To Option to Donate in Spain

When thinking in having things tied up for the future of your love ones, most people make a will to prepare the inheritance for when they die. They want to ensure that they help the people they love by bequeathing their assets to them. However, the inheritance process in Spain is not the same as in some other countries and not everybody knows that to donate in Spain can be an interesting option with certain advantages at the moment and the same result.

So what about giving it away? To begin with, if you do decide you would like to hand over your property before you die then you will still need to go through the process of signing a new title deed. This donation process is called ‘Donación de bienes’ and is a gift from the donor to the donee. Let’s see some of the advantages to donate in Spain:

Donation tax: Although you must declare donation tax too, under current legislation you can take advantage of important reductions, not having to pay in many cases. It also means that you can support your family during the arrangements whilst you are alive. Also, the distinction between the resident and non-resident donation tax was removed years ago, so this can amount to significant savings on donating in comparison to previously.

Avoid troubles between inheritors: disputes whilst estates are settled following death are not uncommon. There can be complications, especially as inheritance tax in Spain must be paid before the property changes hands. We have seen times when those inheriting assets have struggled to make the necessary payments. Not something you want to happen when you are no longer around to help them out. Taking the decision of donating while you are alive, give you the chance to avoid these complications to your love ones.

More straightforward process: donating means that the process is more straightforward as less documentation is needed. When dealing with an inheritance certain documents from a foreign country have to be obtained, legalised and translated. The only documents required dealing with a donation are power of Attorney, NIE numbers, Suma bill and utilities bills.

Less expensive: as lees documents need to be obtained and no sworn translations are required, the process is cheaper too. Moreover, the plusvalia tax which is calculated taking into account the number of years the donor own he property will be also cheaper in a donation now that in a future inheritance.

Not to worry about your age and your faculties: Making arrangements now means that you need not worry about how your age might impact on your faculties as you get older, at least not when it comes to managing your property. Hopefully this isn’t a problem for you. However, it sometimes happens that the property owner is no longer able to make financial or practical decisions about their property and children struggle to get the power of attorney to ensure that they can instead.

Taking all this points into consideration, they could make it desirable to transfer property sooner rather than later. If you are interested to donate your property in Spain, kindly contact our legal department by email at legaldpt@abacoadvisers.com