# Bank is asking for tax info



## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Just had a letter from Caixabank asking me to to take in evidence of my tax status (Modelo 36, IRPF returns) as part of the new anti-money laundering regulations. If I don't do so by 12 Feb they will freeze the account.

Not a problem in my case, but might cause problems for anyone who hasn't done a tax return in Spain?


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

I think this is great, however ....

I don't think there's any legal obligation to do one if your income is below a specific level - or am I wrong.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

snikpoh said:


> I think this is great, however ....
> 
> I don't think there's any legal obligation to do one if your income is below a specific level - or am I wrong.


I don't know. I was advised to do one when I first came here, in order to get into the system, and continued to declare my income each year even when it was below the threshold. I used to get tax rebates on savings account interest (in the days when such a thing existed )


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

Alcalaina said:


> I don't know. I was advised to do one when I first came here, in order to get into the system, and continued to declare my income each year even when it was below the threshold. I used to get tax rebates on savings account interest (in the days when such a thing existed )


I absolutely agree that everyone should do at least one tax return - as you say, just to get into the system.

Don't think there's a legal obligation to do one though


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## Juan C (Sep 4, 2017)

I believe there is a misconception that people who have income of under a certain amount never need to make a tax declaration. 

Also, there are those who mistakenly think they can choose where to pay their tax, for example in say UK, albeit that they are legally tax resident in Spain and are obliged to declare in Spain. That even applies now to Crown Pensions, even though such pensions are only taxable in UK, that income is ‘taken into consideration’ in Spain and can result in higher tax liability in Spain. 

I understand, if the total income is less than 12,000€ or is under 22,000€, and is from one employed source which has been taxed at source, no declaration is required.

However, those from UK who have an OAP, and say bank interest, are required to make a declaration in Spain.

As said I believe this to be the case

In the OP’s case it may be that the bank, having access to their customer’s transactions, suspect the law is not being complied with.


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## Juan C (Sep 4, 2017)

PS. Apologies. I wanted to make a couple of amendments to clarify what I had posted but I was too late to do so. I do not have the time to retype the whole post now.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Juan C said:


> In the OP’s case it may be that the bank, having access to their customer’s transactions, suspect the law is not being complied with.


Excuse me??  Pension goes in, direct debits go out, a small cash withdrawal or debit card transaction every now and again. Nothing to suggest anything untoward!

The letter says that under the current money-laundering laws, all financial institutions are required to take measures to keep digital copies of information about their customers. Their information on me is incomplete, as I've not been asked to provide such details in the past, just passport and NIE.

I know several non-resident account holders who have had their accounts frozen because their bank didn't have all the required documents, and they've had to go along with P60s, pension statements etc in order to get them unblocked. But this is the first time I've encountered it for resident account holders.


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## kalohi (May 6, 2012)

My husband got the same letter from La Caixa last week. He is Spanish. When he went in they asked him to verify that he didn't have residency in another country, and that he didn't have any accounts outside of Spain. They said the questions were due to money laundering regulations.

We are totally mystified as to why he was singled out. Because he has a foreign spouse (me)? Because we moved relatively large amounts of money in and out of the account last summer when we sold and bought a house? And why wasn't I called in too, as joint owner of the account? It is all especially strange because we closed the account last autumn and no longer have any dealings with La Caixa!


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

kalohi said:


> My husband got the same letter from La Caixa last week. He is Spanish. When he went in they asked him to verify that he didn't have residency in another country, and that he didn't have any accounts outside of Spain. They said the questions were due to money laundering regulations.
> 
> We are totally mystified as to why he was singled out. Because he has a foreign spouse (me)? Because we moved relatively large amounts of money in and out of the account last summer when we sold and bought a house? And why wasn't I called in too, as joint owner of the account? It is all especially strange because we closed the account last autumn and no longer have any dealings with La Caixa!


How curious! I suspect it's because of the house purchase money, rather than because he has a non-Spanish spouse. My OH had an identical letter to mine (it's a joint account).


