Plusvalia tax

If you sold at a loss then no tax should be due, that's the law. 

Unfortunately not all town halls seem to acknowledge it or else they have failed to properly updated their cadastral record to reflect real world property values since the peaks in 2008 or thereabouts. 

That they use such income to boost their budgets for spending on the community is also an incentive for them to conveniently forget or deliberately ignore the law. 

If you've been incorrectly taxed then in the worst case you may be forced into legal action to recover your money.

Thank you Movingon for taking an interest, I love Spain and everything about it, but it seems town halls must be desperate if they have to resort to thieveing of innocent foreigners.

It would be interesting to know if they equally apply this practice to their own Spanish nationals.

Plusvalía is based on the increase in the value of the land, not the property built on it. 

I haven't kept records, but I understand that there have been many successful appeals against the imposition of plusvalía.

Thank you Jim for your reply.

I thought when you buy a property you buy the building and the land, I have never heard of buying the land and building separately, and when you sell it you pay capital gains jointly, so is Plusvalia a double taxation?. Also what scientific evidence has there ever been to value land separately that has a building on it? Are the town hall saying that they realise in 2008 property prices collapsed by about 50% but that was only the bricks, the land values never crashed and in fact have been going up ever since. So when you lose €200,000 on your villa you pay plusvalia tax no matter what because it is deducted at source by your lawyer.

I take your point you can appeal, but I think you must pay first. Also you need to pay a lawyer to make the appeal. If the appeal is successful does the town hall reimburse your legal fees for getting it wrong? All this seems like a nice little earner for lawyers.

Is Plusvalia tax an exclusive deal for foreigners, because I cannot see Spanish nationals standing for it, let’s face it, it’s a blatant scam.

Have a good day all. 

The concept of land valuation is no different in the UK. A plot may have a £100K house on it or a £500K house - the value of the building doesn't affect the value of the land itself. The difference here is that the notional land value is periodically updated by Catastro.

Plusvalía applies to everyone, irrespective of nationality.

I don't know what the appeals procedure is, but there's been plenty of statements about plusvalíá in the last few years, since the supreme court overturned a Valencian assessment. You might find the following example of interest:

https://www.abogacia.es/2017/05/17/el-tc-declara-inconstitucional-y-anula-el-pago-de-la-plusvalia-en-ventas-de-viviendas-con-perdidas/

Thank you Jim

I realise Plusvalia applies to everyone but I would be surprised if Spanish nationals haven’t found a way round it, leaving expats bearing the brunt.

Thank you for the link, it was a bit out of my depth. Am I correct that the courts have ruled on this but the town halls are just not having it? Let’s face it even a dumb donkey knows someone selling at a €200,000 loss cannot have gained on the land. In fact Catastro (whoever they are) land prices are just Mickey Mouse made up figures to suit taxation purposes.

I do understand that town halls reply on this income (to build a new fountain and let off fireworks at the fiestas) but many peopled suffered financially in the 2008 world recession. People lost jobs and homes, but it did not give them a licence to go thieve and scam others. Isn’t a considerable loss on a property enough to suffer without thieving parasites wanting even more? This is extortion.

I wonder if the Mayor would pay Plusvalia tax if he sold his house at a loss.

Have a good day all. 

It is what it is!

A Spanish friend of ours who sold his house a couple of months ago had to pay it. He's hoping to get it refunded, but is relying on his lawyer to try and sort it.

Be interesting to see if this gives the same result:

https://www.suma.es/cuerpo_calc_imp.xhtml

Thank you Ray

I may have been a bit harsh in my comments, but It’s easy for you to comment when it’s not your money, we can all do that. Are you saying that Plusvalia tax is fully justified, fair and legal to those suffering a substantial loss on the sale of their property?

Not sure what compensation a link to a calculator is to see how much you are being scammed.

If town halls are suffering loss of income from 2008 financial crash, they should seek to replace that with increasing other taxes that are equally paid by all and not try to rob those who have already taken a big financial hit.

Please no more personal insults.

Have a nice day.