Deadlines
Annual filing deadlines
Do the Spanish income tax before the Spanish wealth tax, you need to copy some numbers across.
Basics
If I reside full-time in Spain, as a USA citizen with money in US bank accts, earning no money in Spain, having no assets or bank accts in Spain, will Spain tax me ?
Answer is: Yes. Spain taxes worldwide income of residents.
If I reside full-time in Spain, as a USA citizen, will USA tax me ?
Answer is: Yes. USA taxes worldwide income of citizens.
The type of visa or residency you have (work, non-lucrative, etc) does not affect your tax status. If you're tax-resident in Spain, you have to file tax returns in Spain. [But apparently students are "beca" or on "estancia", not "resident", so don't have to file tax returns ?]
If you're US citizen married to Spanish citizen, you can file jointly or separately in Spain, and jointly or separately in USA. You don't have to file the same way in both systems.
I think there are two sets of agreements between USA and Spain: a Social Security Totalization agreement (which prevents a worker having to pay SS tax twice, and handles coordination of SS benefits if retiree worked in both countries), and a Tax Treaty (which tries to avoid or compensate for double taxation of other taxes, not SS tax).
Susan Honea's "A guide to US income tax treaties"
SSA's "U.S. International Social Security Agreements"
IRS's "Spain - Tax Treaty Documents" (and follow link to Treasury Dept)
IRS's "Claiming Tax Treaty Benefits"
What I do
I file my taxes in both countries. I file federal-only in USA. I used to file also as a resident of New Jersey when I had a mailing address in NJ, voter registration there, driver's license there, US bank accounts using that address, credit card using that address.
I'm a retiree with lots of savings but very little income, so my taxes are very low. I do pay a bit of wealth tax to Spain. Lately it's becoming more of an issue as I start drawing taxable income from IRA's and 401K's and Social Security.
Found a good description for myself: I'm "self-unemployed".
I think: file at least the Spanish income tax and worldwide assets declaration each year, even if you owe no tax and have few assets. Get it on record that you are complying with requirements and have nothing to pay or little to declare.
From someone on "Expats in Spain" Facebook group:
It is imperative that every Spanish resident file an annual income tax return in Spain.
This is despite any other advice you may have heard to the contrary. The Hacienda take a
very dim view of Expats living in Spain and not fully declaring their worldwide assets and income for tax in Spain.
There are heavy penalties for non-compliance, and it is key that you file a return even
if you have minimum income as it demonstrates your tax residency correctly. This can be
especially important for foreign national Spanish residents such as ourselves when the
determination of where we are resident for tax purposes is important.
Expatica's "A guide to the Spanish tax system"
Balcells Group's "Taxes in Spain for Expats"
Bruno Bianchi's "What is the taxation on american 401k in Spain or Roth IRA in Spain?"
Basic ID numbers
Need a Numero de Identidad Fiscal (NIF) to pay your taxes.
From NIE Number Online's "NIF Number":
"For foreigners in Spain, the NIF (fiscal identity number) and NIE (identity number for foreigners) are interchangeable, because the numbers will be the same ..."
From SpainExpat's "NIE, DNI, NIF, CIF, Social Security":
"Once you have an NIE, you do not need to re-apply for an NIF; if and when you have to pay taxes, use your NIE number."
Agencia Tributaria's "NIF (Personal Tax ID) of Individuals"
From NIE Number Online's "NIF Number":
"For foreigners in Spain, the NIF (fiscal identity number) and NIE (identity number for foreigners) are interchangeable, because the numbers will be the same ..."
From SpainExpat's "NIE, DNI, NIF, CIF, Social Security":
"Once you have an NIE, you do not need to re-apply for an NIF; if and when you have to pay taxes, use your NIE number."
Agencia Tributaria's "NIF (Personal Tax ID) of Individuals"
A gestor who does accounting/taxes is a "gestor de contabilidad".
Spanish: First tax filings
If you establish residency in Spain late in the calendar year, do you have to file your first tax returns for that tax year, or for the first tax year in which you spend more than 183 days in Spain ?
From ExpatFocus's "Spain - Registration and Residency":
Residency in Spain is also linked to tax and if you meet certain criteria it is known as 'fiscal residence'.
If you are in the country for more than 183 days of a calendar year you are considered to be resident
and liable for taxes, regardless of whether or not you have the residence permit. This is mainly
for those who travel between countries. If you go to Spain with the intention of spending the
majority of your time there you could be considered to be liable for taxes immediately.
Those who apply for the residence permit should be aware that this is considered to be evidence
of intent to remain and will count against the individual if they try to claim that they are not liable for taxes.
From LawyersSpain's "Changes to the Spanish Residency Law for Tax Purposes" (no longer online):
According to a ruling issued by the Spanish Supreme Court at the end of November 2017 and recently released and published,
the criteria for determining the tax residency of an individual in Spain will no longer be the one implemented until
now by the Spanish Tax Office. According to the changes, the time effectively spent in Spain will be the sole criteria
for establishing tax residency and the taxation of an individual.
The criteria for the actual days spent in Spain, which is 183 days, was being used up until the implementation of the new changes, however, the Tax Office was also taking into consideration other factors. For example, the sporadic stays in other countries and the intention or will to reside abroad. The recent changes eliminate all and any subjective component that might have affected the calculation of the taxes for individuals according to residency.
The criteria for the actual days spent in Spain, which is 183 days, was being used up until the implementation of the new changes, however, the Tax Office was also taking into consideration other factors. For example, the sporadic stays in other countries and the intention or will to reside abroad. The recent changes eliminate all and any subjective component that might have affected the calculation of the taxes for individuals according to residency.
Agencia Tributaria's "Persona fisica residente en España"
Live in Spain but avoid being tax-resident ?
Some people say the US/Spain tax treaty gives a way to avoid being tax-resident in Spain: keep your "vital interests" or such in USA. And supposedly this means you can be physically resident in Spain while not being tax-resident.
File IRS form 8802 to get another form (6166) to get certification from IRS.
Maybe it means you can't be on the padron, can't use Spanish NHS, etc.
Transferwise's "Paying income tax in Spain"
Articulo 9 of BOE's "Ley 35/2006" mentions only the 183-day and "spouse and children habitually live in Spain" tests for residency.
Agencia Tributaria's "Persona fisica residente en España" adds a test, "the main nucleus or the base of its activities or economic interests reside in Spain directly or indirectly".
An odd article, but it lists some specific cases that were decided: DMS Consulting's "SER O NO SER ... residente fiscal en España. He aqui la cuestion"
Spanish: Basic software and sites
Agencia Tributaria's "Electronic Office"
Richelle de Wit's "How to Subscribe to Electronic Notifications Tax Office ?" (Notifications require Java)
Richelle de Wit's "Modelo 030 To Register With Agencia Tributaria"
My experience with various basics
- Got NIE, padron, residency card, digital certificate.
- Looked into "Form 030"
(Gestiones censos NIF domicilio fiscal,
Modelo 030),
decided I probably had to submit it to "Request registration in the Census of Liable Taxpayers".
Not really necessary, could wait until first tax return is submitted.
But I want to get into the system and be notified when deadlines approach.
- Did a "Form 030" / "Modification or submission" with digital certificate. Got about 8 "can't get data" error messages,
and looks like the form is damaged, the "Pais" and "Nacionalidad" pull-downs are populated with garbage.
But those fields are optional, so left them blank and filled out the rest and submitted the form.
Got another "your request can not be done" error. Filed an error report about the pull-downs at
soporteOnline.
- Tried to set up "electronic notifications" via
ZN01.
It made me install a new version of Java, then complained about my version of Acrobat Reader, which is latest but may be in some version
fork it doesn't understand. Filed an error report about the Acrobat Reader thing. [Response: they do support the "DC" version,
which is what I have.]
Eventually found that Java plug-in not supported
by 64-bit Firefox; filed an error report to Tributaria about that, too. [Had to resubmit that one later in Spanish.]
- Received responses to my bug reports.
Did some browser configuration:
allow pop-ups from Tributaria, install FNMT Clase 2 CA and AC FNMT Usuarios certificates
(maybe easiest to do from
sede.fnmt),
tweak settings of Java in browser.
But it looks like Firefox 42 doesn't support Java plug-ins any more.
- Can set up Notifications via
ZN01 ?
I tried, and got the Java error.
- Decided to switch to Internet Explorer.
Did some browser configuration:
make sure using 32-bit version, add Tributaria sites to Trusted Sites, allow pop-ups from them, tried to install ActiveX control (had to
run IE as Administrator) but got a bad ZIP file instead of a CAB file.
[Filed a bug report, and got response "if it's not working, switch to a different browser".]
- Back on Firefox, asked /r/firefox for help, and eventually found
that I'm running 32-bit Firefox on 64-bit Windows, and should have 32-bit Java; not sure I do.
Which Java download should I choose for my 64-bit Windows operating system? Now I can see Java Plug-in in the plug-in list, and running Verify Java and Find Out-of-Date Versions gives me various "okay to run Java applet" dialogs and then succeeds. - Did a "Search for 'My census data'"
Modificacion_de_mis_datos_censales,
still fails.
- Went to "Form 030" procedure
G321,
did a "Modification or submission" with digital certificate, got a dialog about running Tributaria's Java applet,
but country pull-downs still fail.
- Tried to set up "electronic notifications" via
ZN01,
got various confusing dialogs about allowing Java, had to retry the operation a
couple of times, eventually got "Error - El usuario que realizado la firma no es correcto.",
which may mean my digital certificate is not accepted, or some field doesn't match ? Filed a bug report.
- Tried Internet Explorer again, now that Java might be fixed.
Census and Form 030 still fail, but Notifications gave me a success-looking
page saying "Bandeja de entrada" and "La carpeta seleccionada no contiene ningun elemento", so
I think I may be registered for Notifications now ! And I received a confirmation email saying I'm registered now,
and I should subscribe to any procedures I want to be notified about.
And in Firefox, I can access my Notifications mailbox sections, too. It worked !
Direct access
notificaciones.060.
- Tried "Modificacion de mis datos censales"
Modificacion_de_mis_datos_censales,
got an error 0402. I think my NIE/NIF is not in the system; I am not in the "census", and don't know how
to get into it.
- Support says to check census, with digital certificate, go to
Verification of a third party Tax Identity number (NIF) of a third party for census purposes.
Tried that, got the usual 0402 error.
- Decided the problem was with my idCAT certificate, so went
sede.fnmt
to get an FNMT certificate.
Tried to download their "automatic configurator" for browsers, and the download failed.
And their software seems to use a library "Capicom" which has been discontinued for Windows 7
(Wikipedia article).
Retried the download several times, filed a bug report, tried the download one more time, and it succeeded.
[Later got response that I should have reported the bug to
FNMT support,
not Tributaria support.]
Closed browser, ran the configurator (holding my breath; who knows what it will do), it finished, restarted my computer. Everything seems okay. No change to the previous behavior of form 030, Notifications, etc in either browser.
Applied for certificate sede.fnmt. Had to change Firefox to accept third-party cookies "Always"; bummer. Site says application worked; expect email.
A minute later, the email arrived. Contains a 9-digit code number which I need to take to an office along with my ID.
Office locator
Looked for a cita at TGSS. But next available is a week off, we'll be out of town those several days, don't feel like waiting. We went to that same office the other day without a cita, so I'll just do that again. Don't seem to be any AEAT offices close by.
Went to office, got the FNMT certificate easily. But it didn't fix any of the web site problems. - About 6 weeks after getting my residency card, did a "Search for 'My census data'"
Modificacion_de_mis_datos_censales,
and suddenly it works ! I'm in the tax census. Was able to add my email address using that page.
- Several days later, in Firefox, tried "Modify Form 030" procedure
G321,
did a "Modification or submission" with digital certificate. Got only 1 "can't get data" error messages, instead
of previous 8 of them.
Filled out the form and submitted it, got an 8111 error. Filed an error report.
- In Chrome, tried "Modify Form 030" procedure
G321,
did a "Modification or submission" with digital certificate. No error upon loading, filled out form
and submitted it, and it worked ! Gave me a PDF copy of the form to save, too. When you fill out the form,
the check-boxes near the top have to match the sub-sections you fill out later in the form: don't put
data in a sub-section unless you also check the corresponding box near the top.
Calculators: CincoDias' "Herramientas"
taxspain's "Salary Calculations"
Spanish: Income tax (Impuesto de Renta sobre las Personas Fisicas, IRPF)
Filed by June 30 each year, for previous year. Basic form is form 100.
Who has to file ?
From Taxes For Expats's "U.S. Income Tax Return Preparation and Advice for American Citizen (Expatriates) Living in Spain":
Tax residents will need to pay income taxes in Spain and are generally defined as those who reside in Spain
over 183 days in each calendar year and/or have their main financial interests in Spain. However, in many cases you
only need to file a tax return in Spain when you make more than €22,000 per year, receive a rental income of
more than €1,000 and/or receive a capital gains and savings income of more than €1,600.
From Experts for Expats' "Tax in Spain for Expats":
At the most basic level, Spanish tax residents are liable for to pay income tax on their worldwide income,
once personal allowances have been taken into account.
However, a non-resident of Spain is only required to pay tax on any Spanish income (such as rental income from a Spanish property). The income tax for non-residents (Impuesto sobre la Renta de No Residentes, IRNR, form 210) is charged at a fixed rate and there are no personal allowances or deductions.
However, a non-resident of Spain is only required to pay tax on any Spanish income (such as rental income from a Spanish property). The income tax for non-residents (Impuesto sobre la Renta de No Residentes, IRNR, form 210) is charged at a fixed rate and there are no personal allowances or deductions.
Some people say you can be "immigration resident" or "physically resident" in Spain but "tax resident" or "fiscally resident" only in USA, so avoid paying Spanish income tax:
See Article 4 of the US-Spain tax treaty (PDF).
Each year, file form 8802 (and $85) with IRS to get form 6166 from them, which certifies that you are federally tax resident in USA.
IRS's "Form 6166 - Certification of U.S. Tax Residency"
IRS's "Form 8802 - Application for United States Residency Certification" (PDF)
IRS's "Instructions for Form 8802"
After getting US form 6166, do you file a Spanish income tax return, or just skip it ? Have to file US form 6166 with Hacienda ?
But from SBS's "Income tax Spain":
Personal income tax in Spain is levied on a resident individual's global income from any source. Typical examples of such are:
Salary income, Subsidies received, Professional income, Capital gains, Interest payments, Rental income.
...
An individual would be considered to be a resident in Spain for personal income tax purposes if he/she remains in the country for more than 183 days in one calendar year. ...
...
An individual would be considered to be a resident in Spain for personal income tax purposes if he/she remains in the country for more than 183 days in one calendar year. ...
From people on /r/Barcelona:
I'm employed by a company, you are not required to [file Renta] if you earned less than 21k brutos [pre-tax money] in 2015.
I thought I was supposed to pay back some money so I did it just to check, and it turned out I was actually owed money,
so ... try to do it online, you don't have to submit it if you don't want to.
...
Everyone working in Spain has to do it. [But] There is indeed an amount under which you don't have to do it. Hacienda will send you the papers and you can accept their number, it's as simple as that, 98% of the time they are accurate, they know everything about us. However, please check with a local at your work or your employer, you being foreigner this may be different process and I am no tax advisor.
...
Everyone working in Spain has to do it. [But] There is indeed an amount under which you don't have to do it. Hacienda will send you the papers and you can accept their number, it's as simple as that, 98% of the time they are accurate, they know everything about us. However, please check with a local at your work or your employer, you being foreigner this may be different process and I am no tax advisor.
From Abaco Advisers' "All you need to know about resident taxes in Spain":
We do recommend that you make an annual tax declaration whether this table [of thresholds] suggests you should or not.
It will help you to prove your fiscal residency - a status which can save you money [usually in real-estate transactions].
How to file ?
From Advoco's "Spanish tax forms explained":
The most common way of completing this obligation, for those with simple tax affairs, is to request a
borrador or draft tax declaration. This is automatically generated by the AT from their systems
which contain employment, bank and other records so know what most people are due to pay (or receive by way of a rebate).
For many people it is just a case of checking the draft and affirming its accuracy electronically,
by phone or by signing the paper copy and giving it in to to a tax office or bank.
If paying income tax online, must have a Spanish bank account (IBAN starts with "ES"), and return must be filed by June 24 (called "domiciliacion", paying by direct debit). But also can pay through Hacienda web site using credit or debit card ? After the "domiciliacion" date, you have to pay by taking tax return to a bank and paying into Hacienda's account.
From someone on CAB FB group 1/2016:
If you only have a simple tax return to make (usually income from legal job, a bit of interest from the bank etc),
you can make an appointment in the tax office and they do it for you for free [called "presencial"].
If it turns out, you owe them money and you are not obliged to declare they will tell you that.
Also, if you are not obliged to declare and you are due a rebate, you can also declare voluntarily.
From someone on "Expats in Spain" Facebook group 3/2016:
[Some banks will do your income tax return for you ?]
I USED to bank with Unicaja and the annual declaracion was included in the quarterly fees I had to pay.
You could do it online or by phone, they would work out if you owed any tax, you went into your branch,
signed the forms, one was sent to Hacienda, other was your record. Not bad (as long as you know exactly
what you have earned).
From someone on "Spain Immigration and Residency Questions" Facebook group 4/2019:
> if you earned a salary in Spain, when you go to the Tributaria web site and
> start to file Renta, is your salary info pre-populated into the forms, or do
> you have to type in everything from scratch ?
It's pre-populated. You basically just save and confirm it, unless you have anything else to declare or are in a community where you get a deduction for rent.
> start to file Renta, is your salary info pre-populated into the forms, or do
> you have to type in everything from scratch ?
It's pre-populated. You basically just save and confirm it, unless you have anything else to declare or are in a community where you get a deduction for rent.
It used to be that you downloaded a tax-year-specific program called "PADRE" to do your tax return. But starting with the 2015 tax year, there is a new "Renta Web" online way of doing a return, and as of 2016 tax year, PADRE is discontinued.
Rates and strategies ?
Tax rates vary between the different regions of Spain (Comunidades Autonomas).
Some income that is tax-exempt in USA (interest on US govt bonds ?) may not be tax-exempt in Spain. And capital gains are taxed higher in Spain, so you may owe the difference to Spain. No deductions for education expenses.
From someone on reddit in 2024:
"Capital gains are taxed between 19% up to €6.000, 21% from €6.000 up to €50.000, 23% from €50.000 up to €200.000 are the most common ranges, it grows a little bit after up to 27/28%."
Expatica's "A guide to the Spanish tax system"
Are USA Social Security benefits taxable by Spain ?
Bottom line: yes.
Related question: are distributions from 401K's and IRA's taxable by Spain ?
On US income tax return, from FindLaw's "Social Security: Your Payments While You Are Outside The United States":
If you file a Federal income tax return as an "individual" and your combined income is $25,000 to $34,000,
you may have to pay taxes on up to 50 percent of your Social Security benefits. "Combined income" means
your adjusted gross income plus nontaxable interest plus one-half of your Social Security benefits.
If your combined income is over $34,000, you may have to pay taxes on up to 85 percent of your Social Security benefits.
From Taxes for Expats' "Social Security & Expat Taxes":
"Social Security payments originate from the US and can therefore not be claimed as part of a FEIE (Foreign Earned Income Exclusion)."
From Tax Partners' "Where should pay taxes Americans pensioners retired in Spain":
... with regard to pensions paid by the Social Security of the United States, as provided in Article 20.1 b) of the Tax Treaty,
they may be subject to tax in the United States. In Spain, this pension is also subject to tax, taxed as employment income,
for the full amount under the Personal Income Tax Act.
In this respect, the art. 24.1.a) of the Convention provides for the avoidance of double taxation, that "when a resident of Spain derives income which, in accordance with the provisions of the Convention, may be taxed in the United States based on criteria other than citizenship, Spain allow deduction of tax on income of that resident an amount equal to the tax paid in the United States"
Therefore, with respect to pensions paid by the Social Security of the United States, Spain has the obligation to eliminate the double taxation which could arise. In other words, the tax payer must include the benefits of Social Security paid by the United States in the annual income tax return but can deduct from the tax payable in Spain, the tax paid in the United States in respect of such Social Security pension.
In this respect, the art. 24.1.a) of the Convention provides for the avoidance of double taxation, that "when a resident of Spain derives income which, in accordance with the provisions of the Convention, may be taxed in the United States based on criteria other than citizenship, Spain allow deduction of tax on income of that resident an amount equal to the tax paid in the United States"
Therefore, with respect to pensions paid by the Social Security of the United States, Spain has the obligation to eliminate the double taxation which could arise. In other words, the tax payer must include the benefits of Social Security paid by the United States in the annual income tax return but can deduct from the tax payable in Spain, the tax paid in the United States in respect of such Social Security pension.
Asked Madrid embassy FBU about taxation of SS benefits, and they responded: "For questions on taxes please contact the IRS."
From IRS's "Income Tax Convention with Spain" (PDF):
Article 20 section 1(b):
"social security benefits paid by a Contracting State to a resident of the other Contracting State or a citizen of the United States may be taxed in the first-mentioned State."
[Which may mean US SS benefits are taxable ONLY in USA.]
Various people say this is true, US SS benefits are taxable only in USA.
"social security benefits paid by a Contracting State to a resident of the other Contracting State or a citizen of the United States may be taxed in the first-mentioned State."
[Which may mean US SS benefits are taxable ONLY in USA.]
From comments on U.S. Tax Consultant's "2017 Tax Information Newsletter 01":
> Doesn't Article 20 section 1(b) of
> treaty (PDF) mean that
> US Social Security benefits are NOT taxable in Spain ?
I am sorry, but that it is not my understanding. You need to read first the Article 20 1.a which very clearly states that pensions and similar remunerations, SS benefits seems to me that falls under this category, are taxable in Spain. The Treaty contains a "Reservation clause" (Article 20.1 b) according to which the United States reserves the right of taxation on the SS Benefits, on its citizens and residents as if the Convention were not in force. The imposition taken in the United States by a resident of Spain on the basis of the criteria of citizenship does not give right in Spain to apply in the IRPF deduction by Double international taxation. If the United States taxes any income by making use of the "reservation clause" established for its citizens, double taxation has to be avoided by United States. So, you can only recuperate the taxes paid with the IRS Foreign Tax Credit, which means that you must file the IRPF first so you can have the deduction in your 1040. You cannot claim in Spain the deduction of the taxes paid in the USA.
Anyway, I am sure you know that the Spanish IRPF Law requires that all residents in Spain must report worldwide income, which includes Foreign pensions: "Todo residente fiscal en España debe declarar en su IRPF por su renta mundial, con independencia de la procedencia de sus ingresos. Es decir, debera declarar en España las rentas que obtenga en cualquier parte del mundo, sin perjuicio de lo que se disponga en el Convenio para evitar la doble imposicion internacional suscrito entre España y el pais de origen de la renta".
The AEAT has an information document, I have only found it in Spanish, which summarizes some of the articles of the Treaty and how they are interpreted: Agencia Tributaria's "Residentes Fiscales en España con Rentas Procedentes de Estados Unidos" (PDF).
My reading of that information document:
> treaty (PDF) mean that
> US Social Security benefits are NOT taxable in Spain ?
I am sorry, but that it is not my understanding. You need to read first the Article 20 1.a which very clearly states that pensions and similar remunerations, SS benefits seems to me that falls under this category, are taxable in Spain. The Treaty contains a "Reservation clause" (Article 20.1 b) according to which the United States reserves the right of taxation on the SS Benefits, on its citizens and residents as if the Convention were not in force. The imposition taken in the United States by a resident of Spain on the basis of the criteria of citizenship does not give right in Spain to apply in the IRPF deduction by Double international taxation. If the United States taxes any income by making use of the "reservation clause" established for its citizens, double taxation has to be avoided by United States. So, you can only recuperate the taxes paid with the IRS Foreign Tax Credit, which means that you must file the IRPF first so you can have the deduction in your 1040. You cannot claim in Spain the deduction of the taxes paid in the USA.
Anyway, I am sure you know that the Spanish IRPF Law requires that all residents in Spain must report worldwide income, which includes Foreign pensions: "Todo residente fiscal en España debe declarar en su IRPF por su renta mundial, con independencia de la procedencia de sus ingresos. Es decir, debera declarar en España las rentas que obtenga en cualquier parte del mundo, sin perjuicio de lo que se disponga en el Convenio para evitar la doble imposicion internacional suscrito entre España y el pais de origen de la renta".
The AEAT has an information document, I have only found it in Spanish, which summarizes some of the articles of the Treaty and how they are interpreted: Agencia Tributaria's "Residentes Fiscales en España con Rentas Procedentes de Estados Unidos" (PDF).
Yes, looks that way to me, taxed by both countries. Relevant text is:
1. En general, las pensiones privadas solo se someteran a imposicion en España.
2. Sin embargo, los pagos realizados bajo el regimen de la Seguridad Social de Estados Unidos, a un residente de España o a un ciudadano de los Estados Unidos, pueden someterse a tributacion tambien en Estados Unidos, en cuyo caso el contribuyente residente tendria derecho a aplicar en España en el IRPF la deduccion por doble imposicion internacional, siempre que dicha renta haya sido sometida a imposicion en Estados Unidos con base en criterios distintos del de ciudadania.
When you start collecting US SS benefits, make sure they don't charge you for Medicare coverage; you can't use Medicare outside USA.
From someone on Facebook 6/2017:
I had questions about filing my Spanish tax return and so I made an appointment with Hacienda in Barcelona,
and took my U.S. tax return with me. Using my U.S. return, they filed my Spanish return for me, which is apparently
a free service they offer to taxpayers. They did tax my U.S. social security benefits and gave me a tax credit
for tax I paid the USA on social security benefits. Hacienda said that only pensions derived from government employment
are exempt from Spanish taxation.
