Assets over €50,000 held outside of Spain

This has been a requirement since 2012, but I take your point that some people may not be aware of it. It's one of the topics on which I'll be writing a guide at some point as, although it's easy to do, it can appear a bit confusing at first view.

Thanks for that, Cheryl. I wasn’t aware of it. I’m not in a position to apply for residencia for a few years, but I’m wondering if there is any tax liability on these classes of assets for foreign residents? Or do they just want to know what assets you have? 

There isn't any tax related to the 720s. However, they could be used by Hacienda to check against your tax return. For example, if you declare accounts with a value over €50K, they'll expect to see an entry on your return for savings income, if you declare investments then they'll expect to see an entry for dividends received, and if you declare a property then they'll expect an entry for imputed income.

The fines for non-compliance are draconian, but I've not yet heard of anyone being penalised.

Thanks for that. Yeah, I was thinking of the future. I’m Irish, so it’s the Irish revenue who are after me. :)

Thanks, Jim. 

I am a fiscal resident in Spain.I have had  a euro & sterling account in Gibraltar for many years in a building society which I keep at 50,000 euros & declare it each year on my Spanish tax return.For this I am only required to declare the interest which won't cause any waves since ,as we all know, is quite small.Above that amount there are different regulations but I am only a very small investor.It offsets my tax return in Spain,not that that is huge! & it is there as I don't use these savings.There is no inheritance tax to pay in Gibraltar & I keep it there for easy access for my inheritor who is UK based.Much richer people need to take advice further.

Touched on by Kimmy11 above - if you are UK resident but rent out your place in the sun to others, you might want to have a look here (if you don't already declare to HMRC).

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/hmrc-warns-its-time-to-declare-offshore-assets

Michael.