Tax and pensions

Loads of threads on this already. EU rules on money laundering means anyone who receives money from outside the country must show a proof of income. This also happens in UK if you are opening a non resident account but people don't see that so think it's unique to the EU.

The letter from your state pension provider and, if you have a private pension, the P60 you receive. Some at the banks are not reading this properly and asking for a tax return which is only one of the things you can use to show proof of income.

EU ruling in 2022 came into effect at the end of last year but it has been discussed on here many times. 

As an aside, the Policia Nacional has just, along with many other countries including UK, broken up a ring that was opening accounts in the EU and using them for money laundering. Almost 2,000 arrested and 558 in Spain alone for some 400 million euro of money laundering operations. Yes, Mr and Mrs Bloggs from Oldham probably won't be involved but get caught up in the legislation anyway, just like the 720 us residents have to complete meant to get pop stars and footballers etc but sucks us in as well.

Hello marcliffe,

Thank you for getting back to me, we will have to send our pension details when we go back to the UK on the 25th.

We only ever have around 1,000euro in our account to pay our bills. We top it up when come out on holiday. I hope they don't think we are money laundering.😊👍

Thanks Fred.

Hi Fred

As Marcliff has mentioned this subject crops up loads of times on here and credit to Marcliff he patiently answers most of them.

In this particular answer he didn't mention the usual solution that many of us non residents have used, open a Wise account, it's an online account with no running costs and they don't ask the question that Sabadell have just asked you.

https://wise.com/

Easy to open an account, you can then open accounts in many different currencies but in reality Sterling and Euro is enough to store money and pay direct debits for your holiday home, you can keep the account topped up via bank transfer from your UK bank into the Sterling account and then convert this into Euros which incurs a very small fee.

The account comes with a debit card which can be used in all the usual ways, it is a little limited for cash withdrawals but I use an alternative solution to cover this.

Wise' bank account is based in Belgium which gives you a widely accepted IBAN number, give this number to your utility Companies etc for your direct debits.

Wise are now a very large established business, they started up in 2011 ( which is when I joined them ) as a currency transfer operation and then offered the benefit of direct debits around 2019, should you need any help from them they have an English speaking customer service team based in the uk.

Wise are not a fully fledged bank but they do use a FCA accepted process to safeguard customers funds in separate accounts to their own business.

I have found them to be very reliable, extremely convenient and such a relief to be rid of my Spanish bank account.

I accept that if you are resident in Spain their banks are pretty much like all others but if you are non resident then they don't make it easy at all.

Ken

It's been reported that Wise has been asking for proof of income in some cases. I believe they are trying for bank accreditation and this would be one of the things they would have to comply.

Those who have said they have been asked haven't said if it's on an existing account or when opening a new one and it doesn't look like they are asking everyone but I assume that would be a large undertaking. 

All Spanish banks should require is the letter from DWP stating how much your state pension will be or, on private pensions or earnings, the one page of the annual P60 which shows income and tax paid on it. The tax return is simply a different document that could be used to show proof of income, as also recommended by UK banks when opening a non resident account, but not mandatory. The mention of it seems to set quite a few in a bit of a tizzy for some reason. 

A simple Google search on proof of income shows at least 8 solicitors referencing the new rules and two of them give links to the new rules brought in during 2022 to be applied by the end of 2023. Part of the EU legislation on ways to combat money laundering.

Marcliff

The reason why it throws us non res into a tizzy is

A, you don't find out about it until your bank account has been frozen or 

B, you find out about it only when you happen to present yourself at the bank and are informed of the required paperwork, which you wouldn't have with you. Go back to the uk to find said paperwork for next visit as it has to be presented in person, in the meantime account is frozen meaning direct debits arn't paid.

As I said, they don't make it easy for us non res and that's speaking from experience.

Hi

Re Wise - I inherited a significant 5-figure sum in late 2022 and Wise put a hold on it until I explained where it came from. I was already a Wise customer of some years standing.

Cheers

Steve

We are currently in Uk. We have received a Sabadell letter giving us 60 days to present proof of income because we transfer money. We await P60s from our Pension Providers and will electronically send the to the bank. Instructions how to do this are in the letter.

Hi.  We have been with Sabadell for 15years. I had to present my new passport in order to update my details. I also took my P60’s from my pensions in.  I hadn’t been asked for them but had heard about it from this forum.  I made an appointment to make sure I wasn’t hanging around for hours. The member of staff told me that the bank will be asking all non resident owners to do it.  I think you can do it on their website. Use a computer, not you phone. Hope this he