From someone on Facebook 4/2018:
According to the Spain-U.S. tax treaty, any pension that results from employment by the U.S. government is not taxable in Spain,
but pensions resulting from private employment are taxable here. For most Americans, Social Security is taxable in Spain,
but pensions for federal employees are not. I had this information direct from a Spanish lawyer who was one of the people
who wrote the treaty, so I believe it to be accurate.
Artio Partners' "Complete Guide to Social Security Benefits for American Expats Living Abroad"
Greenback's "US Expat Taxes Explained: Social Security"
ElderLawAnswer's "Getting Social Security While Living Overseas"
Taxes for Expats' "Social Security & Expat Taxes"
Federal Benefits Unit (FBU) at US embassy in Madrid
US SSA's "Must I pay taxes on Social Security benefits?"
Most US states (including mine, NJ) do not tax US SS benefits.
If you renounced US citizenship:
My reading of
Ines Zemelman's "Will I Be Able to Collect Social Security Retirement Benefits If I Renounce My US Citizenship?":
If you renounce US citizenship, you still can collect US Social Security benefits. If you reside outside USA, depending on country,
the benefits will be taxed by USA at a higher rate than if you lived inside USA or you didn't renounce.
From someone on Facebook:
According to section four of the US/Spain tax treaty, Social Security is taxed by the country of residence.
Private pensions are taxed by the country they come from.
[That second sentence is surprising to me.]
How to handle US IRA distributions
If you take a distribution out of a simple IRA account into a normal account, this is a taxable event. It is taxable income, in USA and Spain, in the year that you did the distribution.
In USA, the bank will withhold some amount for US taxes, right away. I suspect Spain will want the equivalent done in Spain; they won't want to wait until you file IRPF next year to get most of their money. On a large stock gain in USA this would be called filing "estimated tax", and you do it quarterly I think.
How do I file to tell Spain that I had a one-time taxable event and here's €N of estimated tax payment ?
Forms Modelo 130 or Modelo 131 look closest, but not right. The form must be completed between the first and 20th days of each quarter: January, April, July, and October.
Self Employed in Spain's "How to fill in Modelo 130"
Xolo's "Modelo 130 - Quarterly Personal Income Tax (IRPF)"
The few people who respond tell me: Spain doesn't have the concept of paying estimated tax on a gain, don't file anything.
US IRA Passed To NRA Spouse
I'm a US citizen resident in Spain, filing tax returns to both countries. I own IRA accounts in USA.
My wife is a Spanish citizen resident in Spain, not filing US tax returns.
My understanding:
When I die, my IRA accounts will be inherited by my wife. This is a non-taxable event.
As she takes distributions out of the IRA accounts, those are taxable by both countries. She will have to file US tax returns.
If she later dies still owning IRA accounts, and the amount of US assets is over $60k, her estate is subject to (40%) US inheritance tax ( article, IRS ). Her heirs take the whole amount as a distribution and pay tax on it ? Not sure.
Advoco's "Spanish income tax"
Advoco's "Do you need to submit a Spanish tax return?"
IRS's "United States Income Tax Treaties - A to Z"
Strong Abogados's "Personal taxes in Spain"
Expatica's "A guide to the Spanish tax system"
SpainGuru's "Spanish tax residents: An expert's guide to filing taxes in Spain"
Wikipedia's "International taxation"
Jose Marc Castro's "Retiring to Spain"
Experts for Expats' "Tax in Spain for Expats"
George Mills' "Spanish tax returns: A handy expat guide"
spainAccountants's "Income tax"
ExpatFocus's "Spain - Income Tax"
SpainExpat's "Filing Taxes as a US Expat in Spain"
AngloINFO's "How Income is Taxed"
KPMG's "Spain - Income Tax"
Expats in Spain's "Personal Income Tax in Spain" (PDF)
Expats in Spain's "Personal Taxation in Spain - Double Taxation" (PDF)
PWC's "Global Mobility Services: Taxation of International Assignees - Spain" (PDF)
BOE's "Impuesto sobre la Renta de las Personas Fisicas" (the actual law)
Philip Carroll's "Personal Taxation in Spain"
Philip Carroll's "Personal Taxation in Spain - Rates and Allowances"
Spain Accountants' "Rates and allowances"
CincoDias's IRPF calculator
Spain Accountants' "2014 residents tax returns" (good overview of a tax return)
My experience with Renta WEB 2015, in 2016
- On March 21, went to
Agencia Tributaria's "Income Tax"
to download PADRE program. Notice says not available until April 6.
- Tried again on April 12. Lots of icons available now. Went to "Help" for "Renta WEB" and
started reading. Can use Renta WEB if you don't have income from "economic activities" (your own business).
Some English in the help pages, but not in the forms themselves.
- To get started online with Renta WEB, you have to use "RENØ" to get a reference number, and
that is done via SMS to a cell-phone (or by sending paper mail to you). Using SMS, can get a maximum of three reference numbers
per day, and getting each new number revokes the previous one.
- So, went to
Agencia Tributaria's "Income Tax".
I clicked on "Obtaining the reference number", then moused over "Digital certificate",
then browser asked me to select a certificate, and I chose my FNMT certificate.
Clicked on "Digital certificate" and got a page for entering mobile phone number.
Did that, clicked on "Obtener Referencia" button.
Almost immediately received an SMS from AEAT, giving 6-character code.
Code is fixed-length (6 chars) and uppercase.
- Once you have a reference number, click on "Servicios Renta" button in that page,
or go back out to main page and click on "Servicio de tramitacion borrador / declaracion (Renta WEB)",
and type in your NIE and the reference number. (My first number didn't work ! Had some funky character in
the middle of it. Asked for another number, and the second one worked.)
See a page that starts with "Servicios Renta 2015" and "yourNIE - yourname".
- After you have received a draft (borrador), you can no longer go back and use "RENØ" to get another reference number.
- Click on "Borrador/Declaracion (Renta WEB)". Get page that starts
with "Impuesto sobre la Renta de las Personas Fisicas. - Modelo 100".
- First page gives your basic data (make SURE you get all of this right; apparently some of it, maybe just fiscal year and
a couple other fields, can't be changed later) and lists any partner and dependents.
Usually leave Discapacidad (disabled) and Fecha de Fallecimiento (death) fields blank.
When done, click "Accept".
(Later, you can try to change this data via a "Ver Datos Personal" or "Datos Personales" button.)
- Next page gives many categories of income and deductions.
At any time, can click on "Vista Previa" link near top to save a copy of the return as a PDF file.
If you click on the number-link for any category, you get to a detail-page about that category. To get back to the many-categories page, click the "Resumen de declaraciones" button near the upper-right of the detail page.
To save the return on the site, so you can come back to it later, click the "Guardar" button near the bottom-right of the page. You'll see a warning page, click "Guardar" again. Then click the "Desconnectar" link near upper-right of page. - To resume later, I went to
Agencia Tributaria's "Income Tax".
Clicked on "Draft/return processing service (Renta WEB)", chose "use digital certificate",
and got a "redireccion prohibida" error !
Tried again the next day, same problem. Switched browser from Firefox to Internet Explorer, and it worked.
But failed on the next step, opening my borrador. Tried again, worked second time. Not confidence-inspiring.
- To find instructions for the overall Modelo 100 form, click on the "?" button near the top-left of the page,
set your browser to allow pop-ups, and see
Modelo 100 instructions (PDF).
The numbers in the table of contents are page numbers.
- On a detail page, items (boxes, called "casillas") are labeled with numbers such as "400".
In the
Modelo 100 instructions (PDF),
the item numbers from the web pages appear in the text as "casilla 400"
or "casillas 143, 172" etc.
- Some items gleaned from the instructions:
"Rendimientos" or "rentas" = income.
"Rentas exentas" = exempt income.
"Retencion" or "retener" = withholding.
"Impuesto" = tax.
"Rendimientos del capital mobiliario" = investment income.
"Rentas inmobiliarias" = real-estate income.
"Dividendos" = dividends.
"Intereses" = interest.
"Depositos" = deposits.
"Ganancias" = profits.
"Patrimonios" = assets, capital, wealth, equity.
"Ganancias patrimoniales" = capital gains.
"Perdidas patrimoniales" = capital losses.
"Fondos de Inversion" = mutual funds.
"Ingreso" = payment.
"Imponible" = taxable.
"Base imponible" = taxable base or taxable income.
"Inmobiliarias" = real estate.
"Bienes inmuebles" = property.
"Derechos sobre bienes inmuebles" = real property rights.
"Deducciones" = deductions or credits.
"Unidades familiares" = households.
"Valores" = securities, stocks, holdings.
Page 62, section "Concepto de Rentas Anuales a Efectos de la Aplicacion de los Minimos Personales y Familiares" gives the basic plan:
A) Rendimientos netos del trabajo (casilla 019): income from work/salary.
B) Rendimientos netos del capital mobiliario a integrar en la base imponible general (casilla 045): capital gains, interest, dividends.
C) Rendimientos netos del capital mobiliario a integrar en la base imponible del ahorro (casilla 033): capital losses.
D) Rendimientos netos del capital inmobiliario (casilla 065): income from real-estate.
E) Rendimientos netos de actividades economicas (casillas 118, 143, 172): income from business.
F) Imputaciones de rentas: ???
Page 83, section "Cumplementacion IRPF" starts the section-by-section, line-by-line instructions.
Page 90, section "Rendimientos del Trabajo Personal" starts the "income from work/salary" section, casilla 019.
Page 116, section "Rendimientos de Capital Mobiliario" starts the "capital gains, interest, dividends" and "capital losses" sections, casillas 045 and 033.
Page 133, section "Rendimientos Derivados de Inmuebles" starts the "income from real-estate" section, casilla 065.
Page 213, section "Rendimientos de Actividades Economicas" starts the "income from business" section.
Page 293, section "Ganancias y Perdidas Patrimonialies" starts a "capital gains and losses" section.
Page 344, section "Base Imponible General y Base Imponible del Ahorro" starts a "difference between general income and savings income" section.
Page 348, section "Base Liquidable General y Base Liquidable del Ahorro" starts a "deductions" section.
The remainder of the document, 260 pages or so, seems to be about deductions.
At this point, I got a bit lost. - Going back to the web forms:
In main form of Renta WEB, you can click through the forms by using the VCR-type buttons around the "1/33" indicator near the top of the page:
Page 4 is for income from work.
Page 5 is for interest, dividends, special gains/losses. Casilla 023 is for interest, 025 is for dividends.
Page 6 is for real estate.
Page 10 for capital gains from mutual funds.
Page 11 for capital gains/losses from stock trades.
Page 23, casillas 528 and 529: deductions for international double-taxation.
Page 33, net income, calculation of tax. - Entering interest income:
Went to page 5. Clicked "pen" icon next to casilla 023. Pop-up dialog opens.
Don't know what "Alta Capital mobiliaro" means.
Put interest amount in "Ingresos integros" field.
"Retenciones" would be for any tax withheld ?
"Gastos" would be for any administrative expenses paid ?
Click "Acceptar". Back to page 5. - Entering dividend income:
Went to page 5. Clicked "pen" icon next to casilla 025. Pop-up dialog opens.
Don't know what "Alta Capital mobiliaro" means.
Put dividend amount in "Ingresos integros" field.
"Retenciones" would be for any tax withheld ?
"Gastos" would be for any administrative expenses paid ?
Click "Acceptar". Back to page 5. - Entering capital gains from stock trades:
Went to page 11.
The "Entidad Emisora 1 de 1" will count up through the number of companies whose stock you traded. After doing the first company, you'll click "Alta Entidad emisora" to add a new company.
Clicked "pen" icon next to casilla 285. Pop-up dialog opens.
Put name of stock/company in "Entidad Emisora" box.
For each stock trade of that company's stock:
In "Tipo de valor que origina la ganancia o perdida patrimonial" pull-down, select "Acciones y partipiciones negociadas ...".
In "Fecha de adquisicion de las acciones transmitidas" pull-down, select appropriate date range. For gains, probably always the first one, "... desde 1994" (after 1994). For losses, always the last one, "Perdidas patrimoniales".
In "Valor de transmision", put sale amount.
In "Valor de adquisicion", put purchase amount.
If you have another trade of this same company, click "Alta Ganancia/Perdida" near top, and enter next trade of same stock.
When no more trades for stock of this company, click "Acceptar". Back to page 11.
For next company traded, click "Alta Entidad Emisora". See text change to "Entidad Emisora 2 de 2".
Click "pen" icon again. Fill out form again, click "Acceptar" again, get back to page 11 again. -
I did a "Validar" of the whole form, got sent to an error in "Datos adicionales de la vivienda".
Clicked on the "pen" icon, and a pop-up dialog appeared.
In the "Titularidad (clave)" pull-down, the values are:
"1- Vivienda, plaza de garaje, trastero o anexo propriedad del declarante y/o de su conjuge": house, garage, storage annex or property owned by the declarant and/or their legal partner.
"2- Vivienda de la que es usufructuario el declarante y/o su conjuge": housing which the declarant and/or their legal partner have a right to use.
"3- Vivienda de la que es arrendatario el declarante y/o su conjuge": housing which is rented by the declarant and/or their legal partner.
"4- Otra situacion": another situation.
In the "Situacion (clave)" pull-down, the values are:
"1- inmueble con referencia catastral situado en España, excepto en el pais vasco o navarro": property with cadastral reference (government registration) in Spain, except in the Basque Country and Navarre.
"2- inmueble con referencia catastral situado en el pais vasco o navarro": with cadastral reference property located in the Basque Country and Navarre.
"3- inmueble sin referencia catastral": property without cadastral reference.
"4- inmueble situado en el extranjero": property located abroad.
To find cadastral reference number, given address:
Hacienda's "Access the Cadastral services"
Hacienda's help page for "The Cadastral Electronic Site (SEC)"
- International double-taxation:
Go to page 23. Do casilla 528.
[Sorry, I paid zero tax in USA, so didn't have to do this part.] -
Click "Validar" and fix any errors (click on each "Go to the ..." button in turn).
Several warnings can't be fixed unless you choose to donate to Catholic Church, or are doing odd things such as changing address or something. Just seems to be no way to make those warnings go away.
But "100P384 [Declarante] -Debe indicar el lugar y/o la fecha de la declaracion" is the equivalent of dating and signing the form; you'll have to do that one when you're done.
- Final tally:
Go to page 33. Casilla 610 shows amount you owe (positive), or amount owed to you (negative).
- Submitting the return:
Go to page 33, scroll to bottom, and fill in boxes in "Fecha de la declaracion" section (location, day, month, year); equivalent of dating and signing the form.
Click "Validar" and make sure no errors.
Click on "Vista Previa" link near top to save a copy of the draft return as a PDF file. (If you don't see "Vista Previa" anywhere, click on "Resumen de declaraciones" button.)
Click on "Guardar" to save the return to web server (can't hurt).
Click on "Presentar declaracion" to submit the return. See several dialogs. Check that the various items are correct, keep clicking "Continue", etc. When through them all, you'll get a "Your tax return was filed correctly" page, containing a "Secure Verification Code"; record that value. That page also says "You can print or save the PDF document confirming your filing shown in a frame at the bottom of this page.", but there's no such frame in the page I got. Also gave a link for viewing the PDF; save that link.
Later, to see your final return, you can go to Agencia Tributaria's "Income Tax" and click on "Draft/return processing service (Renta WEB)". Under "Estado de Tramitacion" you should see "Su declaracion se esta tramitando." Under "Historia del Expediente" you should see a link "Grabacion de la declaracion NNNNNNNNNNN". Click on this, through another page, and you'll see a PDF of your final submitted return. Save it to disk, and also copy the "Expediente/Referencia" number out of it. - Paying or getting a refund:
[Sorry, I had a zero return, so didn't have to do this.] - Status of return:
Status stayed at "Su declaracion se esta tramitando." for at least 3 workdays. - Survey:
You can go to Agencia Tributaria's "Income Tax" and click on "Encuesta Campana de Renta: Opine aqui".
Section A is "services you used".
Section F is "degree of difficulty using each area".
Some feedback I gave:
- When using REN0, the first SMS I received had some strange character in the middle of it, and didn't work.
Tried again and the second SMS was okay. I'm on Lycamobile.
- Wasn't able to do my return using Firefox (got a "redireccion prohibida" error when trying to resume
my existing borrador), but it worked in Internet Explorer.
- The Modelo 100 instructions (PDF file) say "press F1 to see help" in a couple of places,
but I think that is left over from PADRE instructions, it doesn't work in a browser.
- Several "Validar" warnings can't be fixed unless you choose to donate to Catholic Church,
or are doing odd things such as changing address or something. Just seems to be no way to make those warnings go away.
- Final "Your tax return was filed correctly" page says
"You can print or save the PDF document confirming your filing shown in a frame at the bottom of this page.",
but there's no such frame in the page I got.
- When using REN0, the first SMS I received had some strange character in the middle of it, and didn't work.
Tried again and the second SMS was okay. I'm on Lycamobile.
My experience filing Form 100 / La Renta online in 2017
- Going to use exchange rate from
BOE 31-12-2016 (PDF):
€1 = $1.0541
- To get started online with Renta WEB, you have to use "RENØ" to get a reference number, and
that is done via SMS to a cell-phone (or by sending paper mail to you). Using SMS, can get a maximum of three reference numbers
per day, and getting each new number revokes the previous one.
- So, in Firefox browser, went to
Agencia Tributaria's "Personal Income Tax".
I clicked on "Obtaining the reference number", then clicked on "Digital certificate".
Got a "Redireccion prohibida" error dialog.
Couldn't get around it; tried turning off NoScript, uBlock, Privacy Badger.
- Switched to Internet Explorer browser.
Went to
Agencia Tributaria's "Personal Income Tax".
I clicked on "Obtaining the reference number", then clicked on "Digital certificate".
then browser asked me to select a certificate, and I chose my FNMT certificate.
Clicked on "Digital certificate" and got a page for entering mobile phone number.
Did that, clicked on "Obtener Referencia" button.
Almost immediately received an SMS from AEAT, giving 6-character code.
Code is fixed-length (6 chars) and uppercase.
- Once you have a reference number, click on "Servicios Renta" button in that page,
or go back out to main page and click on "Servicio de tramitacion borrador / declaracion (Renta WEB)".
I did that, and got right into my new Borrador, didn't have to type in the reference number from SMS.
- Made sure info on first page was correct, clicked "Acceptar", saw main body of tax return, clicked "Guardar",
then clicked "power button" icon to log out.
- Switched back to Firefox browser.
Tried to log in, got a "Redireccion prohibida" error dialog again.
Back to Internet Explorer. Back into the declaration.
- Clicked on "continue the declaration" button, and got to a "Domicilio habitual" page.
Since my address has changed since last year, have to adjust the "Datos adicionales de la vivienda" section.
Changed settings to show that we're renting, put in catastral reference number for the piso, and the landlords ID number.
- Went to pagina 3(II) for income. Looks like the page and casilla numbers have changed slightly since last year.
Casilla 022 for interest income, casilla 024 for dividends.
- Entering interest income:
Clicked "pen" icon next to casilla 022. Pop-up dialog opens.
Don't know what "Alta Capital mobiliaro" means.
Put total of all interest amounts in "Ingresos integros" field; probably supposed to enter each account separately, but I didn't bother.
"Retenciones" would be for any tax withheld ?
"Gastos" would be for any administrative expenses paid ?
Click "Acceptar". - Entering dividend income:
Clicked "pen" icon next to casilla 024. Pop-up dialog opens.
Don't know what "Alta Capital mobiliaro" means.
Put total of all dividend amounts in "Ingresos integros" field; probably supposed to enter each account separately, but I didn't bother.
"Retenciones" would be for any tax withheld ?
"Gastos" would be for any administrative expenses paid ?
Click "Acceptar". - Entering capital gains from stock trades:
Went to pagina 10(I), sub-section "Ganancias y perdidas patrimoniales derivadas de transmisiones de acciones o participaciones negociadas".
The "Entidad Emisora 1 de 1" will count up through the number of companies whose stock you traded. After doing the first company, you'll click "Alta Entidad emisora" to add a new company.
Clicked "pen" icon next to casilla 290, "Importe global de las transmisiones efectuadas en 2016". Pop-up dialog opens.
Put name of stock/company in "Entidad Emisora" box. I just put stock symbol.
For each stock trade of that company's stock:
In "Tipo de valor que origina la ganancia o perdida patrimonial" pull-down, select "Acciones y partipiciones negociadas ...".
In "Tipo de ganancia/perdida patrimonial" pull-down, select appropriate date range. For gains, probably always the first one, "... desde 1994" (after 1994). For losses, always the last one, "Perdidas patrimoniales".
In "Valor de transmision", put sale amount.
In "Valor de adquisicion", put purchase amount.
If you have another trade of this same company, click "Alta Ganancia/Perdida" near top, and enter next trade of same stock.
Seems to be a limit of 4 trades for each company. If you have more, click "Acceptar", back to page 10(I), add a new "Entidad" with same name.
When no more trades for stock of this company, click "Acceptar". Back to page 10(I).
For next company traded, click "Alta Entidad Emisora". See text change to "Entidad Emisora 2 de 2".
Click "pen" icon again. Fill out form again, click "Acceptar" again, get back to page 10(I) again. - International double-taxation:
Go to pagina 15, sub-section "Cuota resultante de la autoliquidacion". Do casilla 533.
Not sure what to do, so went to instructions for the overall Modelo 100 form. Clicked on the "?" button near the top-left of the page, got page with table of contents of instructions. Went to "8.9.3. Deduccion por doble imposicion internacional". Copied the text and put it through Google Translate. Hard to understand.
Back to the form, clicked on "pen" icon for casilla 533.
Clicked on "pen" icon for 1st column, "Rentas incluidas en la base general". This is the US tax paid on earned income ?
Interpretation from someone on reddit:
1) Net work income from another country ('net' = income - deductions, although then it says that there are expenses and deductions that have to be declared in other pages).
2) Other net taxable income from another country (again, 'net' = income - deductions).
3) Taxable real estate earnings from another country.
4) Tax paid in that other country.
Clicked on "pen" icon for 2nd column, "Rentas incluidas en la base del ahorro".
This is the US tax paid on interest and dividends on savings ?
To fill in the top box in the 3rd column, "Impuesto satisfecho en el extranjero", click on the "Consulta" button, get another dialog.
This seems to be a read-only dialog; can't change anything in it.
[The numbers in here may change after you add data in the other dialogs. They show
something about how much reduction you're getting and why.]
I went to "income" dialog and put some US income in the 2nd box, and some US tax paid in the 4th box. Acceptar, acceptar, validar, and get an error 'Compruebe el importe reflejado a efectos de la deduccion por doble imposicion internacional, en la casilla "Otros rendimientos netos reducidos obtenidos en el extranjero incluidos en la base general"'. I think it's saying I have to add that US income elsewhere in my Spanish income declaration, as it stands I'm declaring more US income than I declared total worldwide income ? [Now I think: no. Can't get that warning to go away.]
The US income is withdrawal of money from an IRA account. Pre-tax money, so it's taxable income this year. Not sure where it goes on the Renta. Maybe pagina 3, casilla 001, "Retribuciones dinerarias (incluidas pensiones compensatorias y anualidades por alimentos no exentas)" ? I added it there. Still get the warning. I notice that nothing is appearing in casilla 533, even though I put income and tax paid in the "income" dialog. And I'm getting no reduction in tax owed to Spain, for tax paid in USA.
Tried putting some values in the "savings" dialog, and a number DOES appear in casilla 533. It appears to be 10% to 100% of the "tax paid on savings" number, varying somehow with the "total savings" number. And it DOES reduce the amount of tax owed to Spain. But having a number in casilla 533 doesn't get rid of the warning, and still I'm getting no tax reduction for the tax I paid on income.
Maybe I need to divide up my US income tax paid into "tax paid on income" and "tax paid on savings" and put the two parts in the two dialogs ? But why would I get no reduction for US tax paid on income ?
So I did that, and fortunately my US tax on savings was enough to wipe out my total Spanish tax liability; didn't need a reduction due to US tax on income. Still have a warning when I do a "Validar". -
Click "Validar" and fix any errors (click on each "Go to the ..." button in turn).
As there were last year, several warnings can't be fixed unless you choose to donate to Catholic Church, or are doing odd things such as changing address or something. Just seems to be no way to make those warnings go away. Can't put in the IBAN until you're ready to send in the return. -
6/10: Signed and submitted my return, got confirmation numbers and a PDF copy, no problems.
-
Money was taken out of my account on 6/30. "Concepto" is "IMPUESTO MOD.100 JUST.NNNNNNNNNNN".
My experience filing Form 100 / La Renta online in 2018
- Going to use exchange rate from
BOE 30-12-2017 (PDF):
€1 = $1.1993
- Maybe first do a "View your tax details" on the Renta web site, to see about any carry-over from previous year.
- To get started online with Renta WEB, you have to use "RENØ" to get a reference number, and
that is done via SMS to a cell-phone (or by sending paper mail to you). Using SMS, can get a maximum of three reference numbers
per day, and getting each new number revokes the previous one.
- So, in Firefox browser, went to
Agencia Tributaria's "Personal Income Tax".
I clicked on "Obtaining the reference number", got a "Redireccion prohibida" error dialog.
- Switched to Chrome browser.
Went to
Agencia Tributaria's "Personal Income Tax".
I clicked on "Obtaining the reference number", then clicked on "Digital certificate".
then browser asked me to select a certificate, and I chose my FNMT certificate.
Got a page that gave me a 6-character referencia code.
- Went back out to main page and clicked on "Servicio de tramitacion borrador / declaracion (Renta WEB)".
I did that, clicked on "Borrador/Declaracion (Renta WEB)". Got into the start of the tax return, no need to enter referencia number.
- Made sure info on first page was correct, clicked "Acceptar", saw main body of tax return, clicked "Save Tax Return".
