domingo, 18 de noviembre de 2012

Cash Paments Restricted !!!!


Tomorrow, November, the 19th, the new Law 7/2012, to fight against tax fraud, becomes in force.


One of the declared goals of the new Law is to set more restrictions to prevent people from paying cash transactions. Let´s see how the Spanish goberments is forcing us, the people, to change old habits of cash paying.

If you are taking part into a  transaction for business or professional reasons (the one by  which any of the parties act as an entrepreneur or professional ) payments in cash can not exceed an amount equal to or greater than 2,500 euros.

If the reason of the deal it is a personal one, provided you can proof you are non resident in Spain, no more than 15.000 € should be acceptable.

Is also important to bear in mind that cash include not only money, but also bankers checks issued to the bearer.


As well, to calculate the amounts, the law states expressly that to calculate those limits, all transactions or payments that may have split the delivery of goods or provision of services are accountable.


Failure to comply with this measure is an administrative violation, being jointly responsible both payer and recipient of the sanction to be imposed, this being a financial penalty proportional 25% of the basis of the sanction.

As a novelty, so that the action does not give rise to liability for infringement, the parties involved in the transaction should be reported to the Tax Office, within 3 months from the date of payment, the operation performed, the amount and identity of the other party to.

So, like Bob Dylan once said, Times are a´changing.

Prepare your self to change also your habits.

Javier Herrera Llamas

Save money in your purchase of property in Spain


If you are interested in buying a home, you better do it before December 31, 2012, or you it will cost more.

On January 1, 2013 come into force some changes that you should consider:

VAT rise from 4% to 10%
The housing tax that was established in the mid 4% last year, just at the end of this year, going to tax the purchase of new housing at the reduced rate of 10%. The 6% difference in the rate of tax is a lot of money when it comes to shopping so significant. For example, if we acquire by the end of the year a house worth € 200,000, will pay € 8,000 in total taxes, while if purchased from January 1, 2013 will pay € 20,000, ie, we will have a tax savings € 12,000 by the change in VAT.

 In Houses under construction , the obligation of paying the vat starts at the time of the advance payment we made to the promoter. Therefore, if we can not transfer the property by Notarial deed before year-end, because it is not ended , make advanced payments to the maximum extent possible. In this way, you save 6% of all you make advance payments before 31 December. 
Also, remember that:

The reduced VAT rate of 4% applies to all properties that can be used as a dwelling, regardless of the use to which it is put. The autonomous benefit from reduced VAT for the purchase of an apartment or rental office.
This tax also applies to parking spaces that are purchased together with housing for up to two.
Does not apply reduced VAT rates to local, or land.



And if you buy second hand:
Purchasing a second-hand housing to an individual or through a real estate agency, the VAT increase will not therefore affect the tax paid on the purchase is the Property Transfer (ITP), between 7% and 8%, depending on your region.
Neither will be affected most floors selling financial institutions. The reason is that you only pay VAT on the purchase of new housing, in the case of transmission of the house. In most of the floors of the bank, the first transmission has already been given, the Promoter to the bank, so even in the house yet no one has ever lived, in order to Hacienda no longer considered new and therefore , purchase involves the payment of ITP.

Elimination of deduction for house purchase
Being resident in Spain, the tax saving is € 1356, 15% of all annual payments of the purchase and financing up to a maximum of 9,040 euros per return. So that, to declare a marriage individually, the deduction can reach € 2,712 between the two (15% of € 9,040 each).

Exemption of 50% of the profit on a sale
All urban properties purchased between 12/05/2012 and 31/12/2012 are exempt (when sold) 50% of the gain, both in income tax for residents, non-residents and corporations IRNR.

This tax benefit is less known, perhaps because it is not as immediate as the VAT, but as the economy is, you never know when you're going to have to sell the properties, either because they can not afford to pay or by any otherwise, change of residence, marriage, etc..

Continuing the example above, if the home purchase € 200,000 sell it in 2013 for 210,000 €, ignoring the costs to avoid complicating the example, we have a gain of € 10,000 of which € 5,000 exempt (50%) and therefore pay € 1,050 in income (21% of the 5,000 € not exempt). However, if the house we bought in 2013 and later sell, capital gains are taxed at the progressive scale ranging from 21% to 27%

Javier Herrera Llamas