Spotlight On … Karen Ogilvie – Head of Compliance

The later part of the 20th century saw its fair share of financial bubbles. There was the property bubble, stock market bubbles, and then the dot com bubble of 2000, just to name a few. In each instance, people paid exorbitant amounts for things that shouldn’t have been worth anything like the going price. But this is nothing new – look back at the Dutch in the 17th century when already pricey tulip bulbs experienced a twentyfold price explosion in just a single month.

By the peak of tulipmania in February 1637, a single tulip bulb was worth about ten times a craftsman’s annual income and a single Viceroy tulip bulb was allegedly exchanged for eight fat swine, twelve fat sheep or four tuns of beer.

2018 has brought good news for many expats tackling the idiosyncrasies of finance in Spain and, especially for those who want to manage their legacy planning successfully.

This is because British and other EU citizen expatriates in Spain have received a boost in relation to succession tax laws.

Under the Spanish regional system, expats in Spain (but not those from outside the EU or EEA) can avoid costly Spanish state succession rules on passing; instead they are able to take advantage of kinder regional laws, such as those just implemented by Murcia and Andalucía.

In these areas, if you have Spanish assets but have not quite yet become a fully-fledged expat or indeed if you have Spanish property but still reside full-time in the UK; your heirs, wherever they may live, are entitled to the full range of succession tax reliefs offered by the region in which your assets are invested. Sometimes this may be as much as 99% succession tax relief or, in some cases, total exemption.