- I have US income that is withdrawal of money from an IRA account. Pre-tax money, so it's
taxable income this year. Not sure where it goes on the Renta.
Maybe pagina 4, casilla 002, "Retribuciones dinerarias (incluidas pensiones compensatorias y anualidades por alimentos no exentas)" ?
I put it in there: clicked pen icon, put it in "Retribuciones Dinerarias - Importe integro" field.
- Went to pagina 4(II) for income.
Looks like the page and casilla numbers have changed slightly since last year.
Casilla 025 for interest income, casilla 027 for dividends. - Entering interest income:
Clicked "pen" icon next to casilla 025. Pop-up dialog opens.
Don't know what "Alta Capital mobiliaro" means.
Put total of all interest amounts in "Ingresos integros" field; probably supposed to enter each account separately, but I didn't bother.
"Retenciones" would be for any tax withheld ?
"Gastos" would be for any administrative expenses paid ?
Click "Acceptar".
Get a dialog saying "Sure there are no rentenciones or gastos ?".
Click "Continuar". - Entering dividend income:
Clicked "pen" icon next to casilla 027. Pop-up dialog opens.
Don't know what "Alta Capital mobiliaro" means.
Put total of all dividend amounts in "Ingresos integros" field; probably supposed to enter each account separately, but I didn't bother.
"Retenciones" would be for any tax withheld ?
"Gastos" would be for any administrative expenses paid ?
Click "Acceptar".
Get a dialog saying "Sure there are no rentenciones or gastos ?".
Click "Continuar". - Entering capital gains from stock trades:
Go to pagina 11(II), sub-section "Ganancias y perdidas patrimoniales derivadas de transmisiones de acciones o participaciones negociadas".
The "Entidad Emisora 1 de 1" will count up through the number of companies whose stock you traded. After doing the first company, you'll click "Alta Entidad emisora" to add a new company.
Click "pen" icon next to casilla 310, "Importe global de las transmisiones efectuadas en 2017". Pop-up dialog opens.
Put name of stock/company in "Entidad Emisora" box. I just put stock symbol.
For each stock trade of that company's stock:
In "Valor de transmision", put sale amount.
In "Valor de adquisicion", put purchase amount.
[This is simpler than last year's form; no need to put in dates etc.
If you have another trade of this same company, click "Alta Ganancia/Perdida" near top, and enter next trade of same stock.
Seems to be a limit of 4 trades for each company. If you have more, click "Acceptar", back to page 11(II), add a new "Entidad" with same name.
When no more trades for stock of this company, click "Acceptar". Back to page 11(II).
For next company traded, click "Alta Entidad Emisora". See text change to "Entidad Emisora 2 de 2".
Click "pen" icon again. Fill out form again, click "Acceptar" again, get back to page 11(II) again. - International double-taxation:
Go to pagina 16(II), sub-section "Cuota resultante de la autoliquidacion". Do casilla 553, double-taxation of income obtained and taxed abroad.
Clicked on "pen" icon for casilla 553.
[Following images are from last year's forms, but close enough.]
Clicked on "pen" icon for 1st column, "Rentas incluidas en la base general". Went to my US 1040 and copied numbers for total income, earned income (really from an IRA distribution), income from interest/dividends, total tax paid. Divided that tax into the part paid on earned income and the part paid on interest/dividends.
In the dialog (clicking the pen icons to get to sub-dialogs), I put earned income and tax paid on it on first line (1st and 3rd columns), and interest/dividends income and tax paid on it on second line (2nd and 3rd columns). But nothing I do makes the "earned income tax" affect casilla 553 (I think because my "Base imponible general" is zero; in casillas 0415, 0023 on other pages), so I deleted that line. The "interest/dividends tax" only appears if you put the income in the first box "Rendimientos netos reducidos ..." of the sub-dialog. Don't know why.
So casilla 553 contains a number, which gets subtracted from my Spanish total tax, removing about 1/3 of it. Total tax is in casilla 0557. -
Pagina 18(I) is doing something I don't understand, to do with Autonomous Comunidads.
Doesn't reduce my tax.
-
Click "Validar" and fix any errors (click on each "Go to the ..." button in turn).
As there were last year, several warnings can't be fixed unless you choose to donate to Catholic Church, or other things. Just seems to be no way to make those warnings go away.
But one warning is "DFRW053 Partidas pendientes de compensar de ejercicios anteriores: Compruebe si tiene partidas pendientes de compensar de ejercicios anteriores y cumplimente en su caso. Consulte las notas de incorporacion" and takes me to Anexo C.1. Is it telling me I have some capital loss to carry over from previous year ? But no, it's about real estate, and I don't own any.
Got stuck on an error that my comunidad doesn't match my address. The problem is that last year I lived in a different comunidad. Ended up changing everything to my old address. -
5/24: Signed and submitted my return, got confirmation numbers and a PDF copy, no problems.
-
7/2: The payment was taken out of my bank account.
My experience filing Form 100 / La Renta online in 2019
[This year my wife and I started separate returns, then a gestor merged them into a married joint-return.]
- Going to use exchange rate from
BOE Documento BOE-A-2019-115:
€1 = $1.1450
- First do a "View your tax details" on the Renta web site, to see about any carry-over from previous year.
Mine gave me a "Codigo PDC0001", "Saldo neto negativo de las ganancias y perdidas patrimoniales pendientes de compensar de los ejercicios anteriores correspondientes a la base imponible del ahorro", which amounts to "capital loss carryover", and says "Casillas 437 o 441 de la declaracion".
Also a "Codigo OT00001" warning that any income from foreign country will come to the Spanish system too late to be shown here, so you have to add it yourself manually. - In Firefox browser with VPN active, went to
Agencia Tributaria's "Personal Income Tax".
I clicked on "Draft / tax return processing service (Renta WEB)", then clicked on "Digital certificate".
then browser asked me to select a certificate, and I chose my FNMT certificate.
Got a page "Servicios Renta 2018". Clicked on "Borrador/Declaracion (Renta WEB)". Got into the start of the tax return. - In first page, had to change my Estado Civil from Soltero to Casado, since I got married in 2018.
Had to enter DNI, name, birthdate, gender, autonomous community of my wife.
It also wants "Autorizacion conyuge" / "Referencia / Clave PIN",
some kind of authorization to access my wife's data ?
But then I saw in the earlier "Declarante" section, the line "Si desea que el programa solamente calcule la declaracion individual del declarante, marque aqui", which means "if you only want to calculate individual return". Checked the box next to it. That greyed out the "Comunidad" and "Autorizacion conyuge" boxes for my wife. - Made sure info on first page was correct, clicked "Acceptar",
got a warning 'No se han incorporado en su declaracion determinados datos fiscales,
consulte a traves del boton "Ver datos trasladados" las notas de incorporacion y
proceda en su caso a su cumplimentacion de forma manual si procede',
which translates as "Certain fiscal data have not been incorporated in your declaration,
check the "See transferred information" button for the incorporation notes and, if necessary,
manually complete it if necessary."
Clicked OK.
- Saw main body of tax return, clicked "Save Tax Return". Then disconnected.
- Went to
Agencia Tributaria's "Personal Income Tax",
clicked on "Get your reference number", chose her digital certificate,
and got my wife's referencia. Copied it.
- Went back to my return, but was unable to get back to a page
where I could put in my wife's comunidad and referencia. Disconnected,
reconnected, and selected "Nueva Declaracion" to start all over again.
- Put in the info, clicked "Acceptar",
got a warning 'No se han incorporado en su declaracion determinados datos fiscales,
consulte a traves del boton "Ver datos trasladados" las notas de incorporacion y
proceda en su caso a su cumplimentacion de forma manual si procede',
which translates as "Certain fiscal data have not been incorporated in your declaration,
check the "See transferred information" button for the incorporation notes and, if necessary,
manually complete it if necessary."
Clicked OK.
- Saw main body of tax return, and now it's showing three columns:
"Conyuge", me, and my wife.
- Looks like the page and casilla numbers have changed slightly since last year.
- I have US income that is withdrawal of money from an IRA account. Pre-tax money, so it's
taxable income this year. Not sure where it goes on the Renta.
Maybe pagina 4, casilla 003, "Retribuciones dinerarias (incluidas pensiones compensatorias y anualidades por alimentos no exentas)" ?
I put it in there: clicked pen icon, put it in "Retribuciones Dinerarias - Importe integro" field.
- Went to pagina 4(II) for income.
Casilla 027 for interest income, casilla 029 for dividends. - Entering interest income:
Clicked "pen" icon next to casilla 027. Pop-up dialog opens.
Don't know what "Alta Capital mobiliaro" means.
Put total of all interest amounts in "Ingresos integros" field; probably supposed to enter each account separately, but I didn't bother.
"Retenciones" would be for any tax withheld ?
"Gastos" would be for any administrative expenses paid ?
Click "Acceptar".
Get a dialog saying "Sure there are no rentenciones or gastos ?".
Click "Continuar". - Entering dividend income:
Clicked "pen" icon next to casilla 029. Pop-up dialog opens.
Don't know what "Alta Capital mobiliaro" means.
Put total of all dividend amounts in "Ingresos integros" field; probably supposed to enter each account separately, but I didn't bother.
"Retenciones" would be for any tax withheld ?
"Gastos" would be for any administrative expenses paid ?
Click "Acceptar".
Get a dialog saying "Sure there are no rentenciones or gastos ?".
Click "Continuar". - Entering capital gains from stock trades:
Go to pagina 11(II), sub-section "Ganancias y perdidas patrimoniales derivadas de transmisiones de acciones o participaciones negociadas".
The "Entidad Emisora 1 de 1" will count up through the number of companies whose stock you traded. After doing the first company, you'll click "Alta Entidad emisora" to add a new company.
Click "pen" icon next to casilla 328, "Importe global de las transmisiones efectuadas en 2018". Pop-up dialog opens.
Put name of stock/company in "Entidad Emisora" box. I just put stock symbol.
For each stock trade of that company's stock:
In "Valor de transmision", put sale amount.
In "Valor de adquisicion", put purchase amount.
If you have another trade of this same company, click "Alta Ganancia/Perdida" near top, and enter next trade of same stock.
Seems to be a limit of 4 trades for each company. If you have more, click "Acceptar", back to page 11(II), add a new "Entidad" with same name.
When no more trades for stock of this company, click "Acceptar". Back to page 11(II).
For next company traded, click "Alta Entidad Emisora". See text change to "Entidad Emisora 2 de 2".
Click "pen" icon again. Fill out form again, click "Acceptar" again, get back to page 11(II) again. - Entering capital loss carried over from previous year:
I think pagina 13(IV), casilla 441, "Saldos netos negativos de ganancias y perdidas patrimoniales de 2017, pendientes de compensacion a 1 de enero de 2018, a integrar en la base imponible del ahorro".
Clicked on the pen icon next to casilla 441, and my carryover-loss already appears in the last field. But click on Acceptar, and amount does not appear in casilla 441. Clicked on pen icon again and put it in field B of that form. Now it appears in casilla 452. - International double-taxation:
Go to pagina 16(II), "Calculo del impuesto y resultado de la declaracion", sub-section "Cuota resultante de la autoliquidacion". Do casilla 588, double-taxation of income obtained and taxed abroad.
Clicked on "pen" icon for casilla 588.
[Following images are from 2016's forms, but close enough.]
Clicked on "pen" icon for 1st column, "Rentas incluidas en la base general". Went to my US 1040 and copied numbers for total income, earned income (really from an IRA distribution), income from interest/dividends, total tax paid. Divided that tax into the part paid on earned income and the part paid on interest/dividends.
In the dialog (clicking the pen icons to get to sub-dialogs), I put earned income and tax paid on it on first line (1st and 3rd columns), and interest/dividends income and tax paid on it on second line (2nd and 3rd columns). But nothing I do makes the "earned income tax" affect casilla 588 (I think because my "Base imponible general" is zero; in casilla 0435 ?), so I deleted that line. The "interest/dividends tax" only appears if you put the income in the first box "Rendimientos netos reducidos ..." of the sub-dialog. Don't know why.
So casilla 588 contains a number, which gets subtracted from my Spanish total tax, removing about 1/3 of it. Total tax is in casilla 0595. - Click "Validar" and fix any errors (click on each "Go to the ..." button in turn).
Check the warnings. If some are bogus, such as "you didn't donate to the Catholic Church", you can hide them. - Pagina 17(II), casilla 670 shows the total tax you have to pay.
- Pagina 18(I) "Importe del IRPF que corresponde a la Comunidad Autonoma de residencia ..."
is doing something I don't understand, to do with Autonomous Comunidads.
Doesn't reduce my tax.
- Pagina 19(I), casillas 687 and 688 let you pay either
from a Spanish bank account or an account in another EU country.
- Pagina 19(II), starts with a check-box to let you suspend payment
of your partner's taxes ?
- Pagina 19(II), casillas 696 and 697 let you send a refund either
to a Spanish bank account or an account in another EU country.
- If you're married:
Save the return, then change "Modalidad" (in upper-right) from "Declarante" to "Conjunta".
You will get sent to Pagina 1. Now in all the pages, you see numbers for both of you, merged together.
Go to pagina 17(II), casilla 670 shows the total tax you have to pay together.
- To see the nice 3-column display, showing
mine, wife's, and joint, side-by-side, click on "Resumen de Declaraciones" button in upper-right.
- I thought that joint filing would save us a lot of money, since she works
and I don't, and I have big capital loss. But the web page says no,
we'd pay more together.
She had a gestor do her taxes, and I see several glaring errors in her personal data, so I think I will get my referencia number and we'll have to go back to the gestor and have him resolve it.
She went back alone, and the gestor said "you have a husband who doesn't work ? Why didn't you tell me ? Filing together will save you money." So we have to go back again, together.
Went back a few days later. The gestor slapped everything together, he and my wife brushed off my questions, he filed the joint return and printed it. As they talked about other matters, I found two errors in the return (spelled my first name wrong, had us in 2017's rental instead of 2018's apartment). He brushed the errors off as not important (I agree the misspelling is not important). For some reason, hardly any of my capital loss was used to offset my wife's salary, so it gets carried over to next year.
Still not sure why my printout showed it was better to file individually, and his showed better to file jointly. And the numbers were quite different. My wife says she added her autonomo income after I did my printout, maybe that explains it. Anyway, we saved a lot by filing jointly.
Home a few days later, downloaded the PDF of the return so I have it on the computer.
My experience filing Form 100 / La Renta online in 2020
[This year I'm doing a married joint-return right from the beginning.]
- Exchange rate from
BOE Documento BOE-A-2019-314:
€1 = $1.1189
- Went to
Agencia Tributaria's "Personal Income Tax",
clicked on "Get your reference number", chose wife's digital certificate,
and got my wife's referencia. Copied it. Quit browser, launched again, got my referencia.
- Connected as me, did a "View your tax details" on the Renta web site, to see about any carry-over from previous year.
It asked me for a "Land registry reference number" to confirm my domicilio. Clicked on the button to look it up, got a "down for maintenance" error. Found catastral number from last year's return, put it in, same error message. Tried again next day, it accepted the number, then said "okay, you're registered as the OWNER of that property" ! No, I just live here.
Mine gave me a "Codigo PDC0001", "Saldo neto negativo de las ganancias y perdidas patrimoniales pendientes de compensar de los ejercicios anteriores correspondientes a la base imponible del ahorro", which amounts to "capital loss carryover", and says "Casillas 437 o 441 de la declaracion". But the number is from 2017.
Also a "Codigo OT00001" warning that any income from foreign country will come to the Spanish system too late to be shown here, so you have to add it yourself manually. - In Firefox browser with VPN active, went to
Agencia Tributaria's "Personal Income Tax".
I clicked on "Draft / tax return processing service (Renta WEB)", then clicked on "Digital certificate".
then browser asked me to select a certificate, and I chose my FNMT certificate.
Got a page "Servicios Renta 2019". Clicked on "Borrador/Declaracion (Renta WEB)". Got into the start of the tax return. - Had to enter wife's Referencia.
- Made sure info on first page was correct, clicked "Acceptar",
got a warning 'No se han incorporado en su declaracion determinados datos fiscales,
consulte a traves del boton "Ver datos trasladados" las notas de incorporacion y
proceda en su caso a su cumplimentacion de forma manual si procede',
which translates as "Certain fiscal data have not been incorporated in your declaration,
check the "See transferred information" button for the incorporation notes and, if necessary,
manually complete it if necessary."
Clicked OK.
- Saw main body of tax return, and it's showing three columns:
"Conyuge", me, and my wife.
- I have US income that is withdrawal of money from an IRA account. Pre-tax money, so it's
taxable income this year.
Pagina 4, casilla 003, "Retribuciones dinerarias (incluidas pensiones compensatorias y anualidades por alimentos no exentas)".
I put it in there: clicked pen icon, put it in "Retribuciones Dinerarias - Importe integro" field.
- Went to pagina 5 for income.
Casilla 027 for interest income, casilla 029 for dividends. - Entering interest income:
Clicked "pen" icon next to casilla 027. Pop-up dialog opens.
Don't know what "Alta Capital mobiliaro" means.
Put total of all interest amounts in "Ingresos integros" field; probably supposed to enter each account separately, but I didn't bother.
"Retenciones" would be for any tax withheld ?
"Gastos" would be for any administrative expenses paid ?
Click "Acceptar".
Get a dialog saying "Sure there are no rentenciones or gastos ?".
Click "Continuar". - Entering dividend income:
Clicked "pen" icon next to casilla 029. Pop-up dialog opens.
Don't know what "Alta Capital mobiliaro" means.
Put total of all dividend amounts in "Ingresos integros" field; probably supposed to enter each account separately, but I didn't bother.
"Retenciones" would be for any tax withheld ?
"Gastos" would be for any administrative expenses paid ?
Click "Acceptar".
Get a dialog saying "Sure there are no rentenciones or gastos ?".
Click "Continuar". - I did no stock trades in 2019.
- I think I have no capital loss carried over from 2018; it was used to offset
my wife's income in 2018 ?
- International double-taxation:
Go to pagina Pagina 21 / 22(I).
Casilla 588 is "Por doble imposicion internacional, por razon de las rentas obtenidas y gravadas en el extranjero"
Clicked on "pen" icon for casilla 588.
[Following images are from 2016's forms, but close enough.]
Clicked on "pen" icon for 1st column, "Rentas incluidas en la base general". Went to my US 1040 and copied numbers for total income, earned income (really from an IRA distribution), income from interest/dividends, total tax paid. Divided that tax into the part paid on earned income and the part paid on interest/dividends.
In the dialog (clicking the pen icons to get to sub-dialogs), I put earned income and tax paid on it on first line (1st and 3rd columns), and interest/dividends income and tax paid on it on second line (2nd and 3rd columns). But nothing I do makes the "earned income tax" affect casilla 588 (I think because my "Base imponible general" is zero; in casilla 0435 ?). The "interest/dividends tax" only appears if you put the income in the first box "Rendimientos netos reducidos ..." of the sub-dialog. Don't know why.
So casilla 588 contains a number, which gets subtracted from my Spanish total tax. Total tax is in casilla 0595. - Click "Validar" and fix any errors (click on each "Go to the ..." button in turn).
Check the warnings. If some are bogus, such as "you didn't donate to the Catholic Church", you can hide them. - 5/18 sent codes to gestor so he could add my wife's info, and before I could stop
him, he'd filed the return.
- Went to the Hacienda site, "Draft / tax return processing service (Renta WEB)",
logged in using my digital certificate.
Click on "Grabacion de la declaracion NNNNNNNNNN (Consulta / Copia)", see the return.
My return says "individual" (casilla 68) ? Downloaded the PDF.
- Went to the Hacienda site, logged in as my wife, got return.
Her return also says "individual" (casilla 68), and says filed 4/20. Downloaded the PDF.
- Gestor says we're better off filing "individual".
- I went to the Hacienda web site, and it looks like the gestor is right. Separately, I have
to pay about €600 total tax, wife has to pay say €10K total tax, filing together
we'd have to pay maybe €12K total tax (I'm using slightly-fake round numbers here).
- I think the gestor filed both of our returns, both to be paid out of my wife's bank account.
- The money was to be paid out of my wife's bank account. I gave her money
to cover my share. A year later, I got a
bill, and found that she had had no money in the account when the bill originally
came due. So I had to pay the amount plus a 20% interest/penalty.
My experience filing Form 100 / La Renta online in 2021
[This year my wife and I started separate returns, then we'll see if gestor merges them into a married joint-return.]
- Going to use exchange rate from
BOE Documento BOE-A-2020-17418:
€1 = $1.2281
- First do a "View your tax details" on the Renta web site, to see about any carry-over from previous year.
Mine gave me a "Codigo PDC0001", "Saldo neto negativo de las ganancias y perdidas patrimoniales pendientes de compensar de los ejercicios anteriores correspondientes a la base imponible del ahorro", which amounts to "capital loss carryover", and says "Casillas 439 o 442 de la declaracion". But the amount from 2019 is empty. - In Firefox browser with VPN active, went to
Agencia Tributaria's "Personal Income Tax".
I clicked on "Draft / tax return processing service (Renta WEB)", then clicked on "Digital certificate".
then browser asked me to select a certificate, and I chose my FNMT certificate.
Got a page "Servicios Renta 2020". Clicked on "Borrador/Declaracion (Renta WEB)". Got into the start of the tax return. - In first page, erased info about my wife and her son. We did joint return last year,
I want to start with separate this year. Still has "Casado" for me.
- Made sure info on first page was correct, clicked "Acceptar",
was forced to put my wife's info back in. Did so. Clicked "Acceptar" again.
- Saw main body of tax return, clicked "Save Tax Return". Then disconnected. Came back later.
- I have US income that is withdrawal of money from an IRA account. Pre-tax money, so it's
taxable income this year.
Pagina 4, casilla 003, "Retribuciones dinerarias (incluidas pensiones compensatorias y anualidades por alimentos no exentas)".
I put it in there: clicked pen icon, put it in "Retribuciones Dinerarias - Importe integro" field.
- Went to pagina 5 for income.
Casilla 027 for interest income, casilla 029 for dividends. - Entering interest income:
Clicked "pen" icon next to casilla 027. Pop-up dialog opens.
Don't know what "Alta Capital mobiliaro" means.
Put total of all interest amounts in "Ingresos integros" field; probably supposed to enter each account separately, but I didn't bother.
"Retenciones" would be for any tax withheld ?
"Gastos" would be for any administrative expenses paid ?
Click "Acceptar".
Get a dialog saying "Sure there are no rentenciones or gastos ?".
Click "Continuar". - Entering dividend income:
Clicked "pen" icon next to casilla 029. Pop-up dialog opens.
Don't know what "Alta Capital mobiliaro" means.
Put total of all dividend amounts in "Ingresos integros" field; probably supposed to enter each account separately, but I didn't bother.
"Retenciones" would be for any tax withheld ?
"Gastos" would be for any administrative expenses paid ?
Click "Acceptar".
Get a dialog saying "Sure there are no rentenciones or gastos ?".
Click "Continuar". - I did a stock trade in 2020: ...
Go to pagina 15(I), sub-section "Ganancias y perdidas patrimoniales derivadas de transmisiones de acciones negociadas".
The "Entidad Emisora 1 de 1" will count up through the number of companies whose stock you traded. After doing the first company, you'll click "Alta Entidad emisora" to add a new company.
Click "pen" icon next to casilla 328, "Importe global de las transmisiones efectuadas en 2018". Pop-up dialog opens.
Put name of stock/company in "Entidad Emisora" box. I just put stock symbol.
For each stock trade of that company's stock:
In "Valor de transmision", put sale amount.
In "Valor de adquisicion", put purchase amount.
- I have no capital loss carried over from 2019.
- International double-taxation:
Go to Pagina 21 / 22(I).
Casilla 588 is "Por doble imposicion internacional, por razon de las rentas obtenidas y gravadas en el extranjero"
But I paid zero tax to USA, so don't have to do this.
Total tax is in casilla 0595.
My loss to carry over to 2021: casilla 1270, "Saldo negativo de las ganancias y perdidas imputables a 2020 ..." - Click "Validar" and fix any errors (click on each "Go to the ..." button in turn).
Check the warnings. If some are bogus, such as "you didn't donate to the Catholic Church", you can hide them. - Saved my return, went back out and got my referencia.
Now want wife's gestor to calculate her return, then we will see if
if it's better to file jointly or separately. But using last year's
data, he says better to file separately. Wife's sister, who works for another gestor,
also says that's usually true. Strange.
- Filed my return myself, separate from my wife's.
- Money paid out of my bank account on June 30.
My experience filing Form 100 / La Renta online in 2022
[Separate returns for my wife and I.]
- Going to use exchange rate from
BOE Documento BOE-A-2021-21969:
€1 = $1.1334
- Couldn't figure out (on the Renta web site) how to see about any carry-over from previous year.
On my 2020 modelo 100, casilla 1270 is "Saldo neto negativo de ganancias y perdidas patrimoniales a integrar en la base imponible del ahorro - Ejercicio 2020. Pendiente de aplicacion en ejercicios futuros" - In Firefox browser with VPN active, went to
Agencia Tributaria's "Personal Income Tax".
Switched to English, clicked on "Draft / tax return processing service (Renta WEB)", then clicked on "Digital certificate".
then browser asked me to select a certificate, and I chose my FNMT certificate. Select "Acting on my own behalf",
then had to confirm address and living situation. Then Continuar.
Got a page "Servicios Renta 2021". Clicked on "Borrador/Declaracion (Renta WEB)". Got into the start of the tax return. - In first page, checked box for "only my return" ("Si desea que el programa solamente
calcule la declaracion individual del declarante, marque aqui"). It shows info about my wife.
- Saw main body of tax return, clicked "Save Tax Return". Then disconnected. Came back later.
- Found that text and boxes were being truncated at right margin.
Switched from Firefox browser to a chromium browser and the problem went away.
