Election day on Sunday 20th November should produce a dramatic change in Government for Spain. But what will this mean?

What makes a resident of Spain a tax resident of Spain? It is an important question and misinformation arises everywhere, not least in the press, over a beer in the golf club, just about anywhere, in fact.

Over the last few year or so we have heard that various governments have licitly and not so licitly managed to get hold of lists of people with bank accounts in funny places. What has become apparent is that these lists are being shared with the tax authorities of any interested country. Well Spain has shown its interest too....  

The Spanish Government intends to approve a number of changes in legislation to strengthen the tax office’s armoury against the black economy and tax fraud.  They propose to modify the Penal Code so that substantial tax fraud may be penalised with up to 6 years (currently four years) in jail.