General

Protecting citizens’ social security rights (Part of) Press release 30/1/2019 The Commission has consistently made clear that the rights of EU citizens in the United Kingdom and UK nationals in the EU are our priority. They should not pay the price for Brexit. Today’s proposal aims to ensure that in a “no-deal” scenario, the entitlements of those people who exercised their right to free movement before the UK’s withdrawal are safeguarded. These entitlements include periods of …

If  you struggle with Spanish and you are an “autonomo”  – a self-employed person, you may not understand a text you have received  from the Social Security recently – something like this one  The text directs you to a website here  Individual letters are also being sent out which detail the same information as on the website. In a nutshull from the 1st of October all self-employed workers must carry out all their procedures involving …

2018 has begun with good news for the self-employed and small entrepreneurs,  the modification of certain aspects of the IGIC, LAW 7/2017, of December 27, of General Budgets of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands means an exemption for most self-employed who bill less than 30,000 euros per year. The amendment to the law establishes a special regime for small business owners or professionals, which will include individual taxpayers whose total volume of operations* …

From July of this year(2018) all intermediaries involved in supplying vacation accommodation to tourists will have to submit an informative tax declaration (modelo 179) to the National Spanish tax authorities as part of IVA (VAT) tax requirements. This will particulary affect  vacation rental housing platforms like Airbnb and HomeAway who have not previously had an obligation to divulge information to the authorities. The return to be presented in July will cover quarters 1 and 2 of …

Occasionally if a couple purchase a property together  one spouse’s NIE number is used as the lead on subsequent documents and the other spouse’s number never becomes activated with the Agencia Tributaria (Tax Office), or if an individual gets an NIE number at the Extranjeria and then for whatever reasons never uses the number for anything ( i.e a house or car purchase, importing anything over 150 euros, getting a job, becoming self employed etc. …

As of 2016, 83 countries including the UK and Spain have signed an agreement to implement a system for the automatic exchange of tax and financial information on a global level. First reporting is planned September 2017 Just recently I have had quite a few enquiries regarding letters being sent out from UK banks to account holders who have given their Tenerife address as their residence address. The letter asks for various information and the …

Even if you just want to advertise your property as being for sale or for rent  you will need an Energy Performance Certificate.  The notary will ask you for a copy of it before you sell. This is Spanish law and applies not just to Tenerife but all over Spain. What is an energy performance certificate? It is a report detailing the overall energy efficiency of a property on a sliding scale from A to …

If you’re in Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera or El Hierro and you need urgent help (for example, you’ve been attacked, arrested or someone has died), call +34 928 26 25 08. If you’re in the UK and worried about a British national in Spain, call 020 7008 1500. General enquiries Consulates deal with a large number of urgent cases each year. Before contacting a Consulate with non-urgent enquiries, please read our detailed guide for …