- I have US income that is withdrawal of money from an IRA account. Pre-tax money, so it's
taxable income this year.
Pagina 4, casilla 003, "Retribuciones dinerarias (incluidas pensiones compensatorias y anualidades por alimentos no exentas)".
I put it in there: clicked pen icon, put it in "Retribuciones Dinerarias - Importe integro" field.
- Went to pagina 5 for income.
Casilla 027 for interest income, casilla 029 for dividends. - Entering interest income:
Clicked "pen" icon next to casilla 027. Pop-up dialog opens.
Don't know what "Alta Capital mobiliaro" means.
Put total of all interest amounts in "Ingresos integros" field; probably supposed to enter each account separately, but I didn't bother.
"Retenciones" would be for any tax withheld ?
"Gastos" would be for any administrative expenses paid ?
Click "Acceptar".
Get a dialog saying "Sure there are no rentenciones or gastos ?".
Click "Continuar". - Entering dividend income:
Clicked "pen" icon next to casilla 029. Pop-up dialog opens.
Don't know what "Alta Capital mobiliaro" means.
Put total of all dividend amounts in "Ingresos integros" field; probably supposed to enter each account separately, but I didn't bother.
"Retenciones" would be for any tax withheld ?
"Gastos" would be for any administrative expenses paid ?
Click "Acceptar".
Get a dialog saying "Sure there are no rentenciones or gastos ?".
Click "Continuar". - I did no stock trades in 2021.
- I have a capital loss carried over from 2020.
I think pagina 23, casilla 439, "Saldos netos negativos de ganancias y perdidas patrimoniales de 2017, pendientes de compensacion a 1 de enero de 2021, a integrar en la base imponible del ahorro".
Clicked on the pen icon next to casilla 439, and my carryover-loss already appears in the last field, and a much smaller number in the first field. Last probably is total loss, first is how much of that loss I can claim this year. Click on Acceptar, and amount does not appear in casilla 439, but smaller number appears in casilla 453, and another number appears in casilla 448. Casilla 460 now contains my interest + dividends - both of those smaller numbers. - International double-taxation:
Go to Pagina 30.
Casilla 588 is "Por doble imposicion internacional, por razon de las rentas obtenidas y gravadas en el extranjero"
Clicked on "pen" icon for casilla 588.
Fill out only the second row, giving savings income and tax paid, converted to Euros. Then the tax paid will appear in casilla 588.
So casilla 588 contains a number, which gets subtracted from my Spanish total tax, removing about 1/4 of it. Total tax is in casilla 0595. - My loss to carry over to 2022:
pagina 51, casilla 1269.
- Click "Validar" and fix any errors (click on each "Go to the ..." button in turn).
Check the warnings. If some are bogus, such as "you didn't donate to the Catholic Church", you can hide them. - Pagina 56 to pay. Total tax in casilla 695. Fill in IBAN field. Then click "Presentar declaracion"
button in upper-right. Or you can pay through "got to warning" on warning "you haven't put in IBAN".
- Money paid out of my bank account on June 30.
My experience filing Form 100 / La Renta online in 2023
Same as previous year, except:
- No VPN, used chromium browser.
- Site seems to have changed, to use section names instead of page numbers.
Click on button "Apartados declaracion" to get to list of sections.
- Went to "Datas Economicos / Rendimientos del trabajo (sueldos, nominas, pensiones, etc.)" for income.
Casilla 027 for interest income, casilla 029 for dividends. - I have a capital loss carried over from previous year's return.
[Got a bit confused; search for the casilla.] "Datas Economicos / Ganancias y perdidas patrimoniales / Otras ganancias y perdidas / Imputacion a 2022 de ganancias y perdidas patrimoniales derivadas de transmisiones efectuadas en ejercicios anteriores / H. Base imponible general y base imponible del ahorro / Base imponible del ahorro", "Saldos netos negativos de ganancias y perdidas patrimoniales de 2017, pendientes de compensacion a 1 de enero de 2021, a integrar en la base imponible del ahorro".
Clicked on the pen icon next to casilla 441, and my carryover-loss already appears. Casilla 455 contains 25% of that, I think. Casilla 460 now contains my interest + dividends - 25% of carryover loss. - I did no stock trades in 2022.
That would be in "Datas Economicos / Ganancias y perdidas patrimoniales (Ventas de bienes, subvenciones, premios, etc)" ?
- International double-taxation:
Go to Pagina 30 "M. Calculo del impuesto y resultado de la declaracion".
Casilla 588 is "Por doble imposicion internacional, por razon de las rentas obtenidas y gravadas en el extranjero"
Clicked on "pen" icon for casilla 588.
Fill out only the first row, giving income and tax paid, converted to Euros. Then the tax paid will appear in casilla 588.
So casilla 588 contains a number, which gets subtracted from my Spanish total tax, removing about 40% of it. Total tax is in casilla 0595. - My loss to carry over to 2023:
pagina 51, casilla 1266.
- Calculating total income (IRA distribution, interest, dividends) and total
income tax paid (in USA and Spain), I get about 22% tax rate.
My experience filing Form 100 / La Renta online in 2024
- In Firefox browser with VPN active, went to
Agencia Tributaria's "Personal Income Tax".
Switched to English, clicked on "Draft / tax return processing service (Renta WEB)", then clicked on "Digital certificate".
then browser asked me to select a certificate, and I chose my FNMT certificate. Select "Acting on my own behalf",
then had to confirm address and living situation. My address did change this year, had to change it. Then Continuar.
Got a page "Servicios Renta 2023". Clicked on "Borrador/Declaracion (Renta WEB)". Got stuck in an "unexpected error" loop until I disabled VPN. Still stuck. Switched to Chromium browser, no VPN.
Got into the start of the tax return. - In first page, checked box for "only my return" ("Si desea que el programa solamente
calcule la declaracion individual del declarante, marque aqui"). It shows info about my wife.
- Saw main body of tax return, clicked "More Options" and then "Save". Then disconnected. Came back later.
- System automatically knows that I am 50% owner of an apartment now. But I didn't own it in the tax year I'm filing for.
- Click on button "Apartados declaracion" to get to list of sections.
- Went to "Datas Economicos / Rendimientos del capital mobilario.
Casilla 027 for interest income, casilla 029 for dividends. - I have a capital loss carried over from previous year's return.
[Got a bit confused; search for the casilla under More Opciones / Buscar Casilla.] "Datas Economicos / Ganancias y perdidas patrimoniales / Otras ganancias y perdidas / Imputacion a 2023 de ganancias y perdidas patrimoniales derivadas de transmisiones efectuadas en ejercicios anteriores / H. Base imponible general y base imponible del ahorro / Base imponible del ahorro", "Importe de la pérdida patrimonial que procede imputar a 2023". Casilla 0395.
Total income appears in casilla 0429 ? Casilla 446 contains 25% of that, I think. Casilla 460 now contains my interest + dividends - 25%. - I did IRA distributions. Put in Rendimientos de Trabajo / casilla 0003.
It's not a pension payment, it looks like normal income.
- Stock trades.
That would be in "Datas Economicos / Ganancias y perdidas patrimoniales (Ventas de bienes, subvenciones, premios, etc)
/ Acciones cotizadas / Ganancias y pérdidas patrimoniales derivadas de transmisiones de acciones negociadas".
- Crypto-currency trades.
That would be in "Datas Economicos / Ganancias y perdidas patrimoniales (Ventas de bienes, subvenciones, premios, etc)
/ Monedas Virtuales / Ganancias y pérdidas patrimoniales derivadas de la transmisión o permuta de monedas virtuales por particulares".
- International double-taxation:
Go to casilla 588, "Por doble imposicion internacional, por razon de las rentas obtenidas y gravadas en el extranjero"
Clicked on "pen" icon for casilla 588.
Fill out only the first row, giving income and tax paid, converted to Euros. Then the tax paid will appear in casilla 588.
So casilla 588 contains a number, which gets subtracted from my Spanish total tax, removing about 40% of it. Total tax is in casilla 0595. - There is a deduction for charitable donations, but they have to be charities registered in Spain.
From GiveWell 6/2024:
"Unfortunately, donations to GiveWell are not tax deductible in Spain, as we are not registered as a Spanish charitable organization." [Donate to Ayuda Efectiva Global Health Fund instead.]
https://easytaxspain.com/2019/11/27/tax-deductions-donations-charities/
https://sede.agenciatributaria.gob.es/Sede/en_gb/ayuda/manuales-videos-folletos/manuales-practicos/irpf-2021/capitulo-16-deducciones-generales-cuota/deducciones-donativos-otras-aportaciones/requisitos-comunes-deducciones-donativos.html - Calculating total income (IRA distribution, interest, dividends) and total
income tax paid (in USA and Spain), I get about 25.6% tax rate.
- My loss to carry over to next year:
casilla 1270.
- I get an aviso that my number of days in apartment I (50%) own does not cover whole year.
It shows days I owned the apartment (76). In fact the days I lived in it was 0.
I set the days to 1 (lowest I could go), and aviso still appears, but I think it is not fatal.
And for some reason I'm getting charged about €1/day (for living in my own apartment !).
- Signed and sent return okay, despite a number of warning avisos.
Spanish: Wealth tax (Impuesto sobre el Patrimonio, 714)
Form 714.
From AngloINFO's "Spanish Wealth Tax":
Spanish wealth tax is payable by non-residents and residents based on assets held at 31st December each year.
Spanish residents are liable on their worldwide assets, and non-residents are liable to wealth tax on their Spanish assets only.
...
Bank balances are valued at the higher of the closing balance on 31st December or the average balance during the 4th quarter.
...
The wealth tax form has to be completed and tax paid between 2nd May and 1st July for the previous 31st December.
...
Bank balances are valued at the higher of the closing balance on 31st December or the average balance during the 4th quarter.
...
The wealth tax form has to be completed and tax paid between 2nd May and 1st July for the previous 31st December.
Must file wealth tax return between April 7 and June 25.
From Visa Spain's "Spain reintroduces wealth tax. Impuesto del Patrimonio":
Wealth Tax is paid on the net amount of wealth of an individual. ...
Wealth Tax is a national tax which is managed by each region, that is why some regions may apply credits to the tax and
make it be effectively nil ... The regions can also set up their own minimum exempt.
The National minimum exempt is €700.000 but this goes down in Catalonia to €500.000.
[Rate starts at about 0.2% of amount over the minimum exempt, and goes up.]
[Rate starts at about 0.2% of amount over the minimum exempt, and goes up.]
Must file online, and it's separate from the personal income tax return.
Must file wealth tax return if: you owe money under the tax, or total value of property is greater than €2 million.
From Costa Gestion's "Spanish Wealth Tax in Andalucia":
The Spanish tax regulations state that cumulative wealth and income taxes cannot exceed 60% of a
resident's total taxable income (there is no limit for non-residents), subject to a minimum of 20% of the wealth tax calculation. ...
The tax IS in effect for 2018 and 2019 tax years, according to Richelle de Wit's "Wealth Tax Return - Form 714".
Costa Gestion's "Spanish Wealth Tax in Andalucia"
Blevins Franks' "Spanish Wealth Tax"
Smart Expat's "Spanish Wealth Tax"
La Vanguardia's "Guia Basica Del Impuesto Sobre El Patrimonio" (PDF)
Tributos.net's "Como Calcular el Impuesto Sobre el Patrimonio"
Tributaria's "Basic Wealth Tax regulation" (links to the laws)
US IRA accounts and Spanish wealth tax:
Lost in San Cugat's "Modulo 720, Wealth Tax and IRAs, 401k in Spain"
How to minimize wealth tax:
Finance-Spain's "Wealth tax 60% rule"
Finance-Spain's "Spanish Compliant Bonds"
Axis Finance's "Wealth Tax in Spain"
My experience filing form 714 in 2016
- Went to
Agencia Tributaria's "Wealth tax"
- Clicked on the "Help programs" button, but that stuff looks like a nightmare, didn't do that.
I may have done that stuff earlier when setting up Notifications; hope so.
- Clicked on the "Form 714" button. Have to run a program first to create the "file" containing your form,
then later submit that file (via "Submissions (using file)").
So, clicked on "Download the programme to help you fill out your tax return".
Clicked on the Windows Installer version for 2015.
Great, a 16.6 MB download of "Patrimonio_2015_windows_1_05.exe".
No problems installing it, on Windows 7 Home Premium. - Ran the program.
First time, you get a "Cuestiones de Interes" dialog telling you who has to file.
Check "No volver a mostrar" box to not see that again. [But one interesting item from the Help file: Non-residents who own property etc in Spain are partially taxable, only on the things in Spain.]
No English language available. And since this is an application, not a web page, you can't copy out text to paste it into Google Translate. But if you can find the same text in the Help file, you can copy it out of there.
There is a big Help window available by clicking on the "?" button in top-middle of the screen.
If you put the cursor into any form field (casilla, box) and press F1, the Help file will be opened and the section for that field will be shown.
Under "Incorporacion de Datos Fiscales y Personales" in the Help window, it says that once you enter your NIF and first name, the program will connect over internet to the AEAT server and retrieve your personal data, if you have a digital certificate or a PIN24 (Cl@ve) password or the reference number for your income tax return. Can also import a DFP file from previous year. - In the main screen, under "Dar de alta una nueva declaracion", I clicked on "Modelo 714".
A screen titled "Indice de declaraciones" appeared.
["Introduccion" link will take you back to main screen.]
I clicked on "Nueva Declaracion".
Typed in a name I picked, "2015-714".
Clicked "Acceptar".
Got an "Incorporacion" screen.
Clicked the "Incorporar" button.
Got "Obtencion" screen.
Typed in my NIE and first name.
Clicked "Descarga por internet" button.
Got a "Descarga" screen.
Chose "Certificado".
Clicked "Seleccionar" button.
Selected my FNMT certificate from the list.
Clicked "Descarga datos fiscales" button.
[At this point, I think it contacted the AEAT server. Very fast, no delay.]
Clicked the "Incorporar datos del fichero seleccionado" button.
Got "Atencion" dialog saying "Se va a tratar el fichero de datos fiscales y personales con fecha: DDDDDDD" showing the date I filed my Spanish income tax return. I think this is saying "Using data from here".
Clicked "Acceptar" button.
Got a "Seleccione nombre y apellidos" dialog. Very important; get this right. Apellido 1 is last name, Nombre is first name.
Clicked "Acceptar" button.
Got "Traslado de datos fiscales: Paso 1 de 2" screen.
Data looked right.
Clicked "Avanzar" button.
Data looked right.
Clicked "Finalizar" button.
Got "Atencion" dialog saying "Se va a proceder a trasladar los datos fiscales seleccionados. Desea continuar ?".
Clicked "Acceptar" button.
Got a "Resumen de datos fiscales y personales traslados" dialog.
Data looked right.
"Ver datos incorporados" is chosen.
Clicked "Salir" button.
- Got a "Seleccion de Conceptos" screen.
Text at top: "A continuacion se muestra una relacion de conceptos de la declaracion que pueden desmarcarse si no van a utilizarse las pantallas relativas a ellos. Tenga en cuenta que el programa omitira las pantallas de los conceptos desmarcados, aunque pueden volverse a marcar en cualquier momento. Los conceptos que no figuran en la relacion aparareceran en todo caso." Which roughly translates as "turn off the things that don't apply to you, but you can turn them back on later if needed".
A and B are about property/real-estate;
C and D are about business property and rights;
E is about deposits in checking and savings accounts;
F is about capital transfers to third parties;
G is about non-exempt equity shares (stocks, stock funds);
H is about exempt shares
(Help file "Bienes Y Derechos Exentos" section; includes
A: residence (up to €300K),
F: pension, 401K, IRA
I is about life insurance;
J is about "temporary income and annuities";
K and L are about vehicles, jewels, art;
M is "real rights of use and enjoyment" excluding residence;
N is "administrative concessions";
O is intellectual property;
P is "contractual options";
Q is "other goods and economic rights".
[The categories are explained in detail in the Help file, under the "Bienes y Derechos" section.]
If you've already entered data in one of these categories, the check-box for that category will be greyed out, so you don't accidentally un-check it and lose the data.
I clicked on "Desmarcar todos" to turn everything off, then turned on E and G.
Clicked "Acceptar" button.
Got page 1 of 10, starting with personal data.
Selected "Archivo / Guardar" menu item to save the form.
Selected "Archivo / Salir" to exit from the application.
- Ran the application again.
Now a link "2015-714" appears in the main screen under "Declaraciones recientes".
Click on it to get back into the form you were filling out.
There is a "Seleccionar apartados de la declaracion" link in the lower-right corner; click that if you want to change the "things that apply to you" settings.
There is a "Herramientas / Errores y avisos pendientes" menu item to check the data for errors.
There is a "Archivo / Vista Previa" menu item to save the form as a PDF. It connects to AEAT server for some reason. - Page 1: "Datos del Sujeto Pasivo" (Taxpayer data):
Casilla 9: percent of disability.
Casilla 1: check if you live outside Spain and you're taxed on the actual value.
Casilla 2: check if you live outside Spain but want your residence taxed in Spain.
Casilla 4: check if you live in Spain but want to be taxed as non-resident.
Casilla 3: something about if you check casillas 1 or 2 and lived elsewhere in the EU ?
Casillas 5, 6 and 7: something about type of marriage and filing together or separately ?
Casilla 8: choose province you resided in, or non-resident.
Casilla 10: check if this is a supplement to a previous declaration.
Representante section: fill in if you are filing for someone else.
- Page 2: "Domicilio habitual" (Habitual residence):
Where you lived; pretty self-explanatory. - E: "Depositos en cuenta corriente o de ahorro, a la vista o a plazo, cuentas financieras y otros tipos de imposiciones en cuenta"
(Deposits in current or savings account, demand or term, financial accounts and other impositions into account):
Values are Euros as of Dec 31.
If you previously filed ETE declaration, you can take values from there.
For first account, click and type in empty "Elemento 1" box, or click on the square icon at the right end of the box.
A dialog opens up where you can type in the name of a bank, account number and value.
Put only whole Euro amounts into the "Valoracian (euros)" box; no decimal point or cents.
After entering value, press Tab key to make it appear in list.
Click on the "+" icon to go to next account.
Click "Acceptar" button when finished.
Probably a good time to select "Archivo / Guardar" menu item to save data. - G: "Valores no exentos representativos de la participacion en los fondos propios de cualquier tipo de entidad"
(Nonexempt securities representing participation in the equity of any entity):
Not sure this is legal, but one of the bank accounts I put in section E was my stock account, containing cash and stocks. So I didn't have to list all of my stocks, one by one, in this section. Their values are included in the account value I put in section E. So I went back and disabled section G. - H: "Valores exentos representativos de la participacion en los fondos propios de entidades juridicas"
(Exempt securities representing participation in the equity of legal entities):
Section H1 is for shares/funds traded on markets, H2 for non-traded funds.
I put all of my 401K and IRA accounts in section H2.
Click in the "Elemento 1" box and the square will appear at the right end of the box. After that, entry is similar to that in section E, except there are no account numbers. You could put any account number in the "Descripcion" field. I also put the bank name and type of account (IRA, etc) in that field. - 3: "Resumen del patrimonio neto: base liquidable"
(Summary of net assets: tax base):
See values from sections A through Q in casillas 1 through 22. Notice that sections D and H are missing.
See total in casilla 23, subtract deductions to get to casilla 27. - 4: "Resumen de los bienes y derechos exento"
(Summary of exempt goods and rights):
Shows exempt items from sections A, D, H. - 5: "Patrimonio exento con progresividad (solamente sujetos pasivos por obligacion personal de contribuir)"
(Heritage exempt with progression (subject only liability to contribute)):
Seems to be for double-taxation items, where international treaty applies ? - 6: "Liquidacion"
(Settlement, answer):
Casilla 29 is your calculated wealth tax due. Seems to be a rate of about 0.24% of amount in casilla 27. Might vary by province; I'm in Catalunya.
Click mouse in casilla 30 and then click square box next to it.
Dialog window opens.
Fill in data, some from your income tax return (Renta, IRPF).
Casillas 484 and 485 don't appear on my IRPF, but they can be calculated using casillas 490 and 491 and others.
When I clicked "Acceptar", I got an error/warning "debe reflejar tanto la base imponible del ahorro como la cuota integra que corresponde a dicha base" (should reflect both the savings tax base as the full installment corresponding to said base). Couldn't figure out what that meant or how to fix it, so just continued.
More numbers appeared on screen "6", but the total tax in casilla 40 didn't change.
Went to screen "continuation of 6".
Casilla 41 is for taxes paid outside Spain. - 7: "Regularizacion mediante declaracion complementaria (solo en caso de declaracion complementaria del ejercicio 2015)"
(Regularization by supplementary declaration (only if supplementary statement for the year 2015)):
Seems to be for tax amounts already paid, maybe estimated payments or automatic payments. - "Documento de Ingreso"
(Pay):
You can not file this form out of this program without specifying an IBAN for a bank account. Impossible. Tech Support says the bank account must be yours, not a friend's account, but I haven't tested this. Later, program will warn that NIF on account must match that on form.
You can validate your IBAN using a site such as Validate an IBAN. IBAN should be a country code, such as "ES", followed by 22 digits. In the Patrimonio application, put the country code and first 2 digits in the first field, and the remaining 20 digits in the second, bigger field.
If you want to pay directly from your bank account and you have an electronic certificate, you can file-and-pay in one operation. In the "Ingreso" section, put a check in the "Domiciliacion Bancaria" box.
Later, Tech Support told me that direct-pay may not work if the account has been open less than 6 months ! [But it did work, and my account had been open only about 3 weeks.]
There is a video explaining the "pay directly with bank account" process: Presentacion_electronica_de_la_declaracion__modelo_714.
If you don't want to pay from your bank account directly, in the "Ingreso" section, put a check in the "Adeudo en cuenta con obtencion de NRC y formas especiales de pago" ("debit entry with obtaining NRC and special payment") box. You have to file the form, print an "Ingreso" page, go to a bank, and pay the amount. You will get a "reference number" and/or a 16-character code. You will come back to the AEAT site, probably to Autoliquidaciones page, and enter that reference number.
Help file section "Forma de Presentacion" says that if you owe money, you have to file the form and pay on the same day. I think this applies only to the "don't pay from bank account directly" case. If some technical problem prevents that, you can pay until the second business day following the filing of the form. Not sure what happens after that; maybe you have to file a modification ?
Select "Herramientas / Errores y avisos pendientes" menu item to check the form for errors.
I ran into problems here because I didn't have an IBAN at first.
Tried menu item "Ayuda / AEAT en la Web / Preguntas Mas Frequentes", got a 404 page not found error in the browser. Filed a bug report about that: went to Tributaria's Computer Support page and then Comunicar Incidencia (Communicate Incidence).
Menu item "Ayuda / Acerca de Patrimonio 2015" shows you what version of the program you are running.
Menu item "Ayuda / AEAT en la Web / Actualiza Version" looks to see if a newer version of the program is available.
- On the day you want to file and pay:
Select "Herramientas / Errores y avisos pendientes" menu item to check the form for errors.
Select "Archivo / Vista Previa" menu item to save the form as a PDF.
You may see a "you still have errors" dialog; click "Continuar".
You will see a "program will contact AEAT over the internet" dialog; click "Continuar".
Save PDF file to your disk.
Then the PDF file will be displayed.
Check the information in the PDF, especially the amount and IBAN on the last page.
Select "Archivo / Presentacion Telematica" menu item to file the form to AEAT.
See the errors/warnings dialog again.
Click on "Continuar".
Program should let you save the form to disk as a ".714" file.
But it will force you to save it only under the "C:\AEAT\" folder.
See a "we'll create the file when you exit the program" notification.
See a "Presentacion Modelo 714" dialog. "Forma de presentacion" should be "Certificado" if you have a digital certificate. Click the "Seleccionare" pull-down and choose a certificate.
If you select "Num. Referencia", enter the NRC you got from the bank.
Make sure all the data is right.
Click the "Realizar presentacion" button.
See a "Confirmacion Presentacion Model0 714 " dialog.
Check the "Conforme" check-box.
Click "Firmar y Enviar".
See a "wait" dialog briefly.
See a PDF of the final submission.
Save the PDF to disk.
Close the PDF viewer.
See a "Presentacion correcta" dialog.
See a couple of avisos starting with "Asegurese de que el IBAN ..."; they say "make sure your IBAN is for a valid account with your NIF on it" and "you can click the Rectifar Cuenta link to fix your IBAN".
Maybe click "Ver PDF" and save another copy of the PDF ?
Copy the security code (which is also in the PDF).
Click the "Finalizar" button.
If not paying directly out of your bank account, maybe you'll see and print "Ingreso" page, then take it to bank to pay it ? I don't know, I paid directly.
Select "Archivo / Salir" to exit from the application.
Now what ? I selected "Domiciliacion Bancaria" and finished the Patrimonio application successfully. I received "Presentacion correcta" and a security code. What do I have to do next ? Will the money be debited from my bank account automatically ? Or do I go to the "Autoliquidaciones" page and pay ? My bank's web site has a "Impuestos - 714" feature; do I have to pay by using that ?
Tech Support said "If the statement is marked "Domiciliacion Bancaria" as payment, on June 30, 2016, which is the last day of the campaign Heritage 2015, be charged to the account you have assigned in the declaration the tax payment. No need to access the payment gateway AEAT in Electronic Office."
Asked again, to make sure, adding "First page of my PDF says "DOMICILIACION DEL IMPORTE A INGRESAR"; does that mean it will be debited automatically ?" Same answer, payment will happen automatically on June 30.
And yes, the money was taken out of my account on June 30.
My experience filing form 714 in 2017
- Went to
Agencia Tributaria's "Wealth tax"
- Clicked on the "Form 714" button.
Choose certificate.
Choose language.
Looks like they've changed from EXE to online forms.
