News & Insights

When relocating to Spain, finding and buying your new home is sure to be at the top of your list of priorities. And there’s a wealth of great areas and regions to choose from.

Of course, reliable financial advice is one of the most effective ways to make sure your money is in order so that you can property search in confidence and it always helps to have your finances in place beforehand, especially if you’re considering one of the popular or pricier locations on the Spanish coast.

Norway’s novel wealth management strategy of allowing taxpayers to pay additional tax if they feel their mandatory contributions are an insufficient reflection of their true capability to pay has yielded a perhaps unsurprising result: since the scheme’s launch in June just $1,325 in extra revenue has been raised.

The voluntary contributions strategy was initially mooted as a response to criticisms that Norway’s centre-right government was over-enthusiastically cutting taxes while simultaneously increasing spending.

Concerns that the triple lock system is on its last legs are not new. But while the triple lock’s future has looked tenuous for a while, it has managed to survive the deal between the Conservative Party and the Democratic Union Party.

The Tories had previously planned to get rid of the triple lock – a mechanism to ensure the state pension rises either by the rate of inflation, wage growth, or by 2.5% (whichever is highest) every year – in 2020, replacing it with a double lock (which would remove the 2.5% element). But losing a parliamentary majority has caused the party to make a U-turn (probably because the DUP were strong supporters of the system staying put), and there was no mention of the triple-lock’s abolition in the Queen’s Speech.

New figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have shown that the number of British expats living in Spain vastly outnumbers Spaniards living in the UK. What’s more, the number of Britons over 65 years old living in Spain has more than doubled in the past decade.

The purpose of the ONS’s report, which is the first in what is intended to be a series, was to collect accurate, up-to-date information on the citizens most likely to be affected by Brexit. It was produced in partnership with the Instituto Nacional de Estadistica (the Spanish National Statistics Institute).

But does this really apply to you?

My recent meetings with clients have largely revolved around transferring pensions out of the UK into Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pensions (QROPS to you and me). Without exception, all of my new clients have been scared to discuss their UK pensions with a Financial Adviser in Spain because of headlines like the one above (Financial Times – March 10, 2017).

As we are aware, in November 2012 the Spanish authorities approved a new law that obliged any person, permanent establishment or company who is resident of Spain (regardless of nationality ) to declare all assets they hold outside Spain worth more than €50,000 (per Asset Class). These Assets have to be reported on the Modelo 720.

Very recently, Theresa May unveiled her “fair and serious” plans concerning Brexit and the rights of expats affected by it, but it has not been met with approval by either EU citizens in the UK or British expats living in EU member countries. British expats fear that Theresa May’s proposal may have ramifications for their own residency rights. Both groups have wished for all matters concerning their legal status to be settled early on in Brexit talks, but, so far, it seems the attempts made to progress matters have only caused further confusion.