BethMeriam

Hola,

Please can you help with some urgently-needed tax advice?

I am a UK sole trader and have been living in Barcelona, Spain since June 2009 (the plan is to stay here indefinitely / forever).

My main clients are in the UK, and the others are located around Europe and the rest of the world. The main concern is avoiding being taxed twice, i.e. both in the UK and in Spain.

So the question is: am I best paying taxes in Spain or in the UK, and what are the considerations I should be aware of, both financially and administratively/bureaucratically speaking?

I shall probably have to make alternative / private arrangements for my pension as my National Insurance contributions are almost zero to date (i.e. this aspect will probably not affect my decision).

Additionally, I need a NIE (el Número de Identificación de Extranjeros). If I decide to continue paying my tax in the UK, will applying for this documentation affect my tax liability or payments in any way?

Any advice you can give would be immensely appreciated!

Many thanks in advance and all best regards,

Beth

Gus-Lopez

Hi, and welcome to the forum.
You haven't got a choice, you can't live here for more than 183 days without being reg. You certainly can't run a U.K. business whilst living in Spain without registering with the Spanish tax authorities. You need the advice of a Spanish asesoria.

greg

Hi Beth,

If I am not mistaken then Spanish tax law states that you are liable for tax depending on where you do the work. So if this is the case, it is irrelevant that your clients are from abroad.

Perhaps some other members will give you some more professional advice.

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Val

Hi Beth, welcome to the Absolute Spain forum from me also.

dunmovin

hi beth

as far as I am aware the UK & Spain have a reciprocal tax agreement I.E. if pay tax in one country(where the money is earned) you will not be taxed again in the other

Spain-123

Hello,

When I left the U.K. I had to inform my Inland revenue Office of the said move. Some months ago they sent me a load of forms to fill in to apply for an exemption from paying tax in the U.K.

Unfortunately the right hand of the Inland revenue, doesn't know what the left hand is doing, because they had already told me that, I would not be exempted from payng tax on my U.K. govt. pension. So I am still considering my options,

Boseley

ELJEFE

Before I answer your question , I have a question to you.
Are you legal, have an accountant and pay vat and taxes in the UK now?

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Rosebud

Hi there Beth,

Did you get any closer to solving your tax dilemma? I'm in a very similar position myself. Have you spoken to a gestor or accountant yet?

All of my clients are in the UK and will likely remain so due to the nature of my work and if I move to autonimo and have to invoice in Euros I'm not sure, but I think some of my clients may go elsewhere!

These things are never straight forward are they?

It would be really useful to hear how you are getting on.

ELJEFE

Hi Rosebud, I have worked a Uk ltd company in Spain. It doesn't matter to the accountants or taxman what you invoice in, dollars, pounds or euros. As long as you put each factura in in whatever currency the accountants will sort the rest out.

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Rosebud

Thanks ever so much for your help ELJEFE. I am currently a UK sole trader, not sure if this makes any difference to having a limited company. A few more questions...

With your UK limited company did you have to set up a Spanish branch? When you say the accountants sorted out everything, are you talking about Spanish accountants, UK ones, or both?

Do you think it would be better for me to set up a UK limited company rather than staying sole trader?