Unlike the Renta pages, these work fine in Firefox browser.
Click on "Apartados" button, see controls for 26 pages.
Forms and help pages don't support English. - Page 2, casilla 8: specify your autonomous communidad.
Page 3: none of this applies if you resided in Spain during the tax year. - Page 4, section A: urban property owned.
Page 5, section B: non-urban property owned.
Pages 6 + 7, sections C + D: goods and rights due to business or professional activities. - Page 8, section E: bank accounts (checking or savings).
Values are Euros as of Dec 31.
If you previously filed ETE declaration, you can take values from there.
For first account, click "Alta baja modificacion" button.
Dialog opens.
Click "Alta Bien or Derecho" button in dialog so indicator says "1 of 1".
Type in name of bank, account number and value.
[For value, seems to work to paste in an integer value, or type in a value with decimal point and decimal digits, but NOT to paste in a value with decimal point and decimal digits.]
Click "Acceptar" button.
Do same for all additional accounts, making indicator say "2 of 2" and "3 of 3" and so on before entering data. - Page 9, section F: capital transfers to third parties.
- Page 10, section G: non-exempt equity shares (stocks, stock funds).
Not sure this is legal, but one of the bank accounts I put in section E was my stock brokerage account, containing cash and stocks. So I didn't have to list all of my stocks, one by one, in this section. Their values are included in the account value I put in section E. So I left section G empty. - Page 11, section H: exempt equity shares (including pension, 401K, IRA).
Section H1 is for shares/funds traded on markets, H2 for non-traded funds.
I put all of my 401K and IRA accounts in section H2.
Data entry is same as in section E. - Page 12, section I: life insurance.
Page 13, section J: "temporary income and annuities".
Pages 14 + 15, sections K + L: vehicles, jewels, art.
Page 16, section M: "real rights of use and enjoyment" excluding residence.
Pages 17 - 20, sections N-Q: various uncommon things. - Pages 22 + 23, sections 3 + 4: summary.
Casilla 26 is a threshold value which varies by autonomous comunidad.
Casilla 28 is something about international double-taxation of property tax. - Page 24: tax calculation.
Casilla 55 is amount to pay. - Page 26: paying.
Last section, "Tipo de declaracion": select how to pay.
"A ingresar": get a tasa form, pay at a bank.
"Domiciliacion del importe a ingresar": debit from your Spanish bank account.
A real pain to enter an IBAN: you have to do all the typing in one shot, can't switch between browser and a different application as you go. Also can't paste. - Click "Guardar" button to save data.
- Click "Validar" button. Should see a warning (codigo 714R015) that "Domiciliacion" works only when filing from April 5 to June 26,
and also a (codigo 00000) "no errors".
- Click "Vista Previa" button to save as PDF.
Click "Volver a declaracion" button in bottom-left corner of page. - Open the PDF file and review it.
Might be a good idea to compare it to last year's equivalent PDF file. - Click "Firmar y Enviar" button to sign and send.
Get a warning dialog that you have warnings to check, do you want to continue ? Yes.
Get a confirmation dialog; confirm.
Get page with "Su presentacion ha sido realizada con exito": success.
See verification code; copy it.
Click on link "Cotejo de documentos mediante codigo seguro de verificacion" to save final PDF file.
Open the PDF file and review it, and maybe copy the Expediente/Referencia and justificante numbers out of it. -
Money was taken out of my account on 6/30. "Concepto" is "IMPUESTO MOD.714 JUST.NNNNNNNNNNN".
My experience filing form 714 in 2018
- Went to
Agencia Tributaria's "Wealth tax"
- Clicked on the "Form 714" button.
Clicked on padlock next to "Service for processing Wealth tax return".
Choose certificate.
Choose language.
Check that "Declarante" info is correct.
Click on "Acceptar" button, get page with controls for 26 pages.
Forms and help pages don't support English. - Page 2, casilla 8: specify your autonomous communidad.
Page 3: none of this applies if you resided in Spain during the tax year. - Page 8, section E: bank accounts (checking or savings). Do NOT put IRA or 401K accounts here.
Values are Euros as of Dec 31.
If you previously filed ETE declaration, you can take values from there.
For first account, click "Alta baja modificacion" button.
Dialog opens.
Click "Alta Bien or Derecho" button in dialog so indicator says "1 of 1".
Type in name of bank, account number and value.
[For value, seems to work to paste in an integer value, or type in a value with decimal point and decimal digits, but NOT to paste in a value with decimal point and decimal digits.]
Click "Acceptar" button.
Do same for all additional accounts, making indicator say "2 of 2" and "3 of 3" and so on before entering data.
Bug: the IBAN field is not big enough to contain an IBAN ! Cuts off the last 4 digits. So I added the full IBAN to the bank name field. - Page 11, section H: exempt equity shares (including pension, 401K, IRA).
I put all of my 401K and IRA accounts in section H2.
Data entry is same as in section E. - Page 24: tax calculation.
Casilla 55 is amount to pay. - Page 26: paying.
Last section, "Tipo de declaracion": select how to pay.
"A ingresar": get a tasa form, pay at a bank.
"Domiciliacion del importe a ingresar": debit from your Spanish bank account.
A real pain to enter an IBAN: you have to do all the typing in one shot, can't switch between browser and a different application as you go. Also can't paste. And the IBAN is forced to start with "ES", so it must be for a Spanish bank account. - Click "Guardar" button to save data.
- Click "Validar" button. Should see a warning (codigo 714R015) that "Domiciliacion" works only when filing from April 5 to June 26,
and also a (codigo 00000) "no errors". I also saw a warning (codigo 714P005) that I specified different communities for my
residence and for my taxes, which is true because I moved at the end of the year.
- Click "Vista Previa" button to save as PDF.
Then click "Volver a declaracion" button in upper-left corner of page. - Open the PDF file and review it.
Might be a good idea to compare it to last year's equivalent PDF file. - Click "Firmar y Enviar" button to sign and send.
Get a warning dialog that you have warnings to check, do you want to continue ? Yes.
Get a confirmation dialog; check the "Conforme" box and then click "Firma y Enviar" button.
Get page with "Su presentacion ha sido realizada con exito": success.
See verification code; copy it.
Click on link "Cotejo de documentos mediante codigo seguro de verificacion" to save final PDF file.
Open the PDF file and review it, and maybe copy the Expediente/Referencia and justificante numbers out of it. -
7/2: The payment was taken out of my bank account.
My experience filing form 714 in 2019
Tried April 1, but not available yet. Came available around April 5.
- Went to
Agencia Tributaria's "Wealth tax"
- Clicked on the "Wealth Tax return processing service" button.
Clicked on padlock next to "Service for processing Wealth tax return".
Chose certificate.
Chose language (no English available).
Checked that "Declarante" info is correct.
Clicked on "Aceptar" button, got page with controls for 26 pages.
Forms and help pages don't support English. - Page 1, "Regimen economico del matrimonio", now that I'm married,
had to mark a casilla (for me, Gananciales, casilla 5).
- Page 2, specified address, including autonomous communidad (in casilla 8).
- Page 3: none of this applies if you resided in Spain during the tax year.
- Page 4+5: if you own property.
- Page 6+7: if you own a business or are autonomo ?
- Page 8, section E: bank accounts (checking or savings). Do NOT put IRA or 401K accounts here.
Account number field often is too short, it truncates at 20 digits.
Values are Euros as of Dec 31.
If you previously filed ETE declaration, you can take values from there. - Page 10, section G1: non-exempt equity shares (stock brokerage accounts).
- Page 11, section H1: exempt equity shares (including pension, 401K, IRA).
- Page 24: tax calculation.
Section "Deduccion por impuestos satisfechos en el extranjero" seems to give a way to deduct taxes paid in home country. But reading Agencia Tributaria's page about it, I think you can only deduct property taxes paid in home country. I may be wrong.
Casilla 55 is amount to pay. - Page 26: paying.
Last section, "Tipo de declaracion": select how to pay.
"A ingresar": get a tasa form, pay at a bank.
"Domiciliacion del importe a ingresar": debit from your Spanish bank account.
They have fixed the prior year's pain when entering an IBAN: you can copy and paste, and the IBAN can have spaces in it. Don't know if the IBAN is forced to start with "ES", so it must be for a Spanish bank account. - Click "Guardar" button to save data.
- Click "Validar" button. Should see a warning (codigo 714R015) that "Domiciliacion"
works only when filing from April 5 to June 26,
and also a (codigo 00000) "no errors".
- Click "Firmar y Enviar" button to sign and send.
Get a warning dialog that you have warnings to check, do you want to continue ? Continuar.
Get a confirmation dialog; check the "Conforme" box and then click "Firmar y Enviar" button.
Get page with "Su presentacion ha sido realizada con exito": success.
See verification code; copy it.
Click on link "Cotejo de documentos mediante codigo seguro de verificacion" to save final PDF file.
Open the PDF file and review it, and maybe copy the Expediente/Referencia and justificante numbers out of it. - The money was paid out of my Spanish bank account on July 1.
My experience filing form 714 in 2020
- Went to
Agencia Tributaria's "Wealth tax"
- Clicked on the "Service for processing Wealth tax return" link. Get new page.
Clicked on "Service for processing Wealth tax return" link.
Clicked on link for certificate.
Chose certificate.
Chose language (no English available).
Checked that "Declarante" info is correct.
Clicked on "Aceptar" button, got page with controls for 26 pages.
Forms and help pages don't support English. - Page 1, now that I'm married, Estado civil == 2,
"Regimen economico del matrimonio",
had to mark a casilla (for me, Gananciales, casilla 5).
- Page 2, specified address, including autonomous communidad (in casilla 8).
- Page 3: none of this applies if you resided in Spain during the tax year.
- Page 4+5: if you own property.
- Page 6+7: if you own a business or are autonomo ?
- Page 8, section E: bank accounts (checking or savings). Do NOT put IRA or 401K accounts here.
Set Clave to "P" and Titularidad to "100%" for full ownership.
Account number field often is too short, it truncates at 20 digits.
Values are Euros as of Dec 31.
If you previously filed ETE declaration, you can take values from there. - Page 10, section G1: non-exempt equity shares (stock brokerage accounts).
There is a "No Valores" field I don't understand, I put "1" in there.
Left ISIN field empty.
- Page 11, section H1: exempt equity shares (including pension, 401K, IRA).
- Page 24: tax calculation.
Section "Deduccion por impuestos satisfechos en el extranjero" seems to give a way to deduct taxes paid in home country. But reading Agencia Tributaria's page about it, I think you can only deduct property taxes paid in home country. I may be wrong.
Casilla 55 is amount to pay. - Page 26: paying.
Last section, "Tipo de declaracion": select how to pay.
"A ingresar": get a tasa form, pay at a bank.
"Domiciliacion del importe a ingresar": debit from your Spanish bank account.
The IBAN can have spaces in it, and I think it can be a non-Spanish bank account. - Click "Guardar" button to save data.
- Click "Validar" button. Should see a warning (codigo 714R015) that "Domiciliacion"
works only when filing from April 5 to June 26,
and also a (codigo 00000) "no errors".
- Click "Firmar y Enviar" button to sign and send.
Get a warning dialog that you have warnings to check, do you want to continue ? Continuar.
Get a confirmation dialog; check the "Conforme" box and then click "Firmar y Enviar" button.
Get page with "Su presentacion ha sido realizada con exito": success.
See verification code; copy it.
Click on link "Cotejo de documentos mediante codigo seguro de verificacion" to save final PDF file.
Open the PDF file and review it, and maybe copy the Expediente/Referencia and justificante numbers out of it. - The money was paid out of my Spanish bank account on ???.
My experience filing form 714 in 2021
- Went to
Agencia Tributaria's "Wealth tax"
- Clicked on the "Service for processing Wealth tax return" link. Get new page.
Clicked on "Service for processing Wealth tax return" link.
Clicked on link for certificate.
Chose certificate.
Chose language (no English available).
Checked that "Declarante" info is correct.
Clicked on "Aceptar" button, got page with controls for 26 pages.
Forms and help pages don't support English. - Page 1 + 2 unchanged from last year, pages 3 - 7 don't apply to me.
- Page 8, section E: bank accounts (checking or savings). Do NOT put IRA or 401K accounts here.
Set Clave to "P" and Titularidad to "100%" for full ownership.
Account number field often is too short, it truncates at 20 digits.
Values are Euros as of Dec 31.
If you previously filed ETE declaration, you can take values from there. - Page 10, section G1: non-exempt equity shares (stock brokerage accounts).
There is a "No Valores" field I don't understand, I put "1" in there.
Left ISIN field empty.
- Page 11, section H1: exempt equity shares (including pension, 401K, IRA).
- Page 24: tax calculation.
Section "Deduccion por impuestos satisfechos en el extranjero" seems to give a way to deduct taxes paid in home country. But reading Agencia Tributaria's page about it, I think you can only deduct property taxes paid in home country. I may be wrong.
Casilla 55 is amount to pay. - Page 26: paying.
Click Validar and fix any errors.
Click "Formalizar Ingreso / Devolucion".
Pull-down field in upper-left, "Tipo de declaracion": select how to pay.
"A ingresar": get a tasa form, pay at a bank.
"Domiciliacion del importe a ingresar": debit from your Spanish bank account.
The IBAN can have spaces in it, and I think it can be a non-Spanish bank account. - Click "Guardar" button to save data.
- Click "Validar" button. Should see a warning (codigo 714R015) that "Domiciliacion"
works only when filing from April 5 to June 26,
and also a (codigo 00000) "no errors".
- Click "Firmar y Enviar" button to sign and send.
Get a warning dialog that you have warnings to check, do you want to continue ? Continuar.
Get a confirmation dialog; check the "Conforme" box and then click "Firmar y Enviar" button.
Get page with "Su presentacion ha sido realizada con exito": success.
See verification code; copy it.
Click on link "Cotejo de documentos mediante codigo seguro de verificacion" to save final PDF file.
Open the PDF file and review it, and maybe copy the Expediente/Referencia and justificante numbers out of it. - The money was paid out of my Spanish bank account on June 30.
My experience filing form 714 in 2022
- Used Firefox browser.
- Went to
Agencia Tributaria's "Wealth tax"
- Changed to English. Clicked on the "Wealth Tax return processing service" link. Get new page.
Clicked on "Service for processing Wealth tax return" link.
Clicked on link for certificate.
Chose certificate.
Chose language (no English available).
Checked that "Declarante" info is correct.
Clicked on "Aceptar" button, got page with controls for 26 pages.
Forms and help pages don't support English. - Page 1 + 2 unchanged from last year (but make sure correct
"regimen economico del matrimonio" is checked), pages 3 - 7 don't apply to me.
- Page 8, section E: bank accounts (checking or savings), in any country.
Do NOT put IRA or 401K or brokerage accounts here.
Easiest to copy data from last year's form.
Set Clave to "P" and Titularidad to "100%" for full ownership.
Account number field often is too short, it truncates at 20 digits.
Values are Euros as of Dec 31.
If you previously filed ETE declaration, you can take values from there. - Page 10, section G1: non-exempt equity shares (stock brokerage accounts).
There is a "No Valores" field I don't understand, I put "1" in there.
Left ISIN field empty.
- Page 11, section H1: exempt equity shares (including pension, 401K, IRA).
- Page 25: tax calculation.
Section "Deduccion por impuestos satisfechos en el extranjero" seems to give a way to deduct taxes paid in home country. But reading Agencia Tributaria's page about it, I think you can only deduct property taxes paid in home country. I may be wrong.
Casilla 55 ("Cuota a ingresar") is amount to pay. - Page 27: paying.
Click Guardar, then Validar and fix any errors.
Click "Formalizar Ingreso / Devolucion".
Pull-down field in upper-left, "Tipo de declaracion": select how to pay.
"A ingresar": get a tasa form, pay at a bank.
"Domiciliacion del importe a ingresar": debit from your Spanish bank account.
The IBAN can have spaces in it, and I think it can be a non-Spanish bank account. - Click "Firmar y Enviar" button to sign and send.
Get a confirmation dialog; check the "Conforme" box and then click "Firmar y Enviar" button.
Get page with "Su presentacion ha sido realizada con exito": success.
See verification code; copy it.
Click on link "Cotejo de documentos mediante codigo seguro de verificacion" to save final PDF file.
Open the PDF file and review it, and maybe copy the Expediente/Referencia and justificante numbers out of it. - The money was paid out of my Spanish bank account on June 30.
My experience filing form 714 in 2023
Same as previous year, except:
- Had to turn off VPN. Used Firefox browser.
- Got to page 25 and realized I should have done IRPF first. Went to do that.
- Plugged in values from IRPF, casilla 30 gets a big number, tax is unaffected.
My experience filing form 714 in 2024
Same as 2022, except:
- Used Chromium browser, no VPN.
- It automatically filled in my (50%) ownership of an apartment.
- Ended up owing no tax, since by buying an apartment I got rid of
a lot of money from savings accounts.
Spanish: Foreign assets declaration (720)
Not a tax, just a declaration to file.
Form 720, to be filed by March 31 for assets owned outside Spain as of previous December 31.
From Ray Clancy's "Expats in Spain face new tax reporting requirements" 1/2013:
A new reporting regime in Spain means that expats with assets outside the country worth over €50,000
who are taxpayers will need to declare them [starting] in 2013. ...
...
'This is a new, additional requirement for Spanish taxpayers. You remain obliged, as always, to also fully declare your annual worldwide income for income tax purposes, and your taxable worldwide assets for wealth tax purposes', said a spokesman. 'From now on, anyone who is tax resident in Spain must declare all the assets they own outside Spain. ...'
...
'This is a new, additional requirement for Spanish taxpayers. You remain obliged, as always, to also fully declare your annual worldwide income for income tax purposes, and your taxable worldwide assets for wealth tax purposes', said a spokesman. 'From now on, anyone who is tax resident in Spain must declare all the assets they own outside Spain. ...'
Apparently you have to file again next year only if there was an increase of €20K or more. But an increase in which value ? Some articles say must report if total value increased by €20K, others say must report if any of the three categories (Accounts, Investments, Property) has increased by €20K.
One difference between the wealth tax and the assets declaration: wealth tax uses net values (e.g. property value minus mortgage balance), while assets declaration uses gross values (e.g. property value).
I list all of my non-Spain accounts (including IRA, 401K).
In 6/2022, someone tells me you no longer have to list crypto-currency assets on form 720. A new form 721 is being developed, but is not approved yet.
Jessica Winch's "Spain tells British expats to declare overseas assets"
Expats in Spain's "Declaration of Your Overseas Assets" (PDF)
Richelle de Wit's "Reporting Overseas Assets Modelo 720-1"
Philip Carroll's "Reporting Overseas Assets: The Modelo 720"
Javier Ullastres Asesores's "Reporting Assets Outside Spain"
Claudia Vargas Puccio's "M720FAQs"
Janet Anscombe's "Resident foreign assets reporting"
Strong Abogados' "Report of Foreign Assets (Form 720)"
Sede Electronica Modelo 720
Agencia Tributaria's "Help with Form 720"
My experience with filing form 720 in 2/2016
First, gather IBAN or Swift or BIC numbers for your banks and accounts. Best to contact your banks. Maybe see The Swift Codes and United States Bank Swift Codes. But confirm the numbers with your bank; the info for my bank in those sites was obsolete.
Go to Sede Electronica Modelo 720
Fill out top fields. Don't check either "Declaracion complementaria por inclusion de datos" or "Declaracion sustitutiva".
Click on "Bienes o derechos". Form will change to a table.
For each bank account, in turn:
Click on "+" to add a line to the table. Form will change again.
Fill in information. Don't fill in "NIF Representante"; you don't have a representative. In "Clave de condicion del declarante", select "1- Titular" (you are the owner). In "Clave tipo de bien o derecho", select "C- Cuentas abiertas en entidades que se dediquen al trafico bancario o crediticio y se encuentren situadas en el extranjero" (accounts at foreign banks).
In "Subclave de bien o derecho", select
"1- Cuenta corriento" (checking account) or
"2- Cuenta de ahorro" (savings account) or
"3- imposiciones a plazo" (time deposits) or
"4- Cuentas de credito" (credit accounts) or
"5- Otras cuentas" (other accounts), as appropriate.
In "Codigo de pais", select "US - Estados Unidos de America". It's in the list among the E's, not the U's.
In "Clave de identificacion de cuenta", select "O - Otra identificacion".
In "Codigo BIC", fill in the Bank Identifier Code or Swift Code for your bank. None of my banks had IBAN or BIC or Swift numbers, so I left it blank.
In "Codigo de cuenta", put account number.
In "Identificacion de la entidad", put official name of your bank.
In "NIF en el pais de residencia fiscal", I put "ABA nnnnnnnnn" for my bank. (American Bankers Association routing number, for US account.)
In "Domicilio de la entidad o ubicacion del inmueble" section, put official address of your bank.
In "Fecha de incorporacion", I put Jan 1 of year I was declaring. Supposed to be the date when the account was created.
In "Origen del bien o derecho", put "A- Bien o derecho que se declara por primera vez o que se incorpora en el ejercicio de la declaracion". I think this is correct for first time you file a 720. Next year, select "M- Bien o derecho que ya ha sido declaracion en ejercicios anteriores" ?
In "Valoracion 1: Saldo o valor a 31 de Diciembre ...", put value of account on Dec 31, in Euros.
In "Porcentaje de participacion", put "100".
Click on green arrow button at bottom of page to check for errors.
Click on folder button ("Guardar declaracion") at bottom of page. It will save a file to your computer. If you stop filling out the declaration and come back some other time, import this file to pick up where you left off. And I think next year, you should be able to start by importing this file, and save a lot of typing.
Fill in information. Don't fill in "NIF Representante"; you don't have a representative. In "Clave de condicion del declarante", select "1- Titular" (you are the owner). In "Clave tipo de bien o derecho", select "C- Cuentas abiertas en entidades que se dediquen al trafico bancario o crediticio y se encuentren situadas en el extranjero" (accounts at foreign banks).
In "Subclave de bien o derecho", select
"1- Cuenta corriento" (checking account) or
"2- Cuenta de ahorro" (savings account) or
"3- imposiciones a plazo" (time deposits) or
"4- Cuentas de credito" (credit accounts) or
"5- Otras cuentas" (other accounts), as appropriate.
In "Codigo de pais", select "US - Estados Unidos de America". It's in the list among the E's, not the U's.
In "Clave de identificacion de cuenta", select "O - Otra identificacion".
In "Codigo BIC", fill in the Bank Identifier Code or Swift Code for your bank. None of my banks had IBAN or BIC or Swift numbers, so I left it blank.
In "Codigo de cuenta", put account number.
In "Identificacion de la entidad", put official name of your bank.
In "NIF en el pais de residencia fiscal", I put "ABA nnnnnnnnn" for my bank. (American Bankers Association routing number, for US account.)
In "Domicilio de la entidad o ubicacion del inmueble" section, put official address of your bank.
In "Fecha de incorporacion", I put Jan 1 of year I was declaring. Supposed to be the date when the account was created.
In "Origen del bien o derecho", put "A- Bien o derecho que se declara por primera vez o que se incorpora en el ejercicio de la declaracion". I think this is correct for first time you file a 720. Next year, select "M- Bien o derecho que ya ha sido declaracion en ejercicios anteriores" ?
In "Valoracion 1: Saldo o valor a 31 de Diciembre ...", put value of account on Dec 31, in Euros.
In "Porcentaje de participacion", put "100".
Click on green arrow button at bottom of page to check for errors.
Click on folder button ("Guardar declaracion") at bottom of page. It will save a file to your computer. If you stop filling out the declaration and come back some other time, import this file to pick up where you left off. And I think next year, you should be able to start by importing this file, and save a lot of typing.
When done, make sure you've saved to file one last time. And go back to first page of form, and see a total value for all accounts.
Then click "Firmar y enviar" to sign and send. See a "I confirm this all is true" page. Check the box and send.
See PDF form and "Su presentacion ha sido realizada con exito". Sending has succeeded. Save the PDF file to disk, maybe print it, maybe copy the confirmation numbers out of the first page of it.
My experience with filing form 720 in 3/2017
Gather IBAN or Swift or BIC numbers for any banks and accounts that are new since last time you filed this form.
Go to Sede Electronica Modelo 720
Change to English.
Click Submissions / Filing financial year 2015 and following.
Choose ID method.
Get "Declarante y resumen de la declaracion" page.
Change "Ejercicio" field to previous year.
Click "Cargar" button at bottom of page.
Load ".ses" file from previously filed year.
Now page should have data from previously filed year, but "Ejercicio" field has changed to current filing year.
Correct anything in the top fields, such as phone number.
Don't check either "Declaracion complementaria por inclusion de datos" or "Declaracion sustitutiva".
Click "Guardar" button at bottom of page.
It will save to a new ".ses" file on your computer.
If you stop filling out the declaration and come back some other time, "Cargar" this file to pick up where you left off.
Click on "Apartados / Bienes o derechos" in bottom left of page.
Form will change to a table.
For each bank account that is SAME as last year, in turn:
Put check-mark in check-box for account.
Click "Ver bien o derecho" button at top of page.
Update amount for account.
Click "Ver declarante" button to go back to list of accounts.
Click "Ver bien o derecho" button at top of page.
Update amount for account.
Click "Ver declarante" button to go back to list of accounts.
Click "Guardar" button to save to ".ses" file.
For each bank account that is NEW since last year, in turn:
Click on "+" to add a line to the table. Form will change again.
Fill in information, as given in my previous year's experience, above.
Click on green arrow button at bottom of page to check for errors.
Click "Guardar" button to save to ".ses" file.
Fill in information, as given in my previous year's experience, above.
Click on green arrow button at bottom of page to check for errors.
Click "Guardar" button to save to ".ses" file.
When finished with all accounts, review all values on 2nd page, go back to 1st page, click "Validar declaracion" button to validate the form, get "No existen errores" result.
