Reclaiming Spanish Property Tax

Did you sell your property in Spain between 2003 and 2006?

If so you could be entitled to reclaim a substantial amount of the Capital Gains Tax that you paid.

The European Court of Justice has announced good news in the form of a tax rebate that could add up to a staggering total of £86m.    

Between 2003 and the end of 2006, all non-resident EU citizens paid 35% Capital Gains Tax (CGT) when selling their Spanish property, whilst Spanish nationals only paid 15%. The European Commission, via the European Court of Justice, has decreed that this overpayment is in contravention of European discrimination rules and that this charge was illegal on the part of the Spanish tax authorities.

This, according to the European Community Treaty rules on discrimination, is an unfair distinction and citizens of the EC who paid out 35 per cent tax can claim back the difference, as well as the interest.

Therefore, if you meet the requirements, you are entitled to reclaim this overpayment of Spanish property tax, plus interest, currently 6% per annum, from the date that the tax was paid.

Under Spanish law, claimants must register a claim within four years of the property being sold, and the tax paid. This means that anyone who sold a property prior to 2004 will be unable to reclaim the tax.

According to the Spanish Housing Minister, Ministerio de Vivenda, non-residents sell over 17,000 properties a year in Spain, and there are suggestions that the total amount that can be reclaimed exceeds 100m. euros.

Find your copy of the Spanish tax form Modelo 212, and contact us. We will happily call you back to chat over your personal circumstances.