We already saw in previous posts of this blog that back in 2015 the Spanish Government had to modify the national legislation on Inheritance and Donation Tax in order to adapt it to the requirements of the sentence issued by the European Court of Justice on the 3 September 2014. As a result, all the regional regulations, generally more benevolent with the taxpayer, were directly applicable to all those residents in any of the 28 member countries of the European Union (EU) or in any of the three that extend the European Economic Area (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway), unlike what happened previously that were only applicable to tax residents in Spain.
The Supreme Court, through several sentences issued during year 2018, has taken another step further as it has recognized the application of these regional regulations on the Inheritance and Donation Tax to any citizen regardless of whether they reside within or outside the EU or the EEA.
Therefore, the Tax Agency has had to change the criteria of interpretation and application of the law and now any citizen can avail themselves when it comes to taxing the Inheritance and Donations Tax to the tax regulations in force in the region (“Comunidad Autónoma”) where the goods with a greater value within the inherited estate or the goods of greater combined value in a donation.