Click "Guardar" button to save to ".ses" file.
Then click "Firmar y enviar" to sign and send.
See a "I confirm this all is true" page.
Check the box and send.
See PDF form and "Su presentacion ha sido realizada con exito". Sending has succeeded. Save the PDF file to disk, maybe print it, maybe copy the confirmation numbers out of the first page of it.
My experience with filing form 720 in 2/2018
Gather IBAN or Swift or BIC numbers for any banks and accounts that are new since last time you filed this form.
Go to Sede Electronica Modelo 720
Change to English.
Click Submissions / Filing financial year 2017 and following.
Choose ID method.
Get "Declarante y resumen de la declaracion" page.
Bummer: "Ejercicio" field is read-only now. Can't load ".ses" file from previously filed year and then change the year. Filed a request to change that, with Agencia Tributaria's "Tramitacion de quejas / sugerencias"
Tricky: I was able to open the ".ses" file from last year in one tab, and the new year's form in another tab, and copy and paste information from one to the other, one field at a time. Tedious, but better than re-typing all of it.
My experience with filing form 720 in 2/2019
Gather IBAN or Swift or BIC numbers for any banks and accounts that are new since last time you filed this form.
Go to Sede Electronica Modelo 720
Change to English.
Click Submissions / Filing financial year 2017 and following.
Choose ID method.
Get "Declarante y resumen de la declaracion" page.
Change "Ejercicio" field to previous year.
Click "Cargar" button at bottom of page.
Load ".ses" file from previously filed year.
Change "Ejercicio" field to next year.
Now page should have data from previously filed year, but "Ejercicio" field has changed to current filing year.
Correct anything in the top fields, such as phone number.
Don't check either "Declaracion complementaria por inclusion de datos" or "Declaracion sustitutiva".
Click "Guardar" button at bottom of page.
It will save to a new ".ses" file on your computer.
If you stop filling out the declaration and come back some other time, "Cargar" this file to pick up where you left off.
When adding a new account, in the (first) "Codigo de pais", there is no way to specify "Spain" or "ES", because you're not supposed to declare Spanish assets on this form. Confused me for a while.
My experience with filing form 720 in 3/2020
Gather IBAN or Swift or BIC numbers for any banks and accounts that are new since last time you filed this form.
Go to Sede Electronica Modelo 720
Change to English.
Click Submission for 2019.
Choose ID method.
Get prompted to type in NIE.
Get "Declarante y resumen de la declaracion" page.
The ".ses" file format has changed; there is no way to load an ".ses" file you saved on disk from previously filed year (2018). In fact, even if you go back and try to revise filing for 2018, the old file will not load, you'd have to enter everything all over again.
Probably best to open the PDF of last year's 720 filing, that you saved on disk. You will copy information from it.
Put your name in both "Apellidos y nombre" fields.
Put your phone number in the field.
Click right-arrow near bottom of page, to go to page 2.
See "Bienes o derechos" page.
For each bank account, in turn:
Click "document" icon with little green "+" in it, next to word "Registros".
Page will change to "Bien o derecho".
Fill in information from last year's PDF.
In "pais" fields, select "US - Estados Unidos de America". It's in the list among the E's, not the U's.
In "Fecha" fields, you can click on the "March 2020" in the middle of the pop-up calendar, and it switches to show years. Go to year and month, click on month, select day.
Click on "Validar" button at bottom of page to check for errors.
Click on "Guardar" button at bottom of page to save data to web site.
Click on "Exportar" button at bottom of page to save to a file on disk. It will want to save to filename "YOURNIE.720", but I prefer "FILINGYEAR-Form720.ses".
To create an entry for another account at same bank, while still in page for first account, click on "document - +" icon next to "Ver declarante". Do this even if next account is NOT at same bank; at least you won't have to set the "pais" pull-downs from scratch again.
Page will change to "Bien o derecho".
Fill in information from last year's PDF.
In "pais" fields, select "US - Estados Unidos de America". It's in the list among the E's, not the U's.
In "Fecha" fields, you can click on the "March 2020" in the middle of the pop-up calendar, and it switches to show years. Go to year and month, click on month, select day.
Click on "Validar" button at bottom of page to check for errors.
Click on "Guardar" button at bottom of page to save data to web site.
Click on "Exportar" button at bottom of page to save to a file on disk. It will want to save to filename "YOURNIE.720", but I prefer "FILINGYEAR-Form720.ses".
To create an entry for another account at same bank, while still in page for first account, click on "document - +" icon next to "Ver declarante". Do this even if next account is NOT at same bank; at least you won't have to set the "pais" pull-downs from scratch again.
When adding a new account, in the (first) "Codigo de pais", there is no way to specify "Spain" or "ES", because you're not supposed to declare Spanish assets on this form. Confused me for a while.
When done, Validar, Guardar, Exportar, then Firmar y Enviar.
Download the PDF and save it.
My experience with filing form 720 in 3/2021
Gather IBAN or Swift or BIC numbers for any banks and accounts that are new since last time you filed this form.
Go to Sede Electronica Modelo 720
Change to English.
Click Submission for 2020.
Choose ID method.
Get prompted to type in NIE.
Get "Declarante y resumen de la declaracion" page.
I was able to load ".ses" file from 2019 and start from there, just updating amounts.
Put your name in both "Apellidos y nombre" fields.
Put your phone number in the field.
After updating all amounts:
Click on "Validar" button at bottom of page to check for errors.
Click on "Guardar" button at bottom of page to save data to web site.
Click on "Exportar" button at bottom of page to save to a file on disk. It will want to save to filename "YOURNIE.720", but I prefer "FILINGYEAR-Form720.ses".
When done, Validar, Guardar, Exportar, then Firmar y Enviar.
Download the PDF and save it.
My experience with filing form 720 in 3/2022
Pretty much same as before. Choose "submission hasta 40,000 registros". Had to give "soporte" number from upper-right of my NIE. Gave digital certificate. Imported from 2020 .ses file. Modified amounts, filed.
My experience with filing form 720 in 2/2023
Pretty much same as before. Choose "submission hasta 40,000 registros". Gave digital certificate. Imported from 2021 .ses file. Modified amounts, filed.
My experience with filing form 720 in 3/2024
Had to turn off VPN.
Pretty much same as before. Choose "submission hasta 40,000 registros". Gave digital certificate. Imported from 2022 .ses file. Modified amounts, filed.
Spanish: ETE (Encuesta sobre Transacciones Exteriores) declaration
For worldwide assets/transactions over €1 million.
Electronic filing only, to the Bank of Spain before January 20 for previous year.
It applies to any individual or company (except financial companies) resident in Spain.
It applies if assets outside Spain are over €1 million, as well as other cases.
inforconta's "Residents with overseas assets: Informative Declarations to be completed"
Grupo Belmar's "Declaracion de Transacciones con el Exterior al Banco de España. ETE"
Javier Ullastres Asesores's "Declaracion de Transacciones con el Exterior al Banco de España. ETE"
Borja Canete's "A quien debo informar de las cuentas en el extranjero?"
Banco de España's "Formulario ETE"
ETE law (PDF)
My experience with filing ETE 1/2016
Banco de España's "Formulario ETE"
For assets/transactions between €1M and €50M, you want the "summary" statement.
You download and fill out either a PDF file or XML file. I used PDF.
If PDF file, use Adobe Acrobat Reader, not some third-party PDF-reader application such as Foxit.
What exchange rate to use when converting US dollar amounts to Euros ? Sent email to the bank, got no response, IRS hasn't published rates for 2015, used rate from usd-2015_12_31-exchange-rates-history, $1.08589/€. Later, someone said use Bank of Spain exchange rates as of Dec 31.
In the form, I checked "active" (the first choice, "Operaciones financieras activas con el exterior (09 01 01)"). All it asked for was totals for start and end of year, and totals for transactions; didn't have a line for each account separately, no way to list names of accounts or account numbers. I took my end-of-year number and put it in both the start and end fields, and put zeroes in the transaction and interest fields. Clicked "Validar" button to validate the form. Saved the file to disk.
To transmit the completed file to the bank, you must have an FNMT digital certificate installed on your computer.
Record the "Referencia" number you get at the end.
My experience with filing ETE 1/2017
Exchange rate: this document (PDF) referenced by this Banco de España page says Euro = $1.0541 on 12/30/2016.
Downloaded new PDF from "Formulario para la declaracion anual resumida (Version actualizada a octubre 2016) Archivo PDF: Abre en nueva ventana (1 MB)" on Banco de España's "Formulario ETE"
Fill out PDF as done for 1/2016, copying data from old PDF where possible.
In the form, I checked "active" (the first choice, "Operaciones financieras activas con el exterior (09 01 01)"). Copied final total from 2015 form to starting total ("Saldo inicial") in 2016 form. Put new total from accounts 12/31/2016 in final total ("Saldo final") for 2016.
Subtracted the two numbers (inicial and final) and put the difference in net ("Transacciones netas"). A dialog popped up and wanted me to put in numbers for "inversions" and "desinversions", to add up to the net number. Since I had a net gain, I just put the net total number in the "inversions" field.
Clicked "Validar" button to validate the form. Saved the file to disk.
Sent PDF via "Personas fisicas / Envio de declaraciones" on Banco de España's "Formulario ETE" (click "Browse" to select PDF file on disk, then "Anadir" to add it to list to send, then "Enviar" to send it). Got a nasty-looking "Compruebe que esta enviando la ultima version" message, but I am sending latest version of file, clicked "Confirmar".
Record the "Referencia" number you get at the end.
Check "Descarga de respuestas" a few days later to check that it was received okay. I checked 6 days later, nothing appears in the list.
My experience with filing ETE 1/2018
Exchange rate: this document (PDF) referenced by this Banco de España page says Euro = $1.1993 on 12/30/2017.
Downloaded new PDF from "AnualResumido" link on Banco de España's "Formulario ETE" (on right-hand side-bar of page).
Filled out PDF as done for 1/2017, copying data from old PDF where possible. Used Adobe PDF reader/editor; Foxit does not work properly on the pull-down fields.
Finished as in previous years: Validar button inside PDF, then go to web site, "Personas fisicas / Envio de declaraciones", choose digital certificate, Browse, Anadir, Enviar, Confirmar buttons, then copy referencia number and save it.
My experience with filing ETE 1/2019
Exchange rate: Documento BOE-A-2019-115 says Euro = $1.1450 on 12/31/2018.
Downloaded new PDF from "Formulario para la declaracion anual resumida" link on Banco de España's "Formulario ETE" (on right-hand side-bar of page).
I've switched my computer from Windows to Linux since last year, and no free PDF application on Linux can handle this PDF properly. Had to go to a Windows machine.
Filled out PDF as done for 1/2018, copying data from old PDF where possible. But can't for the life of me figure out how I got the final number for end of 2017. It just seems wrong. Diagrammed out time and balances in $ and € and exchange rates. That one number makes no sense.
Finished as in previous years: Validar button inside PDF, then go to web site, "Personas fisicas / Envio de declaraciones", choose digital certificate, Browse, Anadir, Enviar, Confirmar buttons, then copy referencia number and save it.
My experience with filing ETE 1/2020 for tax year 2019
Exchange rate: Documento BOE-A-2019-18782 says Euro = $1.1189 on 12/31/2019.
Downloaded new PDF from "Formulario para la declaracion anual resumida" link on Banco de España's "Formulario ETE" (on right-hand side-bar of page).
I switched my computer from Windows to Linux about 18 months ago, and no free PDF application on Linux can handle this PDF properly. Had to go to a Windows 10 machine.
Filled out PDF as done for 2018, copying data from old PDF where possible.
Finished as in previous years: Validar button inside PDF, then go to web site, "Personas fisicas / Envio de declaraciones", choose digital certificate, Browse, Anadir, Enviar, Confirmar buttons, then copy referencia number and save it.
My experience with filing ETE 1/2021 for tax year 2020
Exchange rate: Documento BOE-A-2020-17418 says Euro = $1.2281 on 12/31/2020.
Downloaded new PDF from "Formulario para la declaracion anual resumida" link on Banco de España's "Formulario ETE" (on right-hand side-bar of page).
No free PDF application on Linux can handle this PDF properly. Had to go to a Windows 10 machine.
Filled out PDF as done for 2019, copying data from old PDF where possible.
Finished as in previous years: Validar button inside PDF, then go to web site, "Personas fisicas / Envio de declaraciones", choose digital certificate, Browse, Anadir, Enviar. See what looks like an error message, but hit "tab" to see rest of page. Click Confirmar button, then copy referencia number and save it. Salir.
My experience with filing ETE 1/2022 for tax year 2021
Exchange rate: Documento BOE-A-2021-21969 says Euro = $1.1334 on 12/31/2021.
Downloaded new PDF from "Formulario para la declaracion anual resumida" link on Banco de España's "Formulario ETE" (on right-hand side-bar of page).
No free PDF application on Linux can handle this PDF properly. Went to a Windows 10 machine. That didn't work either. https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/online/sign-pdf.html says "unsupported format or password protected". Okular says "uses XFA forms, which are not supported at this time".
Downloaded example XML file (named "FormularioC_AnualResumido.xml" inside a ZIP file) and edited that, using the PDF file as a guide. [Note: amounts in the XML file are specified in "NNNNNN.NN" format.]
To check for simple XML syntax errors: Code Beautify's "XML Validator". To check against supplied xsd file ("EncTransExt_AnualResumido.xsd"): FreeFormatter's "XML Validator - XSD (XML Schema)" (gave "Src-resolve: Cannot Resolve The Name 'ete:tpDatosDeclarante' To A(n) 'type Definition' Component."). Put XML file (named "FormularioC_AnualResumido.xml") inside a ZIP file.
Go to web site, "Personas fisicas / Envio de declaraciones", choose digital certificate, Browse for ZIP file, Anadir, Enviar. See what looks like an error message, but hit "tab" to see rest of page. Click Confirmar button, then copy referencia number and save it. Salir.
A few days later, I went to site and did "Consulta del estado de las declaraciones", and found an error "XML no valida contra esquema". Decided to leave it that way; I've filed as best I could, made a good-faith effort, their software is broken.
Then changed my mind, sent again, this time just sending XML file, not inside a ZIP archive. A few days later, got error "ZIP no valido". So I guess the submission has to be a ZIP file.
My experience with filing ETE 1/2023 for tax year 2022
Exchange rate: Documento BOE-A-2022-24664 says Euro = $1.0666 on 12/30/2022.
Downloaded new PDF from "Formulario para la declaracion anual resumida" link on Banco de España's "Formulario ETE" (on right-hand side-bar of page).
No free PDF application on Linux can handle this PDF properly.
Ended up modifying the XML file I filed last year. It just gives starting and ending totals for the year, and the net change. All numbers are in format "NNNNN.NN", which seems non-European. Put the negative number as "(NNNNN.NN)"; don't know if that's right.
Sent just the XML file; no PDF or ZIP. Checked state of the submission a day later: says "recibido". A day later, "error: ZIP no valido". So put the XML inside a ZIP and sent that. Immediately got "error: XML no valida". Gave up.
My experience with filing ETE 1/2024 for tax year 2023
Exchange rate: Documento BOE-A-2023-26800 says Euro = $1.1050 on 12/29/2023.
Downloaded new PDF from "ETE-003 Formulario para la declaracion anual resumida" link on Banco de España's "Formulario ETE" (on right-hand side-bar of page).
Couldn't find a PDF application on Linux or Windows that can handle this PDF properly. It has XFA forms, which were deprecated starting in 2017.
Ended up modifying the XML file I filed last year. It just gives starting and ending totals for the year, and the net change. All numbers are in format "NNNNN.NN", which seems non-European.
Sent just the XML file; no PDF or ZIP. Within minutes got a "received" email and then an "XML not valid" email. Gave up.
Spanish: Inheritance and gift taxes (Impuesto sobre sucesiones y donaciones)
Terminology:
"Estate tax" is paid by the estate of the deceased person.
"Inheritance tax" is paid by the heirs of the deceased person.
USA has (federal and state) estate taxes.
Spain has inheritance tax.
From someone on reddit 11/2022:
Some regions have "foral law" and can establish their own regulations on civil law (mainly
marriage and inheritance law). As far I remember, they are Cataluna, Pais Vasco,
Baleares, Galicia, Aragon y Navarra.
Valencia also has marriage law but not inheritance law.
From Taxes For Expats's "U.S. Income Tax Return Preparation and Advice for American Citizen (Expatriates) Living in Spain":
Inheritance and gift taxes are levied on behalf of the 17 autonomous regions, which set their own tax rates
within certain limits. If they do not, national limits apply.
A tax on wealth transfers applies to rights and assets located in Spain.
From Spanish Solutions' "Good News on Spanish Inheritance and Donation Tax":
Currently inheritance tax is paid by a beneficiary on an inheritance they receive in Spain.
This is calculated by looking at the net assets in Spain of the deceased person, applying a tax-free
allowance which differs depending on the relationship between the deceased and the inheritor,
calculating the percentage tax applicable to the inheritance and then making a final calculation.
From Deloitte's "Spain Highlights 2022 (PDF)":
Inheritance and gift tax is levied where the individuals that are the heirs or donees are resident in
Spain or where the inherited or gifted assets are located in Spain.
Rates range from 7.65% to 34% (rates in certain regions
may be higher). The tax also is imposed on nonresidents receiving assets
(e.g., estates) located in Spain. Spain's
autonomous regions have the authority to increase or reduce the tax burden.
From Hola España Magazine - An Expat's Guide to Everything - 1st Edition:
A new EU regulation from 17th August 2015, also allows an individual to elect, via his Will, for the succession law of his country of nationality to apply to his death.
...
It is the person who receives the assets, whether by way of a lifetime gift or as a bequest, who is liable to pay the tax ..., and the rates of tax applied depends on:
- The relationship between the donor and the donee.
- How much is being inherited.
- The value of assets that the donee already has in Spain.
- Where the deceased/donor and the beneficiaries are resident.
However, ... the ownership of an asset cannot be transferred until the tax is paid. As you cannot sell the asset to pay the tax, problems can arise for the beneficiaries in Spain, where tax usually has to be paid within six months of the death.
To further complicate matters, each autonomous region of Spain may set its own exemptions and rates of tax. This can make the rates and allowances more or less beneficial, depending on the region.
Real estate (real property) is treated specially, different from the treatment of money.
"Spanish Law does not have an equivalent to the trust."
from Vicente & Otaolaurruchi's "Wills & Inheritance in Spain"
Answer from lawyers: there is a "fideicomiso" which is a little similar.
Would a joint bank account be frozen if one of the signators dies ?
Answer from lawyers: yes, frozen until will is probated.
Spanish resident inheriting money from USA decedent
If I am resident in Spain and inherit money in USA, will I have to pay Spanish inheritance tax on it ? Suppose the estate tax paid in USA was zero; does that change the situation in Spain ? Suppose I later move the money to my bank account in Spain; does that change the situation in Spain ?
From someone on "American Expats in Spain" Facebook group:
I am wondering if there are any Americans here who have declared an inheritance from the USA and
successfully appealed and won the case against the Spanish tax system.
I know this has been resolved for EU members (inheritance is calculated according to the law in country of death, but not so yet for the USA or non-EU countries).
It is absolutely devastating to see them be able to tax an inheritance in this way.
Those residents here ... really look into this if there is an inheritance in the future of any amount. It is not a pretty scene.
I know this has been resolved for EU members (inheritance is calculated according to the law in country of death, but not so yet for the USA or non-EU countries).
It is absolutely devastating to see them be able to tax an inheritance in this way.
Those residents here ... really look into this if there is an inheritance in the future of any amount. It is not a pretty scene.
Spanish citizen spouse inheriting money from US citizen / Spanish resident spouse
Spouse gets to exclude first €16K of inheritance from taxes, according to Global Property Guide's "Inheritance tax and law"
In Catalunya, spouse gets to exclude first €100K of inheritance from taxes, according to Blevins Franks' "The tax landscape in Cataluña in 2017"
From (2011) Paul Whitelock's "Inheritance Tax scrapped in Catalunya":
"Since only the national government is empowered to abolish taxes altogether, the Catalan Executive has set a fiscal bonus of 99% on the tax amount, which in practical terms corresponds to the almost total elimination of ISD in the region."
and
"But be aware that, wherever you live in Spain, as a foreigner you must have been officially resident for the five years prior to your death for your estate to be dealt with under local rules. If not, your estate will be subject to the less favourable State rules."
and
"To be classed as habitually resident in a particular AC, the deceased or donor must have been resident there for five continuous tax years, otherwise the State rules will apply."
From Expatica's "Spanish inheritance law and estate taxes":
"Generally, regional taxes will only apply to habitual residents (ie. residents in Spain for at least five years), while national law will apply to non-residents."
"In Catalonia there is a 99% relief between spouses on inheritance tax." from All Law's article (2017)
[but I think only for estates up to €100K; less relief for bigger estates]
"The inheritance of most assets (excluding real property) is regulated by the law of the deceased's nationality, irrespective of the nature of the property or the country where they are located (principle of lex personae)."
from Global Property Guide's "Inheritance tax and law"
On various places, I asked:
Estate planning question:
I am a US citizen married to a Spanish citizen, and we live in Spain. When I die, I would like to share my money among my 4 US siblings and my Spanish wife (20% to each). But I would like to avoid the hassles of inheritance/probate/wills across two countries. And the money to my wife would mainly go to putting 3 nieces and nephews through university, in Spain.
Suppose that right now I moved 20% of my money from USA to Spain, into a bank account with joint signature authority by me and my wife. We pay the kid's schooling out of that.
When I die, nothing changes in Spain, my wife keeps using the account to pay the schooling and for anything else she wishes. No paperwork, no taxes, etc.
Is this taxable or something ? At what point would it become a gift or inheritance to my wife ? Somehow there must be a catch. One catch is that my wife would have full authority starting now, she could drain the account and go buy shoes if she wished.
I paid for a 30-minute consultation with Spain/USA tax lawyers in Barcelona 10/2018:
My affairs are pretty simple: money in accounts, no real estate, no business, no life insurance, no children, wife in Spain, siblings in USA. Yet the lawyers kept saying "it's complicated, we need to give you a questionnaire about your details before we can answer more, for more money".
Our situation: I have lots (over $1M) of money in the bank; my wife has very little. We were married in Spain about 9 months ago, and (a couple of months later) did a "bienes separados" declaration. I want to leave a big chunk of money in Spain to her and to educate 4 nieces/nephews after I die. The rest of my money will stay in USA and go to siblings there.
Some things the lawyers did say/write:
- Catalunya has significant tax relief for spouse and offspring,
but we need more details before we could answer more.
(Come on, all I have is money, what more details do they need ?)
- The "bienes separados" agreement of the marriage does affect inheritance taxes.
If "gananciales" (everything shared) at death of spouse, the
surviving spouse gets taxed on 50% of the property, since they
already owned the other 50%. With "bienes separados" they
get taxed on 100% of what the deceased spouse owned.
- (I think) If you get married and declare "gananciales", the spouse
who has very little immediately gets taxed for 50% of the amount
brought into Spain by the spouse who has money.
(This doesn't make sense to me. I could see it if we divorced and
she got 50%.)
- If I (US citizen) opened a Spanish bank account in my name only and moved say E200K
into it from USA, that's a non-taxable event.
- If I then add my wife as a joint owner of that Spanish bank account,
that's a taxable event to her, she just had E100K of income.
- When I die, that joint bank account gets frozen until
my will goes through probate.
- It is not possible to keep my USA and Spanish money (accounts and wills)
separate, because my Spanish accounts will be declared to USA every
year via FATCA. When USA totals up my estate, they will know about
the money in Spain.
- They mentioned that some people have renounced US citizenship to avoid FATCA
(among other things). But I'm not interested in that.
- The lawyers did not mention FBAR, which I'm already filing each year,
and which has a much lower limit ($10K, I think) than FATCA.
Which makes me wonder if it's possible to move enough money to Spain
to stay just under the FATCA limit ($200K, I think), and keep it
separate from my USA estate when I die.
- Spain does not have the concept of a trust, but has a somewhat-similar
thing called "fideicomiso". It may be like a trustee who continues to handle
part of the estate after the will goes through probate (not sure).
- (I think they said) Money inherited in USA by a person residing in Spain
is taxed by Spain the same way money in Spain is inherited by them.
- In USA, I think you can give up to $15K to a person each year without
creating a tax liability for them. There is no similar annual or lifetime donation
or gift exemption in Spain; every Euro you give to someone else is income
to them, and should be declared by them on La Renta.
- My wife has an adult son by a previous marriage. Any money
left to him would be fully taxed as if left to any random person.
And (I think) he would have no special claim on my estate.
I plan to leave my money to his mother, and nothing directly to him.
- The lawyers were confusing about whether we have to register our Spanish
marriage in USA. They seemed to be saying you have to "inscribe"
it in USA if you want it to have some specific effect in USA.
Via email, I asked the lawyers for a price quote for doing a USA (NJ) will, a Spanish will, and then filing Spanish will properly in Spain. They tried to get all details from me, as if they were going to go ahead and do them and then bill me for them. I refused to give details, just asked again for price quotes. Finally they said €1500 for NJ will, €500 for Spanish will, and €300 to file Spanish will. Which is completely outrageous.
Went to a Spanish-only notario in Barcelona end of 10/2018:
We want to change our marriage regimen to "gananciales" (shared property), and do a Spanish will (testamento) for me.
The lady said:
- Bank account in my name only, with gananciales in the marriage, bringing money into
Spain is not taxable for my wife.
- First E100K of inheritance to wife is not taxable. Don't know the tax rate
for money above that.
- You can't have two wills, one in USA and another in Spain. You have to have
only one will. (Directly contradicts the lawyers.)
A relative works for a notario and consulted them for us 10/2018:
They said:
- Do "capitulaciones" before doing Spanish will.
