Rob Horgan
A GROUP of British holiday home owners have been refunded €3.3 million in taxes they should never have been charged.
The Spanish hacienda (tax authority) is being forced to hand back millions of euros worth of punitive taxes to Brits who were overcharged on inheritance tax.
Another €7 million euros worth of claims is still to go through the courts, after the European Court of Justice ruled that the charges were ‘discriminatory’.
The Spanish authorities raised the tax charge when a foreign owner of a home died and passed it on to their family or friends.
The inheritance tax levied on non-resident homeowners usually amounted to a third of the properties value and had to paid within six months of inheriting.
However, 99% of the tax did not apply to Spanish homeowners and therefore they paid alomst nothing.
On average those affected by the tax are receiving €30,000 each.
Barcelona based lawyer to Luis Cuervo expects more people to now come forward to claim what they are owed.
“The repayment is not automatic, you have to come forward a file a claim,” he explained. “Anyone who paid the inheritance tax during the past five years can claim back all the tax that they paid – but doing so is a complex and daunting task only for specialised lawyers, experts in EU tax claims, as there is no single form to fill in.”
Spain love to target foreigners only with massive ‘fines’ or taxes. Never, never purchase property in Spain, the taxes will be horrific and unending.
I wonder how much will be left after the ‘specialized’ lawyers have had their cut on the so-called ‘complex and daunting task’! Beyond the illegal and unfair Hacienda tax grab it’s outrageous that those swindled should have to make a claim. The refund should be automatic. Puts me in mind of the huge fine levied on car dealerships in Spain overcharging for new cars over the past 10 years or so. The Spanish coffers were filled but what about the customer who was ripped off in the first place? Not a penny! Disgraceful shenanigans but not unexpected out here under the sun!!
We are about to begin an action using EU anti-discrimination legislation against our landlord here in France, whether we are successful or not, we don’t know.
What I do know is that any discrimination against fellow EU citizens should be so horrific that it stops dead those thinking of engaging in this practice.
Legislation is a waste of time if it is not enforced vigorously, the Spanish authority should face swingeing penalties but I doubt that will happen. It’s not as if the UK cannot hurt the Spanish where it hurts in the pocket, no one pays attention to the weak, only the strong.
Stuart, you used EU freedom of movement laws to move and reside in France, and now you are using an EU law to fight a discrimination case. Yet you want out of the EU. Slightly contradictory that may I say. The EU has benefited you in both cases, has it not? Seems to be me you are always embroiled in arguments with someone and it may go part of the way to explain your horrendous attitude problem.
Well said, Mark!
Prejudice of any sort ought to be met with heavy pressure from EU and UK authorities, but that isn’t likely, at least, yet.
Crawford, as a British citizen enjoys exactly the same rights as any EU citizen regardless of his position on future British EU membership or whether one agrees with his personal positions.
Moreover, even without EU membership, legal residents in European countries still have human and economic rights covered by pre-existing treaties. I have rights of movement and residency even though the US is not part of the EU, but my rights are more restricted necessitating a residency visa. For me those rights are largely based in treaties, though Schengen shenanigans promulgated by right-wing parties now would erode them. For me the solution would be to reorganize the EU, or for Spain to exit it.
As Crawford suggests, the problem in any European country has to do with ‘provincial thinking’ on the part of local administrative apparatus, i.e., local nationalistic parties don’t understand human rights laws, crassly ignore them, or enforce them according to local prejudice. This sort ought is wrong and illegal and should be dealt with in the Human Rights court as well as politically on the part of countries who would protect their expat citizenry from abuse.
So, it is so complicated to get a refund you need to hire a Lawyer. A fishing trip again ha ha. The Lawyer will want a few thousand euro upfront and that will be the last you will hear of it.
Mark,
not at all contradictatory. Like it or not I am as a Britu=ish citizen entitled to use existing legislation to fight blatant discrimination, whether this law will protect me is open to question, so your statement that it benefits me remains to be seen. Quiet desperation is the English way – well said by the Floyd in 71 – I’m not ‘English’ so am not bound by this supressed attitude which you obviously have.
Argument is natural and healthy among ‘free thinking people’. Your statement that I have ‘an horrendous attitude problem’ speak volumes about you – think about it.
Oh yes Stuart, it is contradictory, and you don’t like being found out. If I recall rightly, you first moved to Spain, and you did that because you took advantage of EU freedom of movement rules. I take it you got your pension in Spain, you got health service in Spain, and you bought a house in Spain, all because of EU-provided rights. Then I recall you cocked up in Spain (you moan about it in just about every post you’ve ever made, and fell out with judges, farmers, and other just about everyone else besides) and then you moved to France instead, again by using EU freedom of movement rights. Now you’re being discriminated against in France and have fallen out with your landlord, and are choosing to use a EU law to protect your rights. Where are you moving next?
So Stuart, you are a hypocrite of the worst kind. You choose to use and take advantage of all of the EU laws and rights – when it suits you – but at the same time say you want nothing to do with it. Truth is, you needed the EU to achieve your lifestyle and there’s no getting away from that. Finally, may I say also that you are a bully and insult people constantly on this blog, calling them “cowards” and “weak”. Bullies are weak. You are weak. If anyone should be banned from this blog, it should be you. OP editor: please will you tell Stuart to stop insulting people and keep posts to the subject of the debate, or simply ban him, thank you. Btw, I am not English either.
Good news for those British holiday home owners who benefit from this. Good to see this for once from the European Court of Justice.
Mr.. Quid. The only people to benefit from this ruling will be shyster lawyers. To attempt to gain justice in this situation will only lead to frustration and further expense.
But good luck to those (probably not now living in Spain) who take on this tilt at windmills.
Mark,
you seem to have a lot of problems. One of them is accuracy – you say you read my posts – through a filter of temper and tantrums – I have never owned a house in Spain and I have never stated this in any post
‘Fell out with judges’ what on earth does this stupid statement say about you. The Olive Press is full of stories about corrupt judges, did you not read them – LOL.
‘Fell out with farmers’ – you’ve just invented that one – LOL.
‘And just about everyone else – you really do have problems don’t you.
Your problem is holding wildly contradicting views and getting yourself into a muddle that you can’t extricate yourself from. You have said that you lived in Spain, in Guadix, on numerous occasions. I’m not sure if you “owned” a property, but you have said that you lived in Spain and then you moved to France. You also said that you had bad experiences with various people, including farmers and judges, in your numerous posts – you have forgotten what you have written! You were weak and couldn’t hack it in Spain, so you moved to France and have now come unstuck there too. You should stop blaming the countries and look in the mirror to see the problem.
The simple fact is that you have benefited from the EU in so far as you have used its freedom of movement rights to live in two European countries, and now you are using a EU law to fight your French discrimination case – oh the irony (by the way I think you will lose that case because you are so very arrogant and rude, and I would believe your landlord over you any day). You give no credit to the EU for the lifestyle it made possible and instead say you have the right because you a “UK citizen”, when what you mean is, you are a EU citizen.