# Fiscal residency in Spain



## Extremaduramike (Jun 24, 2011)

I wonder if anybody can help me on this. I have been told recently by the Agencia Tributaria that I am ficscally resident in Spain. I've looked at the OECD definitions and I believe I should still be fiscally resident in the UK and have continued to pay tax there. 
The problem has arisen because my bank appears to have told the Tributaria about interest payments made to me in the UK as is normal under the E.U. savings directive. 
I went to the local office of the Tributaria but they couldn't tell me how I could change to being non-resident for fiscal purposes.
I spoke to the Inland Revenue in the UK in the hope that they had come across this situation before but they were unable to help.
Does anyone have any ideas on this? Thanks in advance.


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## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

Where do you actually live? If , as I take it, you are in Spain for more than 183 days a year you are fiscally resident even if you have a pension / income that is already taxed in the UK. Therefore you have to make a tax declaration here in spain as well , listing total world-wide income , less tax already deducted which is taken in to account under the reciprocal agreement. If you have a civil service pension that has to have tax deducted in the UK you just leave that out . If you live here for more than the 183 days you can't elect to be 'fiscally non-resident'. Others, far more knowledgable than I , will be along to help soon.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

The rule of thumb is that if you are a resident of Spain and live here for more than 183 days, then you pay your taxes here. My OH pays his tax, NI etc in the UK because he makes sure that he is there for more than 6 months a year and has no financial links with Spain at all. 

Jo xxx


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## Extremaduramike (Jun 24, 2011)

Thanks for the quick replies! Sorry, I didn't make it clear that I'm in Spain less than 6 months of the year but the authorities seem to have considered me to be tax resident. So far they have told me that they don't know how I can change that. I'm sure they are wrong but I keep getting the same answer. I was hoping someone would have come across the same problem at some time. 
I know, in theory, I could accept what they say and pay the tax. I could then reclaim it from the UK or follow the double taxation guidelines. The problem with that is I would have to lie to HMRC in the UK and I'm not prepared to do that. Any ideas?


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Extremaduramike said:


> Thanks for the quick replies! Sorry, I didn't make it clear that I'm in Spain less than 6 months of the year but the authorities seem to have considered me to be tax resident. So far they have told me that they don't know how I can change that. I'm sure they are wrong but I keep getting the same answer. I was hoping someone would have come across the same problem at some time.
> I know, in theory, I could accept what they say and pay the tax. I could then reclaim it from the UK or follow the double taxation guidelines. The problem with that is I would have to lie to HMRC in the UK and I'm not prepared to do that. Any ideas?


If you have a residencia and have a residents bank account in Spain then they could call you a resident. Maybe give them your UK address and tell them thats where you live and thats where they need to address their issues - then its pretty obvious that you live there!??

You need to speak with an accountant or a knowledgeable gestoria I guess - unless anyone one here knows??????


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## CapnBilly (Jun 7, 2011)

You need to submit a modelo 30 which is how u declare your fiscal residency ( you also use this form to register as fiscally resident). You may need to supply a letter of fiscal residency in the uk which you can get from HMRC. Don' t forget that u will then need to submit a form 210 if u have a property here, and pay tax on any rental income you earn, or the deemed income if you don't let it out


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## CapnBilly (Jun 7, 2011)

Suddenly occurred to me that your UK bank would only declare interest if your address shows as Spain, so you should change that to your UK address.


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## Extremaduramike (Jun 24, 2011)

Thanks for the excellent replies. My first time using this forum and I'm well impressed! I'll check out your suggestions.


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