“But I am sure I pay the the non residents’ tax. The bank charges me for it!”

Many times I have come across this statement by clients. This is not so and the confusion clearly arises due to the similarity between the two different concepts.

By law, banks are obliged to ascertain the status of their clients -either resident or non-resident- regularly and pass this information on to the tax office. Most banks will do this on an annual basis, some every two years.

For this, the bank usually sends a form to the account holder’s home address.  In the cover letter the bank informs about the laws and regulations with regards to this procedure and requests the recipient to verify their status (either non resident or resident) and return the signed form to the bank.

Replies by clients are not guaranteed and if the bank has not been informed to the contrary by the account holder they will simply verify to the tax authorities that the current status has not changed.

The bank then charges for this service by debiting your account for a “non residents’ certificate”. This charge has given rise to a lot of misconception by the sheer wording of it and since it is usually charged on an annual basis it has been confused with the annual taxes to be paid by the non residents.

The annual non residents taxes will not just be debited to your account. A fiscal representative will prepare these taxes based on the relevant data of your property that the property owner has to supply.

For more information or an appointment please contact us on 96 6697824 or office@andreaburns.es.