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YOU HAVE A DUTY
2. If
you buy and sell property without taking proper care, then you may pay capital gains tax, which could have legitimately been avoided.
3. If or when you and your partner die, then the
survivor - and in time your children - may only receive a half or a quarter of what they would have been entitled to receive
TO YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY TO AVOID UK AND SPAIN TAXES
4. If you own property in Spain then you might
Evading taxes involves not telling the truth - or under declaring assets - in order not to pay tax that is due.
5. If you do not write a Spanish Assets Will in
Avoiding taxes means organising your affairs in such a manner that you properly and legitimately are not exposed to payment of tax. Tax is a dull and boring subject - that most of us would not want to spend a lot of time thinking about BUT failing to avoid tax means paying taxes which you need not pay - which means that you and your family – and ultimately your beneficiaries - will enjoy a much lower quality of life. If you are an English speaking person with on estate and affairs in both your homeland and Spain – or - an English speaking person who now lives only in Spain – then you have at least twice as many tax issues to concern yourself with.
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If you do not take maximum advantage - relating to tax on your pension or other income from abroad – you will have less money to live on than you are entitled.
spend one or two thousand euros per year on wealth taxes that need not be paid exactly the correct manner then the important decisions that you take - about who should receive your estate - probably won’t work out as you intended
IF YOU ARE... THEN You should allow Quill Assets to analyse your position – and at no cost – present you with a single plan - to re-position your affairs - in order that you can legitimately pay the minimum possible - or NO - tax - upon profits, income, capital gains, wealth and succession. You should also allow Quill Wills to re-organise your Wills to make them work for your specific circumstances. To fully understand this crucial information please make that phone call now - to Jenny Harris – 928 346 544 or email jenny@quillwills.net
Brown targets exodus to the sun
A court victory for the taxman means the chancellor can squeeze more out of the 1 million people who have moved abroad. The Sunday Times, November 19, 2006
Thousands of British people who have moved or retired abroad will be chased for tax going back six years following a court ruling in November. The landmark decision changed whether you must pay UK tax on your worldwide income and gains. Talk to us for advice on the recent changes to the law in Spain and the UK which might affect you. From 150€ Quill can create you a cast iron Will and/or low cost Shelter structure - which will protect you from the ravages of taxation - both in your home country and in Spain. Call us today, you will be glad you did!
Telephone Jenny Harris on +34 928 346 544 or +34 679 278 737 for information. read more online at www.quillwills.net
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local knowledge, empowering people
The Willwriters Association
The Association of Lawyers
Quill Wills - UK, Ireland & Spain
Spanish Office: Calle Argentina 9, San Andres 108, Costa Teguise 35508, Lanzarote, Las Palmas, España Tel: +34 928 346 544, Fax: +34 928 346 540, Email: jenny@quillwills.net | www.quillwills.net
Advertorial
The Lanzarote Law Society Solicitors in the English speaking world - belong to The Law Society which exists pretty much throughout the entire commonwealth. This is a world renowned regulatory body providing among other things unlimited Professional Indemnity Insurance, for the benefit of clients in respect of losses caused to a client by negligence of the Solicitor. Lawyers in Spain are called Abogados. Abogados belong to the Colegio de Abogados - or College of Abogados.
It is a curious - and potentially very confusing thing for some Abogados to refer to themselves in advertisements that appear in English speaking magazines - though nowhere else - as being members of the Law Society.
Society - and are covered by the same indemnity insurance as an English or Irish Solicitor. Other than for a very few lawyers who practice in two countries and belong to both organisations - they are not.
It would be much clearer to say - what is fact - that they are members of the College of Abogados.
Society Members No. 27. Eileen Izquierdo Lawlor. No. 33. Jorge de la Cueva Terrer. No. 39. Angeles San Gregorio. No. 50. Santiago Lleo Fernandez. No. 225. Mario Izquierdo Lawlor. No. 295. Mari Nieves Dominguez Castro.
People OFTEN think that these Abogados are ‘Spanish Solicitors’ who (somehow) are members of the UK or Irish Law
LAWYERS CAUSING CHAOS No one wants to pay tax that they need not be paying. No one wants to think that they have written a will that conceivably might not work. Think for one minute of throwing a lot of your money into the air and watching it blow away. That is what either of these things is like doing. Quill has been holding ‘Getting to know Spain’ meetings around the island for two years - in its efforts to help English speaking people who own assets in Spain to know everything they need to know about these subjects.
