Inheritance tax

[truebrit]

I have heard that when, if we leave EU we will no longer be entitled to the lower rate of inheritance tax( the same at the moment as Spanish citizens)or, if we have added the codicil to our wills to be subject to British inheritance laws and tax, will we be exempt from the inflated rate?

[Lavanda]

At this stage I would suspect that no one knows.There are a variety of things that could happen but whether they will, or not, would depend on the skill of the UK government and the colour of the Spanish one and whether or not anyone in the UK gives two hoots about ex-pats. I suspect the UK will be looking to save as much money as possible from all sources that do not vote in the UK and the Spanish government would also like an increased source of revenue. We may get clobbered by everyone BUT no one knows right now.

[El Cid]

There will be no effect on IHT. from a Brexit. Tax rules in the EU are not really harmonised so Spain can do pretty much what it likes with tax rates but EU law does not allow discrimination on the grounds of residency or nationality in most cases. IHT applies to all taxpayers in Spain and to all assets in Spain. Whether you are an EU citizen does not affect this.

Wills are now affected by the recent changes to EU laws, but again, nothing changes with Brexit as Spanish wills for Spanish property are not affected. Incidentally the UK opted out of the changes but here we are talking about wills relating to Spanish assets, so no change there.

As Beachcomber has pointed out in another thread, one area where the tax rules are different for non-EU citizens is non resident income taxes on property.

Resident income tax is not affected by Brexit.

Sid