05 May 2011 12:00 AM:
Hi,
We lived and worked in Tenerife for around 5 years and have had the most horrendous problems with the tax authorities there. The problems were initially due to the Post Office which refused to deliver mail to our new house but I informed the tax office of this and asked them to send any mail to my school address where I worked. It looks as if my letter ended up in the rubbish bin as they certainly sent us mail that we never received. It all came to a head after we had moved to a flat where the Post Office delivered but all the registered letters arrived when we were not there - in the end I asked my accountant to try to find out if there was a problem. He went to the tax office and was told there was nothing on us. Then more letters arrived when we were not there and so I wrote to the tax office asking them to resend them on a date when we were there. Sure enough, both my wife and I received a letter demanding over 25.000 euros within 10 days or they would confiscate our flat, freeze our bank account etc. We only know it referred to 2005 but with absolutely no explanation. We actually had a buyer for the flat as we wanted out of Tenerife (we just couldn't stand the place anymore) and so we sold quickly and got out (end of 2009). At the same time our accountant organised a tribunal to appeal the demand but we never heard from him or the tax office. It was never our intention to be tax fugitives and we are trying to sort out the problem. We would like a fair settlement - pay the tax without the fines for late payment - but I have my doubts about their willingness to compromise. Meanwhile the debt is over 41.000 euros as they are now questioning other tax returns - but we always used an accountant and he managed to get 4 out of 5 tax returns wrong. The tax office is now in enforcement proceedings but we have absolutely no assets in Spain and we will not be returning to get arrested. So while we are interested in what we would consider a fair settlement I wonder if the Spanish tax authorities can actually enforce a judgement here in the UK. And I wonder if a UK court would uphold their judgement if we can demonstrate that they have acted unfairly. The south Tenerife tax authority is well known for being difficult and obstructive - our accountant referred to the head of the office as a "dog". We are using a UK - based Spanish lawyer but any comments and advice would be appreciated. Sorry this is so long.
Thread:
tenerife tax authorities
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