Spanish tax amnesty for the Belgians residents who receive a pension from abroad.

Confessing to the Tax Receiver

When writing this text, we are now late November. All tax experts know that it will be busy times. A "trick" of the Belgian government, after all, consists in a yearly tradition to publish the last day of the year, a Program Act with numerous changes which then are coming into force shortly afterwards.

In this way, some new measures almost unnoticed sneak in,  in the new fiscal year. After a year end fireworks, this is often the damper on the festivities. This year it will probably be no different.

In Spain there are many reforms under way in 2015 and 2016 with the difference that they are already announced (and approved). So we know for some time on beforehand what awaits us in the coming year.

One of the measures that stands out for the Belgians, which is probably not insignificant, concerns the tax amnesty for Spanish residents who receive a pension from abroad.

Yes, the Belgian residing in Spain and receiving his pension from Belgium.

Beginning 2014 the Spanish tax authorities had indeed launched a major campaign to closer investigate this category of taxpayers.

It quickly turned out that this was an impossible task. Only for the month of May 2014, an investigation was set out including 27 696 people that showed that a large majority their not adhered to the tax obligation. And since the total number of pensioners receiving a pension from abroad is estimated at 1.8 million, the Spanish government soon realized that there is a large income perspective.

Therefore, the Spanish government decided to walk a different path and has resorted to the so-called Tax Amnesty. For us Belgians, this is nothing new under the sun since the Belgian government has already used this measure several times.

This tax amnesty means to provide for specific regulations to offer taxpayers the opportunity to regularize their declarations of the last four years without that this will be accompanied by fines or penalty interests.

The so-called regularization period commences on January 1, 2015, for a period of 6 months. After that the Spanish tax authorities would apparently become very serious.

For compatriots who, according to the tax treaty, are obliged to record their Belgian pension in their Spanish tax declaration this measure thus provides a unique opportunity to rectify the crooked (fiscal) situation.

 

Source VIW: 01-12-2014

 

Whether you must declare your pension in Spain depends of course on your personal situation