Election day on Sunday 20th November should produce a dramatic change in Government for Spain. But what will this mean? On Sunday, the Partido Popular, the centre right political party is expected to romp home with an overall majority of the 350 member Congress of Deputies, Spain’s lower legislative house. The newspapers predict that the … Read more
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. I came across this gem of an article in one of the local newspapers. This reminded me of … Read more
The European Commission made official complaints against Spain in May 2010 and February 2011 regarding its Inheritance tax legislation. These complaints were ignored and so the EC has commenced an action against the Spanish state through the European courts. Spain’s tax system has become decidedly odd. A little background will help to understand what has … Read more
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 … Read more
Thoughts on alternate realities…Or was he thinking of the Maginot line? Lets hope Sarkozy’s imaginary line will hold for longer than the Maginot line that proved useless within a few days to repel a German invasion. The phrase ‘wishful thinking’ comes to mind. If only politicians could create reality. If only. France’s top man, praised … Read more
Many will remember that happy day in December 2008 when the Spanish Government eliminated Wealth Tax, or so it was thought! The idea in 2008 was to make Spain a more attractive economy and do away with an archaic tax that has its roots in 1977 when inflation and interest rates were in double figures, … Read more
In yet a further attempt to stimulate small business growth, from 15 June 2010 and until 31 December 2011, small companies and self employed would now be able to receive finance easier from ICO (Instituto de Crédito Oficial) than a bank. These loans started on 15 June 2010 and will run until 31 December 2011. … Read more
The Spanish Government has enabled its ICO (Instituto de Crédito Oficial) to grant loans of up to 200.000 € directly to small businesses, bypassing the high street banks. The question is will a Government department do any better at providing financial help to small businesses than a typical bank? We shall see… The Royal Decree-Law … Read more
After many years of negotiation between the Marbella town hall and the provincial planning authorities the newly approved PGOU was finally published on 20 May 2010. This final step completes the long and controversial process for the approval of the municipal urban plan. Marbella has the distinction of being the first of the large towns … Read more
There is a new proposal for a substantial change in VAT law that will allow small scale self employed businesses and companies to pay VAT on their real sales income. All the political parties have backed a proposed change in law to modify the current VAT law for smaller self employed businesses and companies, so … Read more
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