exchange rate to use for income on 2019 tax return

[fyfin]

I have seen on a website that the average rate for the year to 31.12.2019 to use on your tax return is €1.1390

I have looked under faqs and there's nothing in there yet - can anyone confirm that I am using the right rate.

Many thanks

[El Cid]

The ECB figure for 2019 is 1.13934

I will update the FAQ

Sid

[olive]

Cannot open FAQ . Tried two different browsers. get 404 nginx/1.16.1

Anyway. As usual, I used El Cids ECB figure when I submitted my figures to our gestor earlier in the year.i.e. 1.13934

Gestor is questioning this figure.

" Por cierto, la tasa de cambio medio de Libras a Euros que yo tengo es 1,19 de libras a euros. 0.84 de euros a libras.

Uso esta fuente:

https://es.statista.com/estadisticas/60 ... esterlinas.

¿De donde has extraido tú la tasa media de intercambio que has usado?"

Interestingly it isn't a hacienda source. On my vast? UK derived income his exchange rate clearly will cost me more tax.

Anyone got a link to the 1.13934 please? Tomorrow is the day for submission despite us providing all our figures to him back in March!

[El Cid]

It sounds like he is using the official ECB rate at 30th December. That is used for valuing foreign assets for Form 720.

For Renta you should use the average rate for the year, assuming regular payments.

Many Spanish gestors make this mistake.

The rate I gave in the FAQs is the ECB average rate for the year.

Actually, you would be better of using his figure as that will reduce the Euro value of your UK income.

At the end of the day, you only enter the income figures in Euros. The taxman does not know or care about how you arrived at that figure.

Sid

[Enrique]

Hi olive,
Ripped from EL Cid's FAQ.................. Exchange rate for 2019 is 1.13934


Sounds like you are having some problem with your system as FAQ's ok ...........Ask your System Administrator to sort it.........

See you got it working now.........

[olive]

FAQs working now.....

Anyone have the official internet link to the official exchange rate for last year please? e.g. Hacienda that I can quote to my gestor.

[Beachcomber]

European Central Bank. AEAT does not publish an official exchange rate:

http://sdw.ecb.europa.eu/quickview.do?S ... EUR.SP00.A

See 'Data Table'

[pensure1988]

Hi
Here are the official BOE rates as at 31/12/2019

https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2020/01/03/ ... 020-82.pdf

David

[El Cid]

And those are the WRONG rates. They are the year end rates which are NOT used for the Remta declaration

Sid

[pensure1988]

Hi Sid

I do not understand. How can these rates be wrong. I thought the Bank of Spain was a Central Bank who fixes the Foreign Exchange Rates in Spain.Are you telling me that another Government Body issues Average Rates for Foreign Exchange as well as the Bank Of Spain. It is all very confusing for us Pensioners who try and submit their Annual Tax Returns correctly every year.


Thanks

David

[peteroldracer]

3If you get your pensions paid direct into your Spanish bank there will be no converting to do - they will already be in Euros.

[Beachcomber]

The rates shown in that link to the BOE are those prevailing on 31st December and are the ones to be used when submitting a form 720 asset declaration. They are not the average rates for 2019 and Sid is saying that they are the wrong rates not that the rates are wrong.

The rate used in respect of the annual income tax declaration is the average exchange rate for the whole year as shown in my link to the Central European Bank.

[pensure1988]

Hi Beachcomber

Thank you for all that information,very helpful. I did not know where to find the average rate. I used 1.1754 in my 2019 Annual Tax return which equates to a discrepancy of 100 euros or less. Not too much to worry about but will use Sid's figure next year. Now I have learnt from mistake. Thank goodness I am only a Poor Pensioner and not a Wage Earner anymore

David

[olive]

Thanks guys.

Gestor took on board the different figures. Return submitted.

[El Cid]

It is troubling that gestors have to be told the correct way to do something that they are being paid for as "professionals"

If you use a Spanish gestor most do not seem to have any idea how to handle non Spanish tax declarations. It even extends to the "disfunctionarios" in the tax office who rarely have any knowledge at all of the implications of the UK/Spain tax treaty. I have a friend who 3 years running found that they refused to enter his UK government pension in the correct box on the form and refused absolutely to include it in his tax declaration which would have added €4k to his tax bill if entered correctly.

Another friend with a UK police pension was luckier as they entered his OK, but pointed out that the ONLY UK government pensions that the rule applied to were police pensions.

To be fair, I wonder how well HMRC officials understand foreign income and tax treaties when dealing with foreign income tax returns.

Hopefully by this time next year I will have found the time and inclination to write a "Dummies" guide to doing your own online tax declaration.

Sid