Non residents tax warning

The tax authority is now closing in on non resident property owners who are not presenting there annual tax returns and payments, the tax authority has linked with the land registry system and knows who owns every property, resident and non resident in Spain, every property owned by a non resident is taxable as income even if you don’t rent it out,The tax declaration and payment for 2008 has a deadline of December 2009, late declaration and payment incur a fine, ignorance of the law is not accepted as a reason for non payment, Property and bank accounts can be embargoed until back taxes are payed in full.
It is important to realize this is an income tax on your property, and is separate from and and in addition to the local tax IBI/SUMA which is an annual payment on the actual bricks and mortar, It does not relate to income in terms of your wages and pensions,but only to property ownership.

Wealth tax abolished

The Spanish wealth tax has been abolished from 1-1-2008, Spanish Wealth Tax is payable by both residents and non-residents that own property in Spain, although the rules are different. Residents pay wealth tax on their worldwide assets but have tax-free allowances, whereas non-residents are only pay tax on net assets within Spain but miss out on the allowances. for both cases, the tax is calculated each year on assets held at 31st December.