Do you know what your fiscal address is in the Spanish Hacienda (the tax office)?
Do you remember ever having received a letter in which you were informed of your fiscal address?
Do you know the important consequences if said fiscal address is incorrect or out of date?
This is especially for all of you who are new residents in Spain, and for sure for tax residents, read this Post carefully.
“Do you know the important consequences if said fiscal address is incorrect or out of date?“
WHAT IS A FISCAL ADDRESS?
To put it simply, we could say that a fiscal address, is the address that the Hacienda will use to contact you through, for all of your tax matters.
Therefore, it doesn’t matter whether you are a TAX RESIDENT OR A NON-TAX RESIDENT, a tax address must be registered with the Hacienda, for this love-hate relationship between both parties.
So, everything that happens in relation to your taxes in Spain, does so via your fiscal address in Spain.
WHEN IS YOUR FISCAL ADDRESS DETERMINED?
It is quite common for many Expats or international people, not to know when their tax address was created.
This procedure would normally have been done by the Lawyer or Advisor you used, for example, when you purchased your property.
Or if you purchase your property with the help of a mortgage, it was done by the staff in the bank that you used.
It would have been necessary to do so, because in order to carry out any procedure relating to taxes in Spain, the relevant paperwork had to be filled out.
WHAT ADDRESS WAS GIVEN?
Normally, the fiscal address that would be given, would be that of the property you have just purchased….. but if at that moment the address was not entirely clear (for example if the property is a rural property), it is possible that the address that was given to the Hacienda was that of your Lawyer or Advisor.
Or. What address was given if you didn’t buy a property?
HOW LONG AGO WAS IT?
And it is possible that this happened a really long time ago, without being aware whether your fiscal address remains the same, or has somehow been magically changed.
CONSEQUENCES OF AN INCORRECT ADDRESS
I imagine that by now you are starting to think that the consequences of an incorrect address or not having updated the address, could be very, very important.
You have to bear in mind that if the Hacienda had wanted to communicate with you, they would have tried to do so via the address they have in their data base.
And if for whatever reason, the previous Lawyer or the Advisor that the bank used, did not make sure you received the letter, I’m sorry to say then YOU HAVE A PROBLEM.
If, in addition, your previous Lawyer or Advisor does not sign for the letter because they do not recognise the recipient, the problem accentuates.
NOTIFICATIONS POSTED ON THE ANNOUNCEMENT PLATFORM
And now you are going to ask, ‘what happens if they can’t contact me’?
‘If they can’t contact me, my understanding is that it doesn’t matter, right’??
Well, the answer is NO. Yes, it does matter!
The Hacienda/tax office has the possibility of notifying you via other methods of communication, methods that I am sure YOU WILL NOT HAVE ANY IDEA ABOUT.
And for legal purposes, this form of communication is understood as having CORRECTLY NOTIFIED you.
It is the system of notification via ‘Boletín’ THE STATE OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT PLATFORM.
An official announcement platform that covers all of Spain, in which every day millions of items are published….. and as is quite normal, a ‘normal’ person does not check or read it.
We are not talking about the newspaper….. we are talking about a daily publication where thousands of new regulations are posted, notifications that they have tried to deliver and have not been able to (throughout Spain).
A HYPOTHETICAL SITUATION
With all that I have already explained above, I am going to give you an example of a real case that occurred because of an incorrect fiscal address:
A British client, resident in Spain, who was a Civil Servant and therefore has a Civil Service pension from the United Kingdom and who according to the Double Taxation Agreement is exempt from taxation in Spain.
He found that his bank account had been embargoed for over 4000€.
And it is here that the nightmare began. Having visited the Hacienda/tax office he was told that a VERIFICATION of his income was being done.
Once all the documents were studied, we verified that his income in Spain was being inspected by the Spanish tax office, who after inspecting, had calculated the taxes payable on the total of the pension that he received from the United Kingdom, and as you can imagine the figure payable of the tax demand was a significant amount of money (The Spanish Tax Office does not know that this is a Civil Service pension, they just have the total figures).
PLEASE NOTE: The Hacienda does not embargo your bank account without notifying you……. A process in which, first of all, they give you the opportunity to defend yourself.
But of course, if they send you a letter to defend yourself and you don’t receive it and therefore do not answer it…… What happens?
Well, from their point of view, YOU ARE COMPLIANT WITH WHAT THEY HAVE PROPOSED. YOU MISSED YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO DEFEND YOURSELF, AND TO YOUR SURPRISE, THIS IS TOTALLY LEGAL.
SOLUTION AND MY FINAL ADVICE
To avoid SURPRISES as unpleasant as this one, I encourage you to CHECK YOUR CURRENT FISCAL ADDRESS.
The easiest and most comfortable way is to check it with your DIGITAL SIGNATURE.
If you want to sleep peacefully at night, do not hesitate, check what is your current tax address.
Remember our MISSION STATEMENT: WE GUARANTEE YOU PEACE OF MIND & THESE AREN’T JUST WORDS
PS. Please ask any questions you may have. Contact us.
