Imagine that it is Saturday 1st February 2020. Britain has calmly left the European Union with trade deals in place with Australia, Canada, South Africa, the USA, China, Cuba, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, and Columbia (I did say imagine). It is possible that you have children who live in one of these countries and you are resident in Spain. Two years ago your children would not have benefited from the European Court of Justice ruling (2014) which stated that children who live in an EU/EEA country should benefit from local Spanish rules and allowances when calculating Spanish Succession and Gift Tax. Since the decision in 2018 in favour of a Canadian (Canada is not due to join the EU), the Spanish Supreme Court have ruled that “connected” non-EU beneficiaries will also benefit from the rules of each Autonomous Region in Spain. What this means is that, even if there was a hard Brexit, your child in London would be treated as fairly as one in Valencia, Havana, or Beijing.
It is possible to reclaim overpaid Succession and Gift Tax. Please get in contact if you know anybody who has been a beneficiary of an inheritance using the allowances under the old rules. The claim could amount to many thousands of Euros.
Gifting your Spanish property can save tax
Investing some time in estate planning now will help to make certain that your wealth is distributed the way you want it to be and not end up in the taxman´s pocket. One example is where we have helped parents in Spain gift their properties to their children, who live in the UK, whilst the parents continue to live in the property. This could save thousands in future inheritance tax.
Positioning investments in tax efficient structures can also help protect against inheritance tax. We have the solutions.
The above article was kindly provided by John Hayward from The Spectrum IFA Group and originally posted at: https://www.spectrum-ifa.com/spanish-succession-and-gift-tax-boost-for-non-eu-beneficiaries/