EU Sanctions tax payback

Spain faces over 300-million-euro property tax reclaim from Britons

By Tom Cain
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled in a landmark legal case that the Spanish government has illegally overcharged non-Spanish residents capital gains tax (CGT) by 133 per cent from 1997 up until December 2006.

The ruling now paves the way for a possible 317-million-euro refund from the Spanish government to UK citizens alone.
The ECJ ruled that the illegal capital gains tax trap contravened EU treaty rules and meant the Spanish government unfairly overcharged thousands of Britons.

The new ruling extends the reclaim period by an additional eight years so anyone who sold a property in Spain between 1997 and 2006 can now make a claim if they believe they have been illegally overcharged the tax.

Experts say the average tax reclaim size currently stands at 15,000 euros. However, as many as 90,000 Brits could be affected and are entitled to reclaim as much as 317 million euros in total.

Read more in this weeks Costa Blanca News edition

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