(Edited 15/04/2019 to include latest taxation changes)
Every now and then we receive inquiries from clients who have properties in Spain in relation to the Inheritance Tax and how to limit or improve the exposure that their heirs will have to the same.
There is a lot of information on this subject on the net, but some of it is confusing, incorrect or biased. This is one of the areas of law in which word of mouth ends up creating myths assumed as true by most but that usually have very little connection to reality or just they do not suit the particular circumstances of each client.
Legal and financial advice must be individual and specific for each customer and their personal and familiar circumstances, and very much so in the case of estate planning, since the personal and familiar circumstances of each client are completely different and therefore there are no universal solutions or general answers that cover all possible situations. It is essential that property owners in Spain analyze together with their local lawyers their particular situation to determine which would be the best and most effective way to protect the wealth that they wish to leave to their heirs.
Nor should we forget that the laws regulating inheritance, foreign investments, taxes or companies change from time to time, both in Spain and in the countries of origin of our clients. We must consider those potential changes and try to anticipate them as much as it is possible, as the advice given on taxation on inheritance covers situations that will happen in the future, so we must understand that the solutions that we eventually set up may not be effective at the time in which they need to produce results.
Some advisers, mainly located abroad, suggest that you can avoid paying inheritance tax in Spain by incorporating the properties to a company registered outside the country. According to them, if one of the owners of the company die, their beneficiaries will inherit the shares of the foreign company, assuming that they are not subject to taxation in Spain. To sweeten the initial expense of the transfer of assets to the company and the cost of maintaining it, they give a range of data about the inheritance in Spain that in most cases is incorrect, incomplete or clearly biased and therefore they offer a distorted picture of the reality of the tax.
Thus, for example, they try to make you believe that the tax usually exceeds 40% or 50%, that there are very few reductions or exemptions and very conditioned, that in the absence of bilateral conventions to relief double taxation you cannot deduct back in your country the amount paid for Inheritance Tax in Spain, that the inheritance tax is paid first by the surviving spouse and fully again by the children upon the second death, that the values to be computed are those of the property market or that you cannot deduct from that value the charges on the property, that the tax must be paid immediately after the death, so the heirs can be seen quickly doomed to undersell, etc.
Let’s have a look one by one:
1.- Can we avoid paying Inheritance tax by transferring the property into a foreign company?
In Spain, unlike what happens in other jurisdictions such as the British, it is not the estate of the deceased which is taxed with inheritance tax but each and every one of the beneficiaries of the estate, according to their share in the estate and including the rebates and exemptions applicable to them based on their relationship with the deceased, their current residence, existing wealth in Spain, etc.
Therefore, heirs have the obligation to pay the Inheritance Tax to the Spanish Tax Authorities, either by personal obligation or real obligation.
The personal obligation implies that the Inheritance Tax will be paