Re: PADRON AMAZED
Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2018 10:03 pm
Babu wrote:A bit confused by the above replies now . . Who benefits from the Suma money then? You pay that whether youre on the Padron or not . . I thought that was set locally to cover public works etc. (Both property and vehicle Suma) . .
SUMA is the name of the company that is responsible for collecting local taxes such as the council tax (IBI) and car tax (which is collected locally in Spain). These are municipal taxes that are raised by the local town halls.
Each town and city gets an amount of money raised in general taxation based on the number of residents it has. This goes to pay for essential services in the area and, the more residents you have, the more money is paid by the regional government which, here, is based in Valencia. They get the number of residents by the number of people who are empadrionamiento (signed on the padron).
Now, it should only be for those who are permanently resident in the locality and many places will not allow you to sign on the padron if you are not a resident.
However, some people are saying that you cannot be on the padron if you are not resident which is not the case.
The Spanish rules under the decree are (translated from the Spanish)
"All people living in the municipality must be registered on the census whether nationals or foreigners, in the latter case, whether or not their status is regularised in the Register of the Ministry of Interior.”
Remember that you can be a resident in Spain even if you are not a fiscal resident. Simply spending 3 months or more here in any one year can confer residency even if you are not paying income tax.
It is not up to the town halls to decide on what constitutes legal residency.
Rojales reads the rules as anyone who resides more than 3 months in the area in any one year should be classed as a resident and should register on the padron.
There is nothing in the Spanish rules on empadronamiento that I can see (but it is a very large decree) that states you must be an habitual resident, ie Spain is now your permanent place of residency.
So if you intend to spend more than 3 months in any one year in Spain you should register on the padron.
The area will then benefit from grants provided by the regional government (who gets the allowances from the central government).
The Citizens Advice Bureau in Spain stated in 2015 that "only habitual residents" should register on the padron.
However, in 2016 after reading the new decree, they changed it to anyone who intends to be a resident which is the bit for over 3 months in one year.