Moving to Spain questions.

Hi all,

Thanks in advance for your answers. This is a great forum and we are looking forward to moving to Quesada in 2022. We have a number of questions on our checklist and if anyone here has the time to fill in the blanks, we would appreciate it. A bit about us. We are 56 & 57 respectively and are Irish citizens. We intend to retire to Spain in late 2022. We have an acquaintance who has a vacant house in Torrevieja and we will be renting this for a few months while we find our feet. I thought that rather than post lots of individual questions, I would put them all in one post in the hope the answers might also be helpful to others as they plan their move to Spain.

Question 1.
Is the formula for my sample calculation of the IBI below correct?
The figures are just random, it’s the formula I need to be sure of.
Example Villa cost = €280,000
Example Catastral value = €170,000
Example Rate in Ciudad Quesada = 1%
Tax rate 19% (19% for EU citizen)
So: 170,000 x 1% = €1700
€1700 x 19% = €323 IBI due per year.

Question 2.
If we bring items like our TV’s, home cinema, microwave, smaller furniture like coffee tables, hall table etc, will we be liable for import duty. We will buy beds and larger furniture in Spain. All of the items we will bring are more than 6 months old and are basically the items in our current house in Ireland. Our intention would be to hire a “Ford transit sized” van and drive over with our belongings.

Question 3.
Is BVVA the best bank to choose to minimise charges? I see they have a no-fee account available. https://www.bbva.es/en/personas.html Is this bank suitable for paying direct debits for IBI, water, electricity etc.

Question 4.
When obtaining the NIE for both of us (Taking into consideration the Spanish bureaucracy), is it faster/easier to pay a local company to do this? Unfortunately, our Spanish is not good enough to hold a conversation with a government representative.

Question 5.
Is the NIE essentially the only identification number required for buying a house, opening a bank account, setting up water and electricity services etc or do we need other identification documents to get specific services.

Question 6.
We have health cover in Ireland, but their international cover is expensive. What is the best value or most recommended company in Spain for Expats?

Question 7.
As we intend to be full time in Spain, we will need to file a tax return. The wealth tax will not apply to us. We do NOT intend to work in Spain and will be living on our savings for the first 8 years and then our pensions from Ireland after that. We will be selling our house in Ireland so apart from savings, we will not have any assets outside Spain for tax purposes. Will this essentially mean we just need to pay a company to file the tax return, but we will actually end up paying no tax? Is the charge to have a company file your taxes generally expensive? Any recommendations in Quesada?

Question 8.
Will we need to get Spanish driving licenses or will our licenses from Ireland be fine?
Ideally, we are hoping there is a simple equivalency swap process whereby if you have a full driving license from your home country, it can be swapped for an equivalent Spanish license without having to sit a theory and driving test in Spanish? Is this just wishful thinking?

Question 9.
Is it better to have a ducted AC system in your house in Spain or individual AC?

Question 10.
Is dedicated heating (Like fixed radiators) required in Ciudad Quesada in the Winter months or would you get away with just a few hot air heaters?

Question 11.
At the moment is burglary, general crime and squatters something to be concerned about?

Question 12.
When viewing or choosing a house, what are the gotchas or things to look out for? (specific to Spanish property)

Question 13.
When buying a car, apart from the normal things to look out for like clocking, crashed cars etc, is there anything specific to Spain that we should be aware of?

Question 14.
In relation to transferring money to Spain. As Ireland shares the Euro currency, our plan is to keep most of our savings in Ireland and transfer enough money annually to our Spanish account. As there is no currency change like with the UK, I think this is relatively inexpensive. I know the fees on the Irish side are very small. I am guessing they are similarly small on the Spanish side to receive Euros. Anyone with some real world experience on this?

I realise this is a lot to ask and I thank everyone who takes the time to reply to any of the questions.

Best wishes.

John & Angie.

We do not live in Cuidad Quesada, we live in Torrevieja. We will try to answer your questions honestly and without bias although we do have a few things you may wish to consider. Ciudad Quesada is a large urbanisation about the size of a small town. It is very hilly in parts and has properties to suit all pockets. It does not have a public transport system however, so apart from your local shops and bars you will have to drive or take a taxi if you want to go elsewhere. Torrevieja does have a very good local bus network that runs several routes year round 2 or 3 times an hour, it is also totally free for residents of the town.

quote="Expat in Quesada"]
Question 1.
We don´t know the formula, but, pro rata, we pay a similar amount to your calculations, plus twice a year rubbish charge of around 22€

Question 2.
When we came, and UK was still in EU there was no charge for bringing your own belongings, I suspect it is still the case for Irish citizens. We brought a van full and now have only 2 beds and a stereo system left, so you may want to question whether you really need your stuff verses the cost of replacing here with items that suit the property.

Question 3.
You do not need to pay any bank charges in Spain, apart from the 2 yearly non residents tax imposed by the government for having a bank account whilst not a resident. Banks are a personal item and we are sure you will get lots of recommendations. We are with Sabadell and pay not a bean for anything. There is also Wise, formally Transferwise who will do admirably as your bank in Spain.

Question 4.
Get someone to do it for you, it is much easier, or get them before you come, from the Spanish embassy in Dublin and only pay the small admin fee.


Question 5.

Yes


Question 6.

Get in touch with Brexpats in Spain on Facebook, they have no axe to grind and will recommend a company for you. https://www.facebook.com/groups/brexpat ... 098730760/
Question 7.


We would recommend getting someone to do it for you, at least for the first time. It could cost as little as 50€ per person. If you get stuff wrong then the fines can be pretty hefty and out of proportion


Question 8.

As Ireland is in the EU, there is no problem in exchanging, it is easy, especially if you get someone to do it for you


Question 9.
Individual, and get the inverter type as they will double up as cheap heating in the winter. Get ceiling fans also, they cool in summer and when you reverse the direction in winter they push the warm air at ceiling level, down into the room

Question 10.
You definitely need supplementary heating in winter, log burner, pellet burner, gas or oil central heating, portable bottled gas heaters, or infra red heaters. Google them all and work out which is the best for you. Aircon is the most economical, but the noise of the fan may be off putting.

Question 11.

No, not especially, just take good precautions.

Question 12.

Just have a think of what will need doing to make it perfect for you. You may not always be able to get tiles to match. If there is any mould, or mouldy smells, it is probably down to poor ventilation and is easily remedied.

Question 13.

If you buy privately you must check that there are no outstanding fines or road tax due. Buy from a dealer and usually all the paperwork is sorted for you.

Question 14.

You need pay no fee, or just a few centimos. We pay 28 centimos per transfer from Wise into our Sabadell account, no matter the size of the transfer.
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One bit of advice if I may, is to rent in Spain for a while to make sure it is right for you. It is a lot easier to upsticks and move if you do not have a property to sell. If you let your Irish property rather than sell it, you will have an income to offset or even cover the rental charges on your Spanish property.
These are just our person thoughts as UK citizens but permanently resident in Spain, having lived here for more than 9 years.
Best of luck with your move.

I can’t answer all your questions. From what I can see you haven’t started the process of buying a property yet. I’m not going to explain all the reason for my answers but believe me when I say it can save you a lot of heartache and the potential for being ripped off. Because it saddens me to say, Spain is the same as most places, and given the chance, some will find ways to help themselves to your cash in ways you won’t know about. So, importantly before you start, find a registered (independent of the estate agent) registered “”lawyer””, and get a fixed price inclusive of vat, for the full process of buying a property, the only variables being land registry, and the cost of the notary. They can also organise nie’s without hassle so just let them do it for you. Beware of tax on your current property after you have become resident in Spain, because regardless of it being your only property or one of many, spain wants a healthy slice of it, around 20%. For eg, a 200k home, could mean 40k tax, regardless of mortgage or any other excuses that usually work. So, if possible, sell up and have the cash in the bank the year before you apply for residency in spain, then they can’t touch it, could save you quite a few thousand!! As you already have a euros account, you should be able to set up paying your household DD’s, rather than opening a new account in Spain avoiding potential bank fees. Good luck in your journey.