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## Chica22 (Feb 26, 2010)

Alcalaina said:


> Just had a letter from Caixabank asking me to to take in evidence of my tax status (Modelo 36, IRPF returns) as part of the new anti-money laundering regulations. If I don't do so by 12 Feb they will freeze the account.
> 
> Not a problem in my case, but might cause problems for anyone who hasn't done a tax return in Spain?


We havent received any letter (although we have been asked by our UK bank to provide details on our tax situation in Spain). 

Do you pay your taxes via the bank? Our taxes are paid out of our Spanish bank account in June and November and the direct debit clearly states Hacienda and a reference number, surely that is sufficient information for the bank!!!!!


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## Juan C (Sep 4, 2017)

Maybe you could try asking your bank what authority they have for asking for the info. 

When I was asked some questions by my bank, about myself, my wife and my son, we have a joint account. My wife and I are residents, my son is non resident. I refused to give some answers. Never heard any more about it.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

This is the legal reason why banks are requesting this type of information:-

https://www.bbva.es/eng/sistema/meta/info-legal/index.jsp

My husband and I both bank with Sabadell and opened our accounts since this legislation came into force. We haven't been asked to provide copies of income tax returns so far, but I suppose we may be in the future. I can't remember now what information we were asked to provide when we opened the accounts, other than copies of our passports and resident registration certificates.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Chica22 said:


> We havent received any letter (although we have been asked by our UK bank to provide details on our tax situation in Spain).
> 
> Do you pay your taxes via the bank? Our taxes are paid out of our Spanish bank account in June and November and the direct debit clearly states Hacienda and a reference number, surely that is sufficient information for the bank!!!!!


Yes, payments to Hacienda go straight from our account. I'm pretty sure this is just a bit of extra bureaucracy (we all know how much they like photocopying documents here) but I'll find out tomorrow!

I was just worried about any foreign residents who can't produce this paperwork, and whether they would require British documents instead - which might open a new can of worrms if residents haven't been doing IRPF returns and should have been.


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## Justina (Jan 25, 2013)

*Tax*

How much tax would one expect to pay in Spain on two pensions one for 1040 euros per month and one of 200 pounds per month?


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Justina said:


> How much tax would one expect to pay in Spain on two pensions one for 1040 euros per month and one of 200 pounds per month?


Approximately nothing!


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Update: they scanned the Modelo 030 document to show we were registered with Hacienda, and asked us a few questions about the source of our income, which all went onto our account record. Didn't ask for IRPF returns.


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## JimmyLocksDad (Nov 2, 2017)

In my case: Went to my Branch and showed the letter that I'd received, had Green Residencia Document Scanned, Passport Scanned was asked and confirmed my pension was under €30,000 per annum, signed the declaration. Entire process 5 mins. No other documents were required.


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## Justina (Jan 25, 2013)

*Tax*



Alcalaina said:


> Approximately nothing!


Alcalaina, you say approx nothing but when I declared last June I had to pay 1700 euros. I did go and see a gestor and for what that was worth his explanation was that it was based on the Spanish minimum wage and I was 'well over it'.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

These are not new anti laundering laws. They refer to the law that Lynn's link talks about, from years ago. They are the _latest_ set of laws and every so often banks will ask for information about our money activities because they can, and because they have to.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Justina said:


> Alcalaina, you say approx nothing but when I declared last June I had to pay 1700 euros. I did go and see a gestor and for what that was worth his explanation was that it was based on the Spanish minimum wage and I was 'well over it'.


I do apologiese, I read "two persons" instead of "two pensions". Must clean my glasses.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Pesky Wesky said:


> These are not new anti laundering laws. They refer to the law that Lynn's link talks about, from years ago. They are the _latest_ set of laws and every so often banks will ask for information about our money activities because they can, and because they have to.


The annoying thing is the inconsistency. When several of our friends had their accounts frozen by Unicaja a couple of years ago we went to our bank (Caixa) and asked if they had all the necessary info on us under this law, and they said yes. Now it appears they didn't - unless the requirement to hold tax info is new?


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