In a bid to stop the under-declaring of Spanish property sales, Spanish tax authorities, the Tributaria, is introducing a new computer programme that will automatically register the sale of a property. The programme will connect the tax agencies computer to those of public notaries and property offices.
It will assess if the value of the property when it is for sale, matches its real value. It will also monitor if Capital Gains Tax is potentially being avoided.
Our view
There are some moans and groans about this scheme. The facts remain that the Spanish have for years not tracked the value of property sales and therefore have missed out on huge tax revenues. We welcome the news of the new system, it will mean Spain collects more of its revenues correctly and hopefully reduce taxes in another areas such as Inheritance Tax and Capital Gains Tax, which can be extremely high, particularly for non-resident property owners.