Talk Quesada forum

Recently sold a townhouse and made a gross profit. Grateful for any advice on whether anything can be set against the profit eg estate agent/solicitors/notary fees.

Hi not sure exactly but if you have have had improvements done and have reciepts i believe these can be used.

Thanks Scuby, I've got Silvia Galve on the case.

Improvement costs, legal fess

maisiesdad wrote:Recently sold a townhouse and made a gross profit. Grateful for any advice on whether anything can be set against the profit eg estate agent/solicitors/notary fees.

IIRC the 3% retention is only for non residents who are selling a property. 3% of the purchase price, paid by the buyer,is kept by the solicitor in their clients account in case there are any outstanding taxes to be paid. This is refundable in full after a reasonable time has elapsed. Sometimes you have to gee them up though. Residents who are selling do not need to have this 3% deducted from the sale.

Not quite right. Its to cover capital gains and is not repaid in full, although certain expenditure can be set aside.

maisiesdad wrote:Not quite right. Its to cover capital gains and is not repaid in full, although certain expenditure can be set aside.

OK but the retention is not specifically there to cover CGT, you need to make a separate declaration for this too, it is there in case there are other taxes and charges outstanding. The balance after these charges are paid is fully refundable.

"When a non-resident sells property in Spain, they buyer is obliged to retain 3% of the price and pay it to the tax authorities to cover the vendor’s Capital Gains Tax (CGT) liabilities.

If the 3% retained exceeds the taxes due, the vendor can expect a refund once all taxes have been paid. On the other hand, if the vendor’s tax bill is greater than the 3% retention, the Spanish tax authorities may chase the vendor back home, though it is unlikely."

Above is what the rules say but I suppose if there were any other taxes due the tax authorities would take their pound of flesh.

Its taken 4 months but the full Capital Gains Tax 3% retention was refunded into my UK bank account this morning. Lesson to be learnt don't trust the estate agents conveyancing solicitor(?), who advised that there would be no refund as the townhouse sold at a profit, do your homework and instruct Esther on the staff of SGM Benijofar.
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Maisiesdad

My understanding was as per your post of the 8th of September. If you had a full refund of the 3% retention 4 months later does this mean that you had paid the full 19% CGT (i think that's the rate for non-residents) on the profit yourself?