18/06/2013 19:06:43:

 What used to happen was that you put a wodge of cash down and then declared the property as being bought at a lower value.  We were told "this is the way it happens in Spain" and, apparently, it was.  The taxman, in recent years, have decided to put a stop to this and, if you buy a property for a lot less than the land registry have it valued at, will try and hit you for tax on the difference, what was called black money.

Now, with property values decreasing by a lot, the taxman tries to get his bit and, for example, if you buy a property at 50k which has a value at the land registry of 100K, they will give the buyer a tax bill for the VAT of the 50k differenc.  Now, there are several people that I know that have had a tax demand up to 4 years after buying the property.  They have all appealed and proved that the money they handed over was the actual price paid and the tax demand has been dropped.  They did, however, keep all bank statements etc to prove the deposit and the subsequent payments were those paid and had no suspicious payments going out of their accounts.  

I should imagine that many others have actually had to pay the tax.  Now, before the "usual suspects" come up with this being another way to get money out of expats, this also works for Spanish buyers as well.  An article in one of the Spanish papers stated that several million euros had been reclaimed from these tax demands in areas that are not popular with expats.  It was "the Spanish way" which is now, hopefully, dying out.  

So, it is the buyer who gets the demand for this tax.  All above board and appeal.  Do it the old way and take the consequences.

 

Thread: PROCEDURE FOR BUYING A PROPERTY FROM SOMEONE

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17/06/2013 16:18:38:

 I did point out that if you were paying 40% (ie, not a pensioner)  then you would pay the charge.  Deesam mentioned she was 56 therefore under 60 and liable for the prescription charges in England (all other UK countries are free regardless of age, I believe).

 

Thread: Meds in Spain

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17/06/2013 15:56:13:

 Wow!  Talk about coming to roundabouts and not knowing which way to go.

Decreto Real 818/2009 stated that foreign driving licences from other EU states were valid in Spain for a period of up to 6 months.  After that time, if taking up residency, the licence had to be changed to a Spanish one.  This means that, if you are visiting, you can drive on a UK licence.  So far, so good?

Decreto Real 2012/126/EU stated that a photocard EU issued driving licence was now valid in Spain for a period of 2 years when a medical would then be needed and the licence would need to be changed at the same time. Still so far so good, until the spanner in the works appears.

 Costa Consulting Bureau (no, I don't know who they are either) checked with DGT Malaga and found that this only applied to those who had the old style paper licence, not the new EU issued licence.  The photocard would only need to be changed when it expired (according to them, it was when the photocard expired, not the paper licence). Now not quite so far, so good.

So, the law (which is what Real Decretos are) keeps changing but people still mix them up quite a lot.

Personally, I changed mine to a Spanish one because I'm sure the police will be just as confused and, no, I don't fancy arguing the toss with a Guardia Civil officer.

Maybe public transport would be a better idea.

 

Thread: British driving licence and Residence in Spain

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17/06/2013 12:10:15:

In all the years I've been using Amazon, both here and UK, I've never had free delivery unless you sign up to Amazon Prime. I think that was about £16 a year to get free delivery in UK but not to Spain unless you signed up to Prime Spain which only counted if you used Amazon.es.
There were certain, special offer, items in UK that had an offer of free delivery but I never found one that offered that service to Spain.

Thread: AMAZON (uk) NO LONGER OFFERING FREE DELIVERY TO SPAIN!

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17/06/2013 10:30:06:

Have a look at previous threads on healthcare in Spain. You need to contact the International Pensions centre in Newcastle before moving over. They will send a completed S1 form to your new address in Spain so it will be waiting for you when you arrive. Your husband will get a pensionista status and you will be given beneficionaria status. Once you have your residency and padron, you can take the S1 form to the social security office local to you and you will be given a healthcard, a GP practice and a named doctor. All consultations and treatment will then be free except for prescriptions. Your husband will pay 10% of the cost up to a maximum of 8 euros a month and you will pay 40% of the cost until you reach retirement age. Prescription drugs are pretty cheap in Spain. For example, last month my wife had to have gastro reflux tablets, anti-inflammatory tablets, antibiotics and blood pressure tablets. The 10% charge came to €3.61. Even if it had been 40% that would have only been just under €14.50 for the 4 items whereas UK would be 4 x current prescription charges (sorry, England not UK).
Note that if you earn more than 100, 000 euros a year the cap for pensioners is 18 euros a month and under pensionable age it is 50% of the cost.
The phone numbers for the IPC in Newcastle are on the threads or simply Google IPC Newcastle.


Thread: Meds in Spain

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