Spanish Government has approved the Royal Decree Law 9/2015 of 10 July by which certain tax burdens on the taxpayer are reduced.
The official reason for this change is that the current economic situation and the forecasts growth over 3% allow the Government to take with immediate effect measures to alleviate the tax burden imposed when they reached power to fight the delicate situation we had in the country. Many of the measures adopted now simply advance its application six months since they were planned and approved for 2016, so considering that there are general elections in November, is relatively easy to think that these measures could have a strong electoral component. In any case whatever is lowering the tax burden is always good news.
In what regards to the taxation of non-residents, and therefore of interest to the majority of our clients, the Law on Income Tax for Non residents is modified by lowering the tax rate to 19,5% as now provided for in paragraph 2 of Article 19 and in points a) and f) of paragraph 1 of Article 25.
This means that in the sale of property located in Spain, the capital gain tax is reduced by 0.5%, from the previous 20% to 19.5% during the next six months. As was already foreseen the tax rate will be reduced again to 19% from 1 January 2016.
Luis M. Vicente Burgos
VICENTE & OTAOLAURRUCHI ABOGADOS
