# Tax on furniture



## Guest (Sep 8, 2014)

When you buy a property, what is the tax situation as regards any furniture which comes with the property? 

If the cost of the furniture is deduced from the sale price and dealt with as a separate item, this would reduce the sale price and thus the tax burden. Does anyone know of a reason why this can't be done?


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## extranjero (Nov 16, 2012)

I think people already do this I imagine a separate contract has to be drawn up for the furniture.
I wouldn't have thought however that the value of the average house contents would be great enough to save much money.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

When we bought our house we paid an extra sum for furniture, fixtures and fittings which included all the built-in kitchen cupboards, oven etc. They weren't included in the taxable value of the property, but we didn't have a separate contract. We just had a verbal agreement. 

If you don't do this, you might find the kitchen units aren't there any more when you go to move in - the sellers do sometimes take these with them.


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## Guest (Sep 8, 2014)

We are negotiating for a villa where there is a large gap between what we can afford and the market value of the villa. We are trying to save money when and where we can in the hope of closing the gap. Knocking a few thousand off the asking price and thus saving a bit of tax may end up being crucial! I wanted to be sure that there weren't known problems in doing this. It may seem obvious but it was worth checking.


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## extranjero (Nov 16, 2012)

Watch out that by the savings you make by buying at a lower price aren't wiped out by the dreaded complementary tax!


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Alcalaina said:


> When we bought our house we paid an extra sum for furniture, fixtures and fittings which included all the built-in kitchen cupboards, oven etc. They weren't included in the taxable value of the property, but we didn't have a separate contract. We just had a verbal agreement.
> 
> If you don't do this, you might find the kitchen units aren't there any more when you go to move in - the sellers do sometimes take these with them.


When we moved into our house they had taken the oven, the gas bottles, and strangest of all, the light fittings, I mean where you screw the bulb into - we had no light because we couldn't screw in any bulbs.
I have to point out that these people were very strange.

I was 7 months pregnant at the time and they couldn't even leave us a light for when we moved in

Sooo, make sure you know exactly what is and isn't included. Plants are another thing to ask if they are included or not.


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## Guest (Sep 8, 2014)

extranjero said:


> Watch out that by the savings you make by buying at a lower price aren't wiped out by the dreaded complementary tax!


Er, what's that?


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

meetloaf said:


> Er, what's that?


I think it´s a reference to the fact that if you buy a property for a price that is below the "official" value for tax purposes, then you are likely to receive a demand from Hacienda for an additional amount of transfer tax representing the difference between the tax on the amount you actually paid and the amount you "should" have paid based on the offical value. Get your lawyer to check what the valor tasacion of the property is so that you can work out what the additional tax liability might be. I´m sure this will have been mentioned on the forum before in threads about property purchase, I´ve read of it happening to quite a few people, and it has become much more common in recent years because, of course, the market value of properties has dropped below the catastral values in many cases (although originally this was done to combat people under declaring the price they paid in an attempt to avoid paying part of the transfer tax due, known as paying black money).


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## Guest (Sep 9, 2014)

Thank you, yes, I do remember reading about this but you've brought it to my attention again. The villa we have our eye on has had its price slashed for quite genuine reasons (didn't sell) so we will have to watch out for this. Would I be right in thinking that it's entirely arbitrary whether the hacienda charges this extra tax or not and it depends on the area, the property and whether someone got out of bed in a good mood that morning?


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

meetloaf said:


> Thank you, yes, I do remember reading about this but you've brought it to my attention again. The villa we have our eye on has had its price slashed for quite genuine reasons (didn't sell) so we will have to watch out for this. Would I be right in thinking that it's entirely arbitrary whether the hacienda charges this extra tax or not and it depends on the area, the property and whether someone got out of bed in a good mood that morning?


I doubt it's completely arbitrary. The chances of it happening are obviously greatest in areas where catastral values were revised at the peak of the market (2007\2008). Maybe Hacienda don´t bother issuing demands in cases where only a really small amount of additional tax would be due, but that´s just guesswork on my part. Probably better to be prepared for the worst and maybe get a pleasant surprise if you don´t get an additional bill, rather than the other way around!


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## Guest (Sep 9, 2014)

Sorry - I'm completely ignorant here. How does the assessment and revision work? Are properties in different areas assessed for the cadastral values in different years? Or are some but not all properties within an area assessed?

It's very interesting how a question so often throws up a deeper and more important issue. This is far more important than whether there is or is not a minute amount of tax on furniture when it's included in a sale.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

meetloaf said:


> Sorry - I'm completely ignorant here. How does the assessment and revision work? Are properties in different areas assessed for the cadastral values in different years? Or are some but not all properties within an area assessed?
> 
> It's very interesting how a question so often throws up a deeper and more important issue. This is far more important than whether there is or is not a minute amount of tax on furniture when it's included in a sale.


It´s done on a rolling programme across Spain, with each municipality being assessed separately. I believe at least 7 years has to elapse between revisions, something that has caused problems in my own town where the last revision was at the very top of the housing market (meaning the catastral value of many houses ending up being higher tha n their market value). Every property in the municipality is affected by the revision.


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## Guest (Sep 10, 2014)

Thank you, that's very helpful. I don't suppose someone reading this knows when the last revision was done in Valencia…..? We may have to increase the amount we anticipate spending on taxes and fees and be less ambitious as regards a property.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

meetloaf said:


> Thank you, that's very helpful. I don't suppose someone reading this knows when the last revision was done in Valencia…..? We may have to increase the amount we anticipate spending on taxes and fees and be less ambitious as regards a property.


You should be able to check when the last revision was done in any particular municipality (within Valencia as well as any other region) via this link¨

Portal de la Direcci?n General del Catastro


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## Guest (Sep 10, 2014)

Thank you for this.


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