Suma IBI tax

Ray is correct and your Accountant should know this. As part of the sale the previous owner would have been liable for the Tax from 01/01/2019 up to the date of the sale with this paid at completion of the sale and you are liable from the date of purchase until 31/12/2019 with the bill issued and due for payment in September 2020.

Trish - if you only bought last year, there won't be an IBI bill in your name, so some ideas:

Are you still in touch with the previous owner? If so, ask them.

If your conveyancing solicitors did the job properly, they should have ensured that IBI was paid for the year. It does of course depend on when in the year you bought it, but the solicitor may have a copy.

Alternatively, ask Suma. There are several ways to contact them, but I'd try phone first and then the online contact form:

https://www.costablancaforum.com/area/villamartin-spain-137/taxes-suma-nie-tax-advice-in-villamartin-25/jims-guide-suma-69918/

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks Jim that’s really helpful. We bought the property April 2019 and our solicitor  confirmed that previous owners would pay up to completion in April.  Am assuming we will have to pay from April 2919 to the end of year 2019 and from 1st Jan 2020 onwards? Our solicitor has informed Suma of change of ownership, do we wait for a bill from suma in our name or do we have to request one? I have filled in a contact form from suma but heard nothing and as we are stuck in UK cannot visit the office in person.

I'm surprised your solicitor didn't follow through on that. The bill, even if only issued in the autumn, would have been in the name of the previous owner.

That opens up a small can of worms. If the solicitor retained money from the purchase price to cover the Jan-Apr cost, then the previous owner might well have just ignored the bill when he received it (assuming he did). I don't suppose you recall receiving a letter from Suma in the name of the previous owner? The bill may not then have been paid.

As the solicitor notified the change of owner to Suma, then the IBI account should now be in your name, so you will be OK for when the 2020 bill comes out later on. 

You definitely need to ask Suma if the 2019 bill was paid. I don't know if they'd be obliged to give you a copy of a bill in the previous owner's name, but there's no harm in asking nicely. If they refuse, ask if they'd tell you the catastral value on which the IBI was calculated, and the date of the last catastral revaluation - those two bits of information are what is needed to do the 2019 tax return.

Thanks Jim

Apparently I was getting confused with Suma IBI and non resident tax. Our solicitor had it sorted and has set up direct debit etc.

Thank you so much for all your help, you are a mind of information!