bernipop's question?

Of course, we all know what is going to happen next. Spain will admit it has made an error by charging residents and non-resident different levels of IHT. They will therefore reduce the allowances given to residents and everyone will end up with the same rules that non-residents had.

Next it will be charging for non-resident bank accounts but not residents so we will all end up having to pay bank charges.

As a non resident property owner in Spain we have a spanish bank account to enable payment of Taxes & Property Insurance. we have one joint account yet we pay two lots of fees.  Sumo tax & local rates.

When the local street cleaner cleans the main road to the edge of the complex they by-pass the entire length of the complex. Many Spanish have properties on the complex yet we have no Habitation Certificate. Can anyone tell me why this happens.