I wish you well.
You will need a Spanish will and funeral plan I found thy will be done very reasonable for these with impartial advice and good prices.

Yes rent first untill you find your feet. What looks good in the begining is not what you want to live near full time, bars can be noisy, some areas dead, take your time and visit many areas to ensure you will love it.

It's a buyer's market, difficult and expensive to sell. Don't give away your power of attorney to agents and solicitors.

Check for good internet, good phone reception some areas have gas even in the road.

Their are many bar room experts, so check everything out yourself to stay out of trouble. Take your time, enjoy, their is no rush. Get your important documents ready first. Padrón health insurance, tie etc and seek good people/Repatable companies to help you, check them out first. Do not pay up front.

Do what you are doing ask questions.

All the best

The answer on a number of your questions depends on where you plan to have your tax residency. You can either stay a resident of Ireland (taxable in Ireland) and happen to spend a lot of your time in Spain, or formally leave Ireland and actually become a resident of Spain, which automatically makes Spain your tax residence as well.

Please note that the official rule is that Spain will consider you a tax resident if you spend more than 183 days per year over there. So once you actually relocate your best option is to get Spanish residency at some point as well. Make sure you sell your real estate in Ireland in the fiscal year before becoming Spanish resident, otherwise they will take you to the cleaners on property gain tax.

Btw I personally have good experience with SGM Abogados in Benijofar. They can take care of all legal matters for you, including getting a NIE, everything related to purchasing a home and all taxes. I've seen them being recommended on this forum multiple times by others as well.

https://sgmlegalspain.com/

Re question 14. There are usually no charges to do a normal transfer from an Irish bank account to a Spanish one as long as it is below 20k euros transfer. If you exceed 20k the Spanish bank will probably apply a fee. So just keep transfers in batches below 20k.You can check that limit with whichever spanish bank you eventually choose. Also note that you will likely need to be ready to show a decent amount in the Spanish bank initially, sufficient to show you have the savings resources to support yourselves, when applying for your green European residents card.( As you say you will be using savings rather than income. ) You can always transfer it back to Ireland later if you prefer to keep your savings in Ireland. Just that at the application point the authorities can sometimes insist on seeing you have the resources in Spain rather than somewhere else.

Re question 7 and tax, once tax resident in Spain, as you say you would have minimal income, there should be nothing to tax in Spain, but you'll still need to do a tax return at least initially - best get that checked for sure. In terms of paperwork, be aware that as well as doing a tax return, if you keep over 50k worth of assets outside of spain ( in any form, including your savings )you'll need to complete the modelo 720 in your first tax year, this is the " foreign assets declaration". You don't get taxed on the assets per se, but you have to declare they exist. There is ongoing talk of Brussels persuading Spain to ditch the Modelo 720 ( as it is thought to infringe on various EU rules) but for now you still have to submit it, large penalties if you don't. Spanish tax year runs Jan to December and first tax return due the year following your first year of tax residency ( eg you move, spending more than than 6 months in Spain, in 2022, you submit the tax return for 2022 in June 2023. The modelo 720 would need to be submitted by end March 2023. Best to get someone reputable to advise on paperwork and do all the various forms for you, would also recommend SGM Abogados who are excellent for property buying/ selling/ NIE and resident card obtaining as well as being fiscal reps/ tax return completion etc. Wouldn't say they are necessarily the cheapest but they are reliable and trustworthy.

http://Www.Sgmlegalspain.com

Q13 . . On the Costas there are a sizeable number of Dealers that import vehicles from the rest of Europe, particularly France, and replate them to Spain that have done a considerable amount of miles/kilometers where clocking can be concealed so be aware of origins . . .

I also recommend SGM in Benijofar brilliant. Good luck! Jules

Hi Steve / Jill,

Many thanks for your comprehensive reply. Lots of useful information.

Best wishes.

John & Angie.