- Will in Spain shouldn't mention USA at all.
Discussion on reddit with owner of Greenback Expat Tax Services:
> I'm a US citizen resident in Spain. I have siblings in USA and my wife in Spain.
> I want to keep some of my money in USA, and have a US will that gives it to my
> siblings. I want to keep the rest of my money in Spain, and have a Spanish will
> that gives it to my wife. Neither will mentions the other country or the other
> heirs. When I die, I don't want either set of heirs to have to deal with the
> other country. Can this be done ?
It unfortunately won't be that simple, at least not on the US side. When a US citizen dies a final tax return will need to be filed (typically by the spouse or another family member) and an estate tax return will also need to be filed. Worldwide assets will need to be reported so I would recommend having a will that covers all of your assets and specify what should go to whom so there is no confusion. Speaking to an estate tax attorney will help with how best to structure that.
> Yes, the US side seems to be the sticking point. Spain taxes beneficiaries
> on what they receive, but USA taxes the estate. So Spain (for inheritance)
> doesn't care about worldwide assets, but USA does.
>
> I wonder if it can be as simple as having US will say "all my assets
> outside USA go to my wife as per my Spanish will" ? US can tax the
> worldwide estate, but not control how it is distributed.
Correct, you should be able to control how things are distributed (of course there could be estate taxes, so that could chip away at the estate some, but the majority will be divided as per your wishes).
> Mainly I want to avoid my heirs in each country from having to deal with
> forms and courts and tax ID numbers etc in the other country.
I would recommend speaking with an estate attorney just so you can get specific guidance as to what your heirs will need to do.
Global Property Guide's "Inheritance tax and law"
Spanish Property Insight's "Spanish succession tax"
Balcells Group's "Inheritance Tax in Spain for Expats: Exact Rates and Allowances"
Expatica's "Spanish inheritance law and estate taxes"
Worldwide Lawyers' "A Guide to Claiming Spanish Inheritance Tax refunds" (PDF)
iAbogado's "Inheritance Law Archives" (several articles)
iAbogado's "What to do If you Inherit Property in Spain"
Abaco Advisers' "Understanding Spanish inheritance law"
Legal 4 Spain's "Estate Tax Planning FAQs"
All Law's article (2017)
In Spain Today's "The inheritance tax in Spain"
Abad Abogados's "Inheritance tax calculator" (probably using the State rules)
Vicente & Otaolaurruchi's "Wills & Inheritance in Spain"
Luis M. Vicente Burgos' "Facts about Inheritance Tax in Andalusia (Spain)"
Hugh MacArthur's "Andalusian Death Duties"
Michael Davies' "Inheritance tax revolution in Andalucia"
Richelle de Wit's "Changes Inheritance Tax Andalucia"
Blevins Franks' "The tax landscape in Cataluña in 2017"
Paul Whitelock's "Inheritance Tax scrapped in Catalunya" (2011)
Eva Maria Rodriguez's "El Impuesto de Sucesiones y Donaciones en Cataluña"
Legalium's "El impuesto de sucesiones y donaciones en Cataluña ha experimentado cambios constantes en la ultima epoca"
English translation of "The Code of Succession, Act 40/1991 of 30th December" (PDF)
Agencia Tributaria de Catalunya's "Impuesto sobre sucesiones y donaciones"
Iberley's "Reducciones Impuesto sobre Sucesiones y Donaciones Cataluña"
See "Spanish Will" section of my Living in Spain page.
Spanish: Other tax filings
If you own a business, property, or car, there will be forms to be filed and taxes to be paid.
Each time you rent out your property, a form has to be filed ? Maybe can bunch them up into quarterly reports.
If your income is high, you may have to pay estimated tax quarterly ?
If you own a property, probably you will have to pay:
- IBI (Impuesto Sobre Bienes Inmuebles): local property tax.
- Basura: garbage tax.
- Community fees.
Tenants have to pay a tax of about 0.5% on their rent. Tax is ITP, and rarely enforced until recently.
Myra Azzopardi Swainson's "Tenants Obliged to Pay Tax on Rentals"
Expatica's "A guide to the Spanish tax system"
If you are non-resident, yet own property in Spain, you have to pay "non-resident tax" (form 210).
Abaco Advisers' "All you need to know about non-resident taxes in Spain"
Advoco's "Spanish non resident tax"
New (2023) supposedly-temporary tax on net worth over 3M.
"Impuesto temporal de Solidaridad de las Grandes Fortunas".
Modelo 718.
La Moncloa article
Tributaria's "Modelo 718. Impuesto Temporal de Solidaridad de las Grandes Fortunas"
US: Federal income tax return (1040)
File by April 15 (approximately) each year, for previous year.
USA taxes US citizens on their worldwide income.
File a return each year, even if you have no income, or no income subject to US tax, or your income falls below the taxable threshold, or you owe no tax. Stay on record, don't create any question that you might be evading taxes.
File IRS form 8822 (once) to inform IRS of your new address, if your old US address now is invalid.
Many online services enable you to file tax returns electronically, for free or for $20 or so. This may not work well if your tax situation is complex. If you have to file Form 8938 (FATCA) with your return, check to see if your online service supports that form (for example Taxslayer.com does not, as of 2/2017). Some online services may force you to upgrade to a premium edition if you need to file form 2555 for Foreign Earned Income Exclusion. Some online services may not let you file a tax return from a computer outside USA ? Some online services or software may not let you e-file a tax return with a foreign address (for example Turbotax Free Edition does not, as of 3/2016). Some online services or software may not let you pay with a non-US credit card. Some online services or software may not let you put "NRA" where your spouse's SSN or ITIN should go.
Best online service I've found: Free File Fillable Forms. Free, federal-only. Have to give name of spouse if you're filing as "married filing separately", but no SSN or ITIN for them. Requires a US phone number, but doesn't actually use it [starting in 2024, DOES use it to send SMS]. When signing the return, asks for US driver's license info, but that is optional.
IRS's Direct File.
Pilot program in 2024. Federal-only. Limits, such as max $1500 of interest income, and no income from pension or IRA distributions.
AP News article
Ars Technica article
From chat support 3/2024:
ID.me is a service we use to verify you are who you say you are. It will check to see
that you are the same person as the photo on your driver's license or other government ID.
This helps ensure that no one is fraudulently filing taxes using your identity.
... you may need to confirm with ID.me if a US phone number is required.
See here for more details about how ID.me keeps your information safe and secure: Internal Revenue Service and ID.me
You will need to create an ID.me account to use Direct File. If you are unable to or don't want to create an ID.me account, you won't be able to use Direct File for this filing season.
From Internal Revenue Service and ID.me:... you may need to confirm with ID.me if a US phone number is required.
See here for more details about how ID.me keeps your information safe and secure: Internal Revenue Service and ID.me
You will need to create an ID.me account to use Direct File. If you are unable to or don't want to create an ID.me account, you won't be able to use Direct File for this filing season.
"Proving your identity involves uploading government documents, taking a video selfie, and filling out personal information."
FreeTaxUSA. Federal is free.
I'm told the software says “Freetaxusa does not currently support filing for US citizens living abroad”.
Expatfile. $99 for cheapest plan.
Rebecca Lammers' "Online US Tax Preparation Software for Americans Abroad"
Expats get an automatic 2-month extension (to June 15) on the deadline (IRS page), but have to pay estimated tax by the original deadline, then pay interest (for that 2 months) on the additional tax due when the final return is filed. Does that extension include extension for filing Form 8938 (FATCA) ? I'm told yes. If you get an extension until October 15, you pay late payment penalties on any amounts paid after June 15.
If paper-mailing your return to IRS, there's a specific mailing address that's used for international filers.
How to pay ?
From a US bank account is easiest.
PayPal ACI. https://www.irs.gov/payments/pay-your-taxes-by-debit-or-credit-card
Wise (Transferwise) if you have a USD cash account.
https://payusatax.com/
IRS's "Foreign Electronic Payments"
How to deposit a physical check that IRS sends to you ?
Scan in US bank account's mobile app.
Corie DuChateau's "How to Deposit US Paper Checks While Living Abroad"
From IRS's "Yearly Average Currency Exchange Rates":
"The Internal Revenue Service has no official exchange rate. Generally, it accepts any posted exchange rate that is used consistently."
General IRS info page: IRS's "U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad"
ACA's "US Taxes Abroad for Dummies"
Taxes For Expats's "Expat Tax Advice"
Taxes For Expats's "Expat Tax Obligations"
SpainExpat's "Filing Taxes as a US Expat in Spain"
Thomas K. Running's "The Ultimate Tax Guide for American Nomads & Expats"
IRS's "Taxpayers Living Abroad"
IRS's "Publication 54, Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad"
Jane A. Bruno's "The Expat's Guide to U.S. Taxes" (PDF) (2009)
Form to get Randall Brody's "U.S. Expat Tax Guide" (mostly about FEIE, Foreign Tax Credit, FBAR, FATCA, back filing)
Jonathan Lachowitz's "Everything U.S. Expats Need to Know About IRS Tax Forms (But Were Afraid to Ask)"
Don D. Nelson's "US Expatriate Tax Rules Every Expat Living Abroad Needs to Know"
"US Expat Tax Questions" Facebook group
IRS's "Get Transcript"
IRS's "Taxpayer Advocate Service - International"
If your US taxes are very complicated, you may want to use an expatriate tax service for your US tax return. Such as:
Greenback Expat Tax Services
Some items
- If FinCen 114 (FBAR) applies to you, you have to file Schedule B with the 1040, and
check the boxes appropriately and name the foreign country.
- Foreign earned income exclusion (FEIE):
Applies only to earned income, not interest dividends cap gains etc. Also does not apply to self-employment income ?
IRS's "Foreign Earned Income Exclusion"
The Anywhere Company's "The Guide to Foreign-Earned Income Exclusion"
ACA's "US Taxes Abroad for Dummies"
- Foreign tax credit (FTC) on Form 1116:
- Applies to foreign income tax, not wealth tax or other taxes.
- Apparently you must have "foreign sourced taxable income" ? So if all your income comes from USA, no FTC for you ? It's not enough just to have paid foreign tax, you also must have foreign income ?
- The income can be passive (interest, dividends) or active (earned).
- Either deduct the taxes as an itemized deduction on Schedule A, or claim a credit against tax (usually better).
- Is this claimed in the following year ? For example, pay Spanish tax in year Y for income earned in year Y-1, then claim FTC on US tax return filed in year Y+1 for Spanish tax paid in year Y ?
H&R Block's "Form 1116: How U.S. expats claim the Foreign Tax Credit" - Claiming someone as your dependent:
From Turbotax's "Rules for Claiming a Dependent on Your Tax Return":
"The person must be a U.S. citizen, a U.S. national, a U.S. resident, or a resident of Canada or Mexico.". - In general, money donated to a foreign charity can't be deducted on US income tax.
- As far as I know, being "pareja de hecho" in Spain has no effect on your filing status
on US taxes, you still can file as "single". If married in Spain, your marriage can either
have "gananciales" (all property shared) or "bienes separados" (separate property) in Spain. Not sure if being
married in Spain has any effect on US taxes, unless you get your marriage validated in USA.
- If you earn money from a foreign employer who does not have a US employer ID number and does
not issue a W-2 form to you, you still report it, and I think there is some field for it on
IRS form 2555.
- Getting an IRS "transcript":
From someone on reddit:
"The key is that you need to ensure that the address on file from your most recent, PROCESSED, tax return matches the address you're going to have the transcripts mailed to, that includes a foreign address. Also you have to mail in the form requesting a transcript. It can't be done online, again because of the foreign address."
[It may take IRS 10-12 months to "process" a tax return.]
My experience with filing 1040 in 2/2018
Using TaxAct online through a VPN, if I connected through a VPN server in Spain, it kept saying "username/password incorrect", even though I had just reset password successfully. When I changed to a VPN server in USA, problem went away.
Price has gone up; it will be $29 for federal return and $37 for NJ state return.
The software does support "married filing separately" with spouse who is NRA. You have to give name of spouse, then check a box that says "spouse is not required to have a TIN / SSN". But after doing that, I remembered I just got married this year (2018), so I'm still single for my 2017 tax return.
Switched to TaxSlayer; supposed to be $17 for federal and $22 for state.
Every time I logged in, it made me verify with a code sent to my email, maybe because I was using a VPN.
Had to enter a US phone number when filing at the end. I paid using a US bank account number. Federal return accepted by IRS within 10 minutes, state return about 24 hours later.
My experience with filing 1040 in 3/2019
TaxSlayer requires an ITIN for your NRA spouse, even if filing as "married filing separately".
TaxAct does not require the ITIN, but then 3/4 of the way through the return: "oh, you have capital gains/losses ? You have to upgrade to Premium+, that will be an extra $58."
Filed with Free File Fillable Forms (might be part of this program: IRS's "Free File: Do Your Federal Taxes for Free" ?). But it requires a US phone number and maybe a US driver's license (when signing) too. Requires spouse's name if filing MFS (but spouse's name goes in an odd place in upper-right, not in "spouse's name" fields). Doesn't require spouse's ITIN or "NRA" if spouse is non-resident alien. Make sure you click in tax calculation field, otherwise it will just leave a zero in there and you will get a bill from the IRS. If you get errors, use: IRS's "Free File Fillable Forms Error Search Tool"
My experience with filing 1040 in 3/2020
Filed with Free File Fillable Forms.
Filing requires a US phone number and a US driver's license (when signing) too. But Support says the driver's license is optional.
Did not have to file FATCA (form 8938) with this return. Do have to check boxes saying I have to file FBAR (separately).
Don't put zero in Wages field, leave it blank, if you have no wages.
Make sure you consult the tax tables, calculate your tax, and put it in field 12a. Otherwise "Do the Math" will just leave zeroes in fields 12 through 16, give you no error message, and you will get a bill from the IRS.
If you get errors, use: IRS's "Free File Fillable Forms Error Search Tool"
My experience with filing 1040 in 2/2021
Filed with Free File Fillable Forms.
Account creation requires a US phone number, but doesn't actually use it for anything (such as sending a code).
Did not have to file FATCA (form 8938) with this return. Do have to check boxes saying I have to file FBAR (separately).
Don't put zero in Wages field, leave it blank, if you have no wages.
Put standard deduction (https://www.irs.com/articles/2020-federal-tax-rates-brackets-standard-deductions/) in line 12.
Make sure you consult the tax tables (https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1040tt), calculate your tax, and put it in field 16. Otherwise "Do the Math" will just leave zeroes in fields 16 - 24, give you no error message, and you will get a bill from the IRS.
If you get errors, use: IRS's "Free File Fillable Forms Error Search Tool"
At end, do "Print Return", then click tab "Step 2: E-File Your Tax Forms".
[Have to give US phone number again, but it is not used. Leave US driver's license fields empty.]
My experience with filing 1040 in 3/2022
Filed with Free File Fillable Forms.
Account creation requires a US phone number, but doesn't actually use it for anything (such as sending a code).
Form didn't look right in Firefox browser, but looked right in a chrom* browser.
Did not have to file FATCA (form 8938) with this return. Do have to check boxes saying I have to file FBAR (separately).
Don't put zero in Wages field, leave it blank, if you have no wages.
Put standard deduction (https://www.irs.com/articles/2020-federal-tax-rates-brackets-standard-deductions/) in line 12.
Make sure you consult the tax tables (https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1040tt), calculate your tax, and put it in field 16. Otherwise "Do the Math" will just leave zeroes in fields 16 - 24, give you no error message, and you will get a bill from the IRS.
If you get errors, use: IRS's "Free File Fillable Forms Error Search Tool"
At end, do "Print Return" (at top-right; NOT "Print Form" at bottom), then click tab "Step 2: E-File Your Tax Forms".
[Have to give US phone number again, but it is not used. Leave US driver's license fields empty.]
My experience with filing 1040 in 3/2023
Filed with Free File Fillable Forms.
In list of forms, saw that it does include 8938 (FATCA), which I need this year.
Account creation requires a US phone number, but doesn't actually use it for anything (such as sending a code). Verified the account using email.
[On Linux] Form didn't look right in Firefox browser, AND didn't look right in a chrom* browser either ! [On Windows] Worked in MS Edge browser, and in Chrome browser.
Copied some data from previous year's form.
Had to file FATCA (form 8938) with this return. And have to check boxes saying I have to file FBAR (separately). The two have the same info, mostly.
Don't put zero in Wages field, leave it blank, if you have no wages.
Put standard deduction (https://www.irs.com/articles/2020-federal-tax-rates-brackets-standard-deductions/) in line 12.
Make sure you consult the tax tables (https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1040tt), calculate your tax, and put it in field 16. Otherwise "Do the Math" will just leave zeroes in fields 16 - 24, give you no error message, and you will get a bill from the IRS.
If you get errors, use: IRS's "Free File Fillable Forms Error Search Tool"
Click tab "Step 2: E-File Your Tax Forms". File the return (paying with US bank account), get a notice and an email saying "wait a day or two to get a notice telling whether accepted". But usually get a response within an hour.
Found out the hard way that phone number is mandatory. Not sure if "date to pay" is mandatory; I filled it in.
After accepted, do "Print Return" (at top-right; NOT "Print Form" at bottom), save the PDF, check that it contains all forms.
My experience with filing 1040 in 3/2024
Filed with Free File Fillable Forms.
In list of forms, saw that it does include 8938 (FATCA), which I need this year.
Account creation requires a US phone number, AND now does send a code to it. Also have to get a code through email, and it wouldn't work with Migadu email, had to use GMail. But later I had failures with GMail too. May be a Thunderbird issue, the codes come through on K-9 Mail. Updated Thunderbird, and it seems to work now.
[On Linux] Form didn't look right in Firefox browser, AND didn't look right in a chrom* browser either ! But it works in MS Edge browser. All three browsers are Flatpaks. With VPN.
https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/line-by-line-instructions-free-file-fillable-forms
Had to file FATCA (form 8938) with this return. And have to check boxes saying I have to file FBAR (separately). The two have the same info, mostly.
Don't put zero in Wages field, leave it blank, if you have no wages.
Put standard deduction (for me $13850, see https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-provides-tax-inflation-adjustments-for-tax-year-2023 ) in line 12.
Make sure you consult the tax tables (https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1040tt), calculate your tax, and put it in field 16. Otherwise "Do the Math" will just leave zeroes in fields 16 - 24, give you no error message, and you will get a bill from the IRS.
If you get errors, use: IRS's "Free File Fillable Forms Error Search Tool"
Click tab "Step 2: E-File Your Tax Forms". File the return (paying with US bank account), get a notice and an email saying "wait a day or two to get a notice telling whether accepted". But usually get a response within an hour.
After accepted, do "Print Return" (at top-right; NOT "Print Form" at bottom), save the PDF, check that it contains all forms.
First try was rejected, because: don't put Schedule A if you're just taking the standard deduction, and copy interest and dividend amounts from Schedule B to 1040 (which the software should do automatically).
US: Other federal tax filings (FBAR, FATCA)
You must file certain forms if you have more than $10K in a foreign bank account at any time during the year, own more than a 10% ownership interest in a foreign corporation, or are the beneficiary or trustee of a foreign trust. Some forms are filed with your tax return, some separately (and on separate deadlines).
FBAR / 114
If the aggregate value of all foreign financial accounts exceeded $10,000 at any time during the year, the FBAR form (FinCEN Report 114) must be filed electronically, separate from income tax return, by April 15 each year. Automatic six-month extension. See IRS's "Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)".
Taxes For Expats's "FinCEN Form 114 (FBAR)"
FinCen's "Report Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts"
Golding's "FBAR FAQ"
Not sure this is correct: From someone on reddit:
"The $10k limit is counted as the sum of the max amount of each account during the year, so if you have $5k in one account and then transfer it to another, then that counts as $5k + $5k = $10k, despite never actually having had $10k."
If you are required to file an FBAR, you must report ALL non-US bank and financial accounts, even if the balances are small or zero.
From discussion on "US Expat Tax Questions" Facebook group:
A 'defined benefit pension plan' is a promise (but not a guarantee) to pay, and as such it is not a financial asset, and therefore not reportable for FBAR purposes.
If your pension scheme meets the definition of "social security", then most likely it is not reportable. If it does not meet the "social security criteria, then it is probably an "annuity" and therefore reportable.
Defined Benefit Pension Plans do not have to be reported on the FBAR - but you can if you want. The reason is that the plan is not in your name, you have no disposition powers, and there is no guarantee of payment just a promise of payment.
There is no penalty for reporting things that don't need to be reported.
My experience with filing FBAR 4/2016:
Treasury's "Individuals Filing the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)"
No registration required. Have to give email address and phone number at start. Will have to fill in mailing address and SSN in form.
No way to save form halfway and continue later; have to do it in one shot. [But someone else said this is not true.]
I filed a mostly-empty form (I have no foreign bank accounts), just to see how the process goes, so I don't know if there's anything tricky about entering the bank account information. You will need to know maximum account value during the year, bank name, account number, and bank mailing address. If there are multiple owners, you will need to know name, TIN, and mailing address for each owner.
Have to click the "Sign" button at the end; it does nothing but show a dialog saying "I acknowledge I am signing this document" and then puts "Signed" in a form field.
Then click the "Submit" button.
Get a confirmation page, copy the info, download a PDF copy of your submitted form.
View the saved PDF form to make sure everything is right.
Receive an email confirmation that your form was received.
Two days later, receive another email confirmation, giving a BSA Identifier. Save that.
Someone said you can fill in a PDF form and then upload this, instead of doing the web pages. An advantage of the PDF is that next year you can un-sign it and modify it and submit again, saving a lot of work.
My experience with filing FBAR 4/2017:
Treasury's "Individuals Filing the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)"
"Result" PDF from last year is not same form as "submit" PDF for this year: different number of pages, if nothing else.
I clicked on the PDF Form option, downloaded empty PDF form, filled it out. Once you've "signed" it, it can't be altered any more.
Click on PDF filing, fill in info, upload PDF file, click File button, get Confirmation page including Tracking ID. Within a minute, received an email saying filing was accepted.
My experience with filing FBAR 2/2018:
Treasury's "Individuals Filing the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)"
I clicked on the PDF Form option, downloaded empty PDF form, filled it out, copying and pasting info from previous year's PDF. Once you've "signed" it, it can't be altered any more. I filled out the form with Foxit Reader, but signing did not work properly. Switched to Adobe Acrobat Reader DC; signing worked.
Click on PDF filing, fill in info, upload PDF file, click File button, get Confirmation page including Tracking ID. Within a minute, received an email saying filing was rejected, file was corrupted or underlying XML structure was altered. Did it again using only Adobe, everything worked.
My experience with filing FBAR 4/2019:
Treasury's "Individuals Filing the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)"
Used the "Online Form" option. Have to do it in one online session; no saving and resuming. But since I had only two foreign bank accounts, it's not hard. Have to have bank name and address, account number, and max balance during the year. Wants a phone number in the section for your personal ID. I used a USA phone number and address.
"System Requirements" says they support Firefox browser, but I got a warning that my browser (Firefox) is not supported. Maybe I have something turned off that they expected to see. But the forms worked.
Online forms are a little confusing: first account will be in section titled "1 of 1", but there will be FOUR such sections in a row. First is "Information on Financial Account(s) Owned Separately", next is "Information on Financial Account(s) Owned Jointly", third is "Information on Financial Account(s) Where Filer has Signature or Other Authority but No financial Interest in the Account(s)", fourth is "Information on Financial Account(s) Where Filer is Filing a Consolidated Report". Just fill out one of the four (usually the first) for each account.
Then, next to the title "Information on Financial Account(s) Owned Separately", click the "+" button to add another account of that type, see new section for "2 of 2".
When done adding accounts, click Sign and then Submit. Copy confirmation info and download PDF copy of the filing. I received a confirmation email within a minute or two. Done.
My experience with filing FBAR 3/2020:
Treasury's "Individuals Filing the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)"
Used the "Online Form" option. Have to do it in one online session; no saving and resuming. But since I had only one foreign bank account, it's not hard. Have to have bank name and address, account number, and max balance during the year. I used my Spanish phone number (formatted as "0034nnnnnnnnn") and address.
"System Requirements" says they support Firefox browser, but I got a warning that my browser (Firefox) is not supported. Maybe I have something turned off that they expected to see. But the forms worked.
Online forms are a little confusing: first account will be in section titled "1 of 1", but there will be FOUR such sections in a row. First is "Information on Financial Account(s) Owned Separately", next is "Information on Financial Account(s) Owned Jointly", third is "Information on Financial Account(s) Where Filer has Signature or Other Authority but No financial Interest in the Account(s)", fourth is "Information on Financial Account(s) Where Filer is Filing a Consolidated Report". Just fill out one of the four (usually the first) for each account.
Then, if you want to add another account, next to the title "Information on Financial Account(s) Owned Separately", click the "+" button, see new section for "2 of 2". No need to click on "+" after the last account is entered.
When done adding accounts, click Sign and then Submit. Copy confirmation info and download PDF copy of the filing. I received a confirmation email within 10 minutes. Done.
My experience with filing FBAR 4/2021:
Treasury's "Individuals Filing the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)"
Used the "Online Form" option. Have to do it in one online session; no saving and resuming. But since I had only two foreign bank accounts, it's not hard. Same as last year.
As usual, I got a warning that my browser (Firefox) is not supported, but the forms worked.
My experience with filing FBAR 3/2022:
Treasury's "Individuals Filing the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)"
Used the "Online Form" option. Have to do it in one online session; no saving and resuming.
I have a bank account where the bank was acquired/merged into another during the year. I guess I'll report both forms of the account, both banks.
As usual, I got a warning that my browser (Firefox) is not supported, but the forms worked. I'm on Linux.
Clicked Sign, clicked Submit, and got
JBWEB000065: HTTP Status 500 -
JBWEB000309: type JBWEB000067: Status report
JBWEB000068: message
JBWEB000069: description JBWEB000145: The server encountered an internal error
that prevented it from fulfilling this request.
