PAYING A TAX FOR RENTING OUT PROPERTY EVEN WHEN YOU DONT RENT

A friend has just been charged 500e by his solicitor for renting out his property even though he doesnt rent it out, hes been told its a govement  tax for all non residence incase they rent out .
This has to be wrong?

Also my solicitor want a retainer of 200e per year and has said it is law we have to have a solicitor if we are non residence is this also true

Thanx

Steve

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I'm not the expert on this, because it nly applies to non-residents, but if you search around this forum enough you'll find previous threads that cover this subject.
I understand non-residents must have a legal representative in Spain, and must also pay a tax on their property, as it is assumed to be a second home and therefore a taxable asset. Even if you do not rent it out, it will be assumed that you do, since so many non-resident owners do not truthfully declare their income from the asset.
As I said, search for more info, or wait for those in the know to explain it better! (They'll be on soon....)

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From my reading of the book "You and the law in Spain" you only need a FISCAL representative in Spain if you own more than one property.

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Hi we only use our solicitor when we want something done ie will or taxes.   We do not pay a retainer.  If we had stayed with our original Lawyer we would have been, hence the change.  Hope this helps.  Pat 

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There is a tax for non-residents at 25% of either 1.1% or 2%, don't think that you have to have a solicitor.

Take a look at these sites for info:-

http://www.propertyinspain.net/guide/bg/property_taxes.aspx
http://www.livespainforlife.com/Money/Taxes/tabid/110/language/en-GB/Default.aspx
http://www.strongabogados.com/taxes.php#PropertyTaxes

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I've just paid my annual wealth (patrimonio) & renta tax 328.41e, it's only a small property so depending on the size of your friends property the amount your friend paid may be correct.

I also pay around 80e a year for the solicitor to act as my gestor.  If the home is owned jointly then you will have to pay double as each person has to submit a form.

Question to ask is how long has your friend owned the property, this could be the first time they have paid tax and a couple of years could have been paid at the same time, so the amount might not reflect an exact years payment.

You don't have to have a fiscal rep unless your tax affairs are complicated.  If it's purely a holiday home which is not rented out then you can complete your own form (214) lot's of people on here do.

We're all waiting to hear whether Wealth Tax for non-residents will be abolished, latest reports say that it's up to each region to decided if they will follow the ruling.

This tax brings in a lot of extra revenue and the concensus is that we will still have to pay it.

As non residents if Wealth Tax (patrimonia) is abolished we will still have to pay Renta (this tax was brought in as a lot of people where renting out and not declaring the income so now we all have to suffer.  This tax is minute compared with W/T so most people myself included will make the effort and fill out the forms themselves.

This is going to have a big impact on the solicitors/fiscal reps annual incomes.  Most fees are paid in January for the W/T to be paid in May/June so we all have until December to decide whether to cancel our agreement with them.

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Actually NON RESIDENTS have till 31st December in which to pay their renta & wealth tax. We tend to do it early December. Why should we give up our money till we need to ? 

As we don't rent our property it is fraudulant of the Spanish government to ask us to cough up. 

I oppose that & always will.  

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