How can we say they are ‘the ultimate answers’? Because they are based upon judgments from court hearings that have arisen settling these very issues.
Judgments are the ultimate test of everything legal in Spain and the UK. This information is the ‘Spanish Asset Wills for English speaking people’ book. If you would like a free copy, attend one of the open days advertised in the Getting to Know Spain page.
The levels of confusion that people bring to these meetings - about these subject’s and other related issues is nothing short of astounding. It is possible that they have not properly heard what they’re being told by local lawyers - or - that they are relying on second-hand information incorrectly repeated - or - there may be a language problem in what they had been told. Whatever is the reason there is CHAOS in the ‘calles’ (streets) of Lanzarote - and we have to conclude - that it is often local lawyer’s who have insufficient knowledge of international law who are causing the CHAOS. The document shown alongside - is an example of several local lawyers, publishing information - that is at best out of context - and at worst completely wrong - as it applies to Englishspeaking people with assets in Spain. It may be accurate - and fine - if told to a local Spanish national - but NOT when given as relevant legal information to any reader of the Buzz or Gazette.
Chaos part 1.
Only a will that is granted before a Public Notary can be considered a valid Spanish will. This is a relevant point when referring to people who are Spanish nationals - but irrelevant when referring to foreigners. When the target audience for this view is only to foreigners it is incomplete - has no logic – and is possibly only made for commercial reasons.
It is an illustration of lawyers causing chaos - in writing.
Foreigners - such as the readers of the Gazette and Buzz - all have two options upon the type of will they can write under Spanish law.
People - mainly - want to be told by experts and professionals - what to do for the best and NOT to see or hear the legal arguments behind that advice.
Article 9.1 of the Spanish Civil Code says that “. . . the personal law of natural persons (i.e. human beings) shall be determined by their nationality (i.e. in most cases by their passport)”
There will be people now however who would like to know exact information - from a source that simply cannot be argued - in order to turn these important matters into ‘black and white’.
Article 9.8 says testementary dispositions . . . which conform to the national law of the testator . .(i.e. a Quill will for Uk Irish families etc). . . shall . . be valid even if the succession is (then)governed by another law . . . (meaning laws different to Spanish domestic/internal law).
We therefore offer those who will take the trouble to read them - these ultimate answers in articles - alongside our advertising.
A will under Spanish domestic - or internal Law is also valid for a foreigner providing it gives two thirds to the testators children. Most English speaking people do not want this to happen, so they require a Quill will. This is a matter that has been well tested by the courts in both countries. Google will take you to what is still the main precedent of 31 July 1985 - when it was ruled - and never ‘reversed’ that the English law Spanish assets will (i.e. a Quill Will) of Christopher Adams was valid under 9.8 of the Spanish code - giving his estate to his wife and not - as Spanish internal Law requires two thirds to his children. This is a regular challenge to the wills of English speaking people with assets in Spain. Usually a father re-marries and leaves his estate to his second wife - excluding his children from the first. There is nothing that can be done about that under UK freedom of disposition - and with an English will it is a claim that must fail. But - if a Spanish will is written - leaving to the spouse - then that Spanish - or Spanglish - will can be challenged under Spanish internal law - which requires two thirds of the estate to go to the testators children. Thus in an identical claim in a Spanish court in 1995 the second wife of Timothy Denny was - under the strict terms of Spanish internal law - stripped of the estate left to her - which then went to her late husbands children by his first marriage. In this case it turned out ‘ok’ in the end - BUT - only after two more court hearings taking 5 years and tens of thousands of euros. Quill can do both types of will - BUT - why would any foreigner want to expose themselves to court hearings in Spanish - when an UK/ Ireland law Spanish Assets will is guaranteed - by court precendent - to work? If the English/Irish persons total estate has a value greater than £300,000Uk/€500,000 Eire - then ANOTHER reason not to write a Spanish will is that doing so will automatically cost £110,00 UK/€100,000 Eire - in domestic tax.
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