JBoss Web/7.2.2.Final-redhat-1
Tried in ungoogled-chromium browser, typed all the info again, clicked Sign, clicked Submit, got "server not found", and Submit button disappeared ! No way to get it back. Lost all the work again.
Downloaded PDF file. It uses XFA forms, which my Linux software can't handle. Okular won't show it. qpdfview won't show it. ungoogled-chromium won't show it. LibreOffice Draw won't show it. LibreOffice Writer just sends it to LibreOffice Draw to be opened. Firefox shows it and says it's saving it to disk, but changes are not saved.
Filed help ticket at Help Ticket Form.
Found that Master PDF Editor 5.8.33 can fill out the PDF document. Everything works until I click the Sign button. That doesn't work, and if I go to the site and try to submit the PDF document, the site says "it's not signed".
Took the PDF file to a Windows machine. Acrobat Reader could open it and the Sign button worked, but it wouldn't save the changed file (it's a "reader"). Tried Firefox, Sign button didn't work. Installed Master PDF Editor 5.8.3, and the Sign button didn't work.
On Windows machine, used Firefox, did FBAR online, not adding any of my accounts to avoid losing all that typing if something went wrong. But submission succeeded. A day later, got email that it was accepted. So back to Windows machine and submitted an amended filing, giving all the account data. Submission succeeded.
My experience with filing FBAR 3/2023:
Treasury's "Individuals Filing the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)"
Used the "Online Form" option. Have to do it in one online session; no saving and resuming.
Used ungoogled-chromium on Linux, no VPN. Worked fine !
On reddit 4/2023, someone said FBAR PDF doesn't work with Kofax Power PDF application, but works with Adobe Acrobat.
My experience with filing FBAR 3/2024:
Treasury's "Individuals Filing the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)"
Used the "Online Form" option. Have to do it in one online session; no saving and resuming.
Used ungoogled-chromium on Linux, with VPN.
FATCA / 8938
Also, if you control certain other foreign assets, you have to file Form 8938 (FATCA). Attach Form 8938 to the annual income tax return, so deadline would be April 15. See IRS's "Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act" and IRS's "Do I need to file Form 8938, 'Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets'?".
Individuals don't have to file FATCA if: the individual otherwise does not have to file an income tax return, or individual lives full-time outside USA and owns less than $200K of foreign assets. See the IRS pages linked below.
Some online tax-return software doesn't support form 8938 (for example Taxslayer.com does not, as of 2/2017). TaxAct does.
FATCA asks for the same stuff that FBAR does: institution info, account number, max balance during the year.
Taxes For Expats's "FATCA and Form 8938 for American Expats"
IRS's "FATCA Information for Individuals"
IRS's "Information for U.S. Taxpayers on Form 8938 Requirements"
David Kuenzi's "Why Americans Should Never Own Shares in a Non-US Mutual Fund (PFIC)"
ACA's "US Taxes Abroad for Dummies"
My experience with filing FATCA 3/2023:
Did it as part of 1040, filed with Free File Fillable Forms.
Same info as FBAR, mostly.
Interface is a little clunky with multiple accounts. You end up with N "copies" of 8938 form listed in the left pane. First is overall form plus first account, next N-1 copies are just sections V and VI for accounts 2 through N. [Also section III ?]
If just bank accounts, just fill out sections I and III and V on first page, then another section V for each additional account.
IRS's "Comparison of Form 8938 and FBAR Requirements"
I asked the question:
Is it possible, and is it advisable, to file FATCA and FBAR reports just to say "I have no foreign bank accounts" ?
Answer from someone: "If you don't need to file, then there is no reason to send in a blank form. However, the Department of Treasury's efile system will still accept FBARs with no foreign bank accounts listed."
From /u/TaxTalkinGuy on reddit:
KEEP YOUR STOCK MARKET INVESTMENTS IN THE US
Investing in non-US mutual funds can be a tax reporting nightmare and result in higher tax in some circumstances. It's much easier to simply keep investing in US mutual funds through a US brokerage account.
If you own stock of a non-US mutual fund, you'll be required to file IRS Form 8621, which is complicated in the best of circumstances and impossible to comply with in the worst. Also, the non-US mutual fund will be subject to a complicated regime called the "passive foreign investment company" rules, which often result in worse US tax treatment as compared to owning US mutual funds. Finally, investing in non-US mutual funds can have non-tax detrimental effects as well, such as generally higher fees and more risk (very few countries have equivalents of the FDIC and SIPC).
RESEARCH THE US TAX TREATMENT OF LOCAL TAX-ADVANTAGED ACCOUNTS
If you're planning to stay in your new country long-term, it's tempting to dive right into saving through the local array of tax-advantaged accounts. However, some research into the US tax treatment of each particular offering will go a long way in avoiding headaches on your US tax return.
Certain types of plans require more reporting than others. For example, if the plan has a trust structure (so that by holding the account you're really the beneficiary of a trust), you may find that your US tax reporting burden will be lessened if you don't make contributions yourself to the trust (or only make contributions to certain portions of the trust). This can get complicated and is fact specific, so it requires careful research and planning with each particular type of savings vehicle in mind.
Avoid paying US SS tax (FICA):
Apparently, if you have earned income, in some/many cases you are supposed to pay US FICA (Social Security) tax on it. But if your country of residence has a totalization agreement and you pay SS tax to that country, you give proof of that to USA and don't have to pay US FICA.
IRS's "About Publication 54, Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad"
StackExchange's "How do I opt-out of the Social Security system?"
Manuel Garrido's article about self-employed person getting 'Certificate of Coverage' from Spain
1040Abroad's "5 things Americans abroad need to know about self-employment tax on foreign income"
Jonathan Lachowitz's "Everything U.S. Expats Need to Know About IRS Tax Forms (But Were Afraid to Ask)"
Annie Hill's "The Expat Guide to U.S. Personal Finance" (links to many articles)
US: State tax return
File by April 15 (approximately) each year, for previous year.
You may still have a "tax domicile" in your home US state; if so, you have to file a state tax return.
In New Jersey (my state): a "non-resident" state tax return is for those who earn income or own property in the state, but reside outside the state and pay state tax to another state.
I asked the question:
Is there any problem with appearing to be "resident" in two countries, both USA and (in my case) Spain ?
I am a US citizen, about to move to Spain and get residency there. I would like to maintain my US mailing address (my brother's house), my US driver's license, US credit card, US bank accounts, voting. I probably won't bother to get any of those things in Spain.
I don't mind paying tax to both places, since I'm a retiree living off savings, so pay almost zero income tax to Feds and state in USA. And it seems simplest just to keep filing the normal forms in USA. And putting my USA address on those forms, not my Spain address. I would file FBAR and FATCA forms as required.
Is this legal ? Is it wise ? I don't want to have to inform my US banks and credit card of my foreign address. I may move back to USA some day, and things would be simpler then.
Answer from someone on "US Expat Tax Questions" Facebook group:
If you want to be treated as a resident of both countries, no one will object as long as you file a tax return in both countries,
declare your worldwide income to both countries, and pay any tax imposed on that income by both countries.
Several of my clients in Italy do this as a matter of choice. Sometimes there are valid reasons to do so.
I for example always paid self-employment tax to both countries on the same income to increase my retirement benefits
in both countries.
Answer from someone else on "US Expat Tax Questions" Facebook group:
[Maybe more about federal return ?]
If you keep your resident status in your tax filing, you will enjoy the regular tax credit but you will be taxed on your foreign income. On the other hand, if you file as non-resident you will enjoy tax exemption for foreign income up to $100,800 for 2015. Also, you still will be able to file your taxes as non-resident and you don't have to mention a foreign address. You may keep your US address on your tax return, as long as you have a good connection with this address.
...
You do pay fine if you don't enroll in ObamaCare, unless if you file your tax as US NON RESIDENT, then you are exempted from that fine.
If you keep your resident status in your tax filing, you will enjoy the regular tax credit but you will be taxed on your foreign income. On the other hand, if you file as non-resident you will enjoy tax exemption for foreign income up to $100,800 for 2015. Also, you still will be able to file your taxes as non-resident and you don't have to mention a foreign address. You may keep your US address on your tax return, as long as you have a good connection with this address.
...
You do pay fine if you don't enroll in ObamaCare, unless if you file your tax as US NON RESIDENT, then you are exempted from that fine.
From Taxes For Expats's "Expat Tax Advice":
Some of the criteria that a state looks at to determine if you are a resident for state income tax purposes includes your driver license, if you register to vote there, if you maintain an address there, the location of your bank accounts, if you own or rent real property there, the license plates on your cars, and if you still receive utility bills in that state. There are many other factors used by state taxing agencies to determine if you are a resident, but they are too numerous to mention here. You must be careful to reduce or eliminate all indices of residency or your previous state of residency in the U.S. will come after you for state income taxes. You must carefully plan your departure from your previous home state by reviewing your states tax residency laws and taking the actual steps necessary to prove to that state you no longer have a "tax domicile" there after you move abroad. If you do not, the taxes, penalties and interest later assessed by that state can be huge.
Taxes for Expats' "State Taxes and American Expats"
Taxes For Expats's "State Taxes and the American Expat"
TaxMeLess's "do I have to file a U.S. state return each year?"
US Expat Tax Help's "State Taxes and US Expatriates"
Chaz Attamah's "Moving to Spain? 5 Things to know about US Expatriate Tax Compliance."
Many online services enable you to file state income tax return electronically, for $20 or so. This may not work well if your tax situation is complex. And some may not support the part-year feature (for the year in which you moved) or the non-resident tax return. Some may require a US mailing address on the tax return.
Miscellaneous
If (Spanish) Hacienda sends you a letter demanding more documentation for your return, you may have only 10 working days in which to respond. Be fast.
IRS's "Income Tax Convention with Spain" (PDF)
The Protocol Amending the Tax Convention with Spain
I'm told that annualcreditreport.com will not let you request credit reports from a computer outside USA. Also unclaimedretirementbenefits.com and optoutprescreen.com block access from outside USA; use a VPN.
For people earning income in Spain:
Creative Planning's "How Do IRAs and Roth IRAs Work for Expats?"
You can't transfer a US IRA account to some account in Spain without being taxed/penalized: "You cannot withdraw your US IRA and put it into anything other than a US 'approved account', which means rolled over into another IRA or 401(k) type plan."
I think you can't choose to pay US Social Security taxes while living in Spain and having no earned income in USA.
AARP's "Can someone buy into Social Security?"
If you're working in Spain and former employer refuses to pay past wages due
[From someone on Facebook:]
I've had this issue several times. The most effective method I've found is:
- Speak to a gestor to figure out exactly how much I'm owed, get them to write it down.
- Tell your boss that your gestor says they owe you x amount.
- Tell your boss that if you don't get the money quickly, like 2 weeks, you'll go to the Asesor Laboral to file a denuncia.
- Watch them cr*p their pants at the thought of a Labour inspector looking through all their papers
(I guarantee your boss is breaking the law in other ways too).
I've done this three times, and it's worked every time.
Also DO NOT sign any nominas until you have been paid IN FULL. Don't take promises for future payment. If you sign the nomina, you might be giving up your right to future claims.
Worker's Pension from Spanish Social Security
Contributions:
A worker could be contributing to state SS system each month via:
- Salaried employment ("Regimen General").
- Autonomo employment ("Regimen Especial de Trabajadores Autonomos", RETA).
Generally, you don't want to end up paying into both state regimens, because they combine in slightly restricted ways (mainly, when you pay into both in the same month, you don't get 2 months of time-credit, you get 1). Also, you can only get one healthcare coverage, before and after retirement, so in some sense you're wasting some money.
But it IS possible to pay into both regimens, contribute to both for 15+ years, and collect two pensions.
If in one year you pay into both Regimen General and RETA, and end up paying more than the maximum allowed, you can/must reclaim the excess. At the end of the year you can file a request for refund of "exceso de cotizacion".
Diego Lorenzana's "Asi podeis calcular (y reclamar) vuestro exceso de cotizacion"
BBVA's "He cotizado en varios regimenes: ¿Cual de ellos financiara mi pension de jubilacion?"
Expatica's "Social security in Spain"
Obtain a record of your employment history in Spain: go to Seguridad Social's "Informes y Certificados" and click on "Informe de Vida Laboral" or "Working life Report". This shows who you worked for, when, and how many days, but not money. "Contribution Group" codes are defined in Seguridad Social's "Bases y tipos de cotizacion 2019".
Obtain a record of your contribution base history in Spain: go to Seguridad Social's "Informes y Certificados" and click on "Informe de bases de cotizacion". [If you are registered as both a salaried worker and an autonomo, you may see two "NAF"s.] This shows who you worked for each month, for how many days, and how much money (contribution base) was taxed by SS (so, if it shows €900, tax paid was something like €300). [Unfortunately the layout is awful; each year is presented on maybe two pages, no way to see or download the whole history in one shot. The instructions say there is a way to download it as PDF, but I see no button for that. Also, there is no summary info, such as total contributions, total months, total days, etc.]
Eligibility:
To be eligible for a pension:
- Must have 15 years of contributions into system.
- Must have 2 years of contributions in the last 15 years before retirement.
- Must be retirement age (depends on your birthyear; this is rising to 67) or older.
- If you want to retire and collect at 65 years old, you must have a work/contribution history of 35-37 years.
If you come up a couple of years short of the 15-year minimum to get a pension, can you just pay in money every month for a couple of years to reach 15 years ? Answer seems to be no. But later found Abante Asesores' "¿Hacer o no convenio especial con la Seguridad Social para evitar que la pension disminuya?" about "CESS".
Euraxess's "Working in Europe | Pension rights | Spain"
CAB's "Pension Facts Spain 2018, 2019 and 2020"
Retirement Benefits:
INSS's "Seguridad Social"
Pension calculator: go to INSS's "Seguridad Social" and click on "Simulador de jubilacion / Retirement Simulator" button.
BBVA's "Pension plan simulator"
Using the INSS pension calculator in 2018 or so (I think it's changed since):
- Go to INSS's "Seguridad Social" and click on "Simulador de jubilacion / Retirement Simulator" button.
- No digital certificate is needed or allowed; this calculation is just a worksheet, not tied to your official records. That's good: you can try different scenarios. And it's bad: you can't pull any data from the contribution history automatically, you have to enter everything manually.
- In "Access the Service", click "No certificate".
- Get "Introduccion al Sistema" page. Everything is in Spanish, even if you started in English. Page says this is an estimate, guesses future inflation rates, no guarantees, etc.
- Click "Continuar" button.
- Get "Datos personales" page:
The "Referencia/Nombre" field can be any name you want, your name or "Estimate if I stop working right now" or whatever.
Birth date is important, it drives the retirement date.
In "Fecha de jubilacion", select "Calcular fecha de jubilacion ordinaria" to get ordinary retirement date.
In "Situacion familiar", there is:- "Tiene conyuge a su cargo" if married and spouse doesn't work, spouse is dependent. (Gives larger pension.)
- "Tiene conyuge pero NO a su cargo" if married and spouse does work. (Gives smallest pension.)
- "No tiene conyuge" if not married. (Gives smaller pension.)
- Click "Continuar" button.
- Get a "Datos del periodo laboral" page. Notice that the page has an upper section (for entering a new period of working) and a lower section (for showing a list of the periods you've specified so far).
- Specify a period of working:
In "Regimen", select "Regimen General".
In "Situacion Laboral", select "Alta en Empresa" (working for a company).
Specify start and end dates. [For simplest test, try start 1/1/2000 and end today's date.] Neither of these dates can be in the future.
In "Indique el motivo de cese", select "Cese por libre voluntad del trabajador".
Click "Acceptar" button. - See that a line has appeared in the lower section "Relacion de periodos laborales", showing the period worked.
- Add more periods worked, if you wish.
- Click "Continuar" button.
- Get a "Informacion laboral" page.
First line translates as "If you are going to continue contributing after the date of this study, fill in the following information:"
For simplest test, fill in this page.
In "Regimen", select "Regimen General".
Leave date field empty (will contribute right up to retirement date).
Leave percentage field empty (will work full-time).
Leave "Coeficiente de bonificacion" field empty (no bonus ?). - Click "Continuar" button.
- Get a "Datos del parto/aborto" page. Leave it empty.
- Click "Continuar" button.
- Get a "Datos del hijo" page. Leave it empty.
- Click "Continuar" button.
- Get a "Informacion laboral" page. Leave it empty.
- Click "Continuar" button.
- Get a "Detalle de cotizaciones y bonificaciones" page.
Notice your retirement date ("Fecha de jubilacion") at the top.
The terms don't translate properly, but the four numbers of "dias" seem to compute as:- Carencias exigidas - Generica: total days you must work to be eligible (15 years = 5475 days).
- Carencias acreditadas - Generica: total days you actually worked by the time you retire.
- Carencias exigidas - Especifica (ultimos 15 años): total days you must work in last 15 years before retirement to be eligible (2 years = 730 days).
- Carencias acreditadas - Especifica (ultimos 15 años): total days you actually worked in last 15 years before retirement.
- Now is a good time to save the "study" to disk so you could reload it later.
Click "Guardar" button.
Get "Guardar supuesto" page.
Click "Guardar" button.
Choose folder and set filename and save as ".aut" file.
Click "Volver" button. - Click "Continuar" button.
- Get "Informacion sobre su Jubilacion ordinaria" page.
It looks like it's listing 4 errors, but it's just listing 4 important pieces of data. - Click "Calcular pension" button.
- Get "Bases de cotizacion" page.
See lines of years, and columns of months.
Three whitish buttons under the table: Click "Bases minimas" to specify minimum contribution base in each month, or "Bases maximas" to specify maximum contribution base in each month, or "Limpiar" to wipe them all out and start again. Can't go straight between minimum and maximum, have to click "Limpiar" inbetween.
Buttons for each row: don't know what first button does; second is a "Limpiar".
[I think "minimum base" means "minimum contribution base (salary) needed to get a month's credit toward pension" And "maximum base" means "maximum salary we'll tax", so millionaires can't make huge payments into the pension system and get huge payouts later.]
[These numbers will be adjusted later to reflect inflation to retirement date.] - For simplest test, click "Bases minimas".
- Click "Introducir mas bases" button.
- See page with another set of years.
- For simplest test, click "Bases maximas".
- Keep doing "Introducir mas bases" and alternating "Bases minimas" and "Bases maximas"
until you run out of years and see a "Continuar" button.
[BUG: I said start at 1/1/2000, but it takes me back to only 2006.] - Click "Continuar" button.
- Get "Bases de cotizacion para el calculo" page showing contributions for each year.
At top, see "Base Reguladora (NN años) = MMMMMMM / PPP = QQQQ €" line.
NN = number of years in "regulatory base": 19 (rising to 25).
MMMMMMM = total amount contributed in last 19 (rising to 25) years.
PPP = 19 (rising to 25) x 14.
QQQQ = "regular" monthly (or 1/14th of annual ?) pension amount (if you worked 35 years or more). I think there are 14 pension payments per year. - Click "Continuar" button.
- Get "Detalle del calculo" page.
At top, see "Jubilacion ordinaria (Ley 27/2011 - Edad legal exigible) Importe pension: RRRR €" line.
RRRR = your actual monthly (or 1/14th of annual ?) pension amount. This is reduced from the "regular" by 2% to 3% for each year less than 35 years (being raised to 37 years) that you were contributing (this is "demora"). If you contributed for only 15 years, you get 50% of the "regular". - If you want to save to ".aut" file, click "Guardar" button.
- If you want to save to a PDF file, click "Generar informe" button.
- If you click "Inicio" button at top of page, or start again later, you will get "Introduccion al Sistema" page. To load ".aut" file, click "Recuperar supuesto" button.
How they could make this whole process much easier:
- Contribution history should give summary numbers, for each year and for whole working life: average contribution base per month.
- Pension Calculator should let you type in those numbers, for any working period or year, past or future.
(But page gives no postal address or email address. Postal address is: Quejas y Sugerencias, Servicio de Comunicacion Interinstitucional, Instituto Nacional de la Seguridad Social, C/ Padre Damian, 4-6, 28036 Madrid. Sent a complaint, got back a response saying they don't accept complaints by postal mail, but page says they do.)
I filed a suggestion form about this, and got a response early 3/2018 "your suggestion points out a number of technical problems with this function, we're working to improve it".
In 5/2020, I tried to get a retirement simulation for my wife, and web site said equivalent of "Due to the complexity in your working life it is not possible to simulate your retirement. At the time of retirement, a processor will treat it manually to perform the calculation.". Gestor's guess is that the simulator won't work until she's actually eligible for retirement, which IMO seems to defeat the purpose of simulation.
Questions to gestor 6/2020 about my wife's situation:
Assumptions:
- Ignore autonomo, calculate only for salaried work history.
- Same salary and contributions every future year as in 2019.
- She will achieve 15 years of salaried contributions soon (maybe by end of 2020).
- She is 56 years old.
- She won't be able to collect any pension until approximately age 67.
Please calculate these different scenarios:
- She had worked 35 years until age 67. What is monthly pension amount she will get after retirement ?
- She keeps working until age 67. What is monthly pension amount she will get after retirement ?
- She keeps working another 4 years, to age 60, then doesn't work at all from age 60 to 67.
What is monthly pension amount she will get after retirement ?
- She stops working as soon as she achieves 15 years of contributions,
then doesn't work at all from age 56 or so to 67.
What is monthly pension amount she will get after retirement ?
The answers we got from gestor 6/2020:
- Everything is based on contributions during the last 25 years until retirement age.
- So if you worked age 15-40, then no work from 41-67, no pension.
- If you worked 35 years, the first 10 years are calculated using numbers during last 25 years; which helps you if your salary was increasing over time.
- Maximum monthly salary you can count is €2600/month.
- Contribution is 28% of actual monthly salary.
- There is a convenio to contribute more; max is 28% of €2600/month == €728/month.
So:
- She had worked 35 years until age 67, last 25 at max salary.
Monthly pension amount == 100%, €2600/month. - She keeps working until age 67 (25 years total contributions).
Monthly pension amount == 25/35 x €2600/month == €1857/month. - She keeps working another 4 years, to age 60, then doesn't work at all from age 60 to 67.
Monthly pension amount == (25-7)/35 x €2600/month == €1337/month. - She stops working as soon as she achieves 15 years of contributions,
then doesn't work at all from age 56 or so to 67.
Monthly pension amount == (25-11)/35 x €2600/month == €1040/month.
That would increase her pension by 1/35 x €2600/month == €74/month.
Would take €8736 / €74 == 118 months (10 years) to break even on that addition.
Based on info from INSS pension consultation 10/2023:
Retiring early (stopping work before retirement age):
You have to wait until retirement age before you can start collecting, and benefits are reduced. Reduction is about 21% if you stop 2 years early, 5.5% if you stop 1 year early, scale is not linear. This is on top of the reduction that you get if you worked less than 35 years: for example if you worked 19 years, you get about 60% of normal pension.
Advoco's "Spanish pension benefits" (2011)
Advoco's "Spanish pension benefits 2012"
Richelle de Wit's "Pension Facts Spain 2018, 2019 and 2020"
INSS's "Pensiones 2019 - Cuantias Minimas Mensuales" (PDF)
BBVA's "Retirement pension: how is it calculated?"
If you worked in multiple EU countries:
europa.eu's "State pensions abroad"
europa.eu's "FAQs - State pensions abroad"
Renouncing US citizenship
- You are strongly advised (but not required) to acquire some other nationality (other country's passport) first.
- Does not relieve you of past tax liabilities, or penalties for past fraud, or duty to file past tax returns and FBAR,
or duty to pay student loans, etc. But you are not required to clear up all of those before renouncing.
(Inability to certify current tax-compliance to IRS automatically makes you a "covered expatriate" to IRS,
and you'll have to file more forms eventually, but that's not part of the State Dept renunciation process and doesn't
stop renunciation.)
- A fee of some $2350 is charged.
- My reading of
Ines Zemelman's "Will I Be Able to Collect Social Security Retirement Benefits If I Renounce My US Citizenship?":
If you renounce US citizenship, you still can collect US Social Security benefits. If you reside outside USA, depending on country,
the benefits will be taxed by USA at a higher rate than if you lived inside USA or you didn't renounce.
- You do not have to close US bank accounts or sell property etc when renouncing.
- Travel to USA later will be more difficult, but you are not barred from entry.
Expat Info Desk's "5 Common Misconceptions About Giving Up US Citizenship"
Max Reed's "Renouncing U.S. citizenship after U.S. tax reform"
State Dept's "Renunciation of U.S. Nationality Abroad"
U.S. Embassy and Consulate in the Netherlands' "Renunciation of U.S. Citizenship"
US State Dept's "Advice about Possible Loss of U.S. Nationality and Dual Nationality"
Andrew Henderson's "Why and How I Renounced My US Citizenship"
Alexander Marino's "Renouncing your US citizenship: Is divorcing Uncle Sam right for you?"
Americans Overseas' "Do I have to pay exit tax if I renounce my citizenship?"
Robert W. Wood's "Renounce U.S., Here's How IRS Computes 'Exit Tax'"
Protax Consulting Services' "Expatriation: Avoid the Exit Tax"
Expat Tax Online's "FAQs: Renouncing Your U.S. Citizenship"
IRS's "Expatriation Tax"
US Inheritance Tax and Non-US-citizen Spouse
Nolo's "Estate Planning When You're Married to a Noncitizen"
Gedeon Law & CPA's "US Estate Tax When Spouse Is Not A US Citizen"
In 2015, the US IRS was given the authority to deny the issuance or renewal of a US passport to someone who owed US taxes. But they haven't actually exercised that authority yet, and they have guidelines saying they won't do it unless you owe $50K or more. And they will send multiple notices to you before invoking that penalty.
See "Investing (stocks, bonds, funds)" of my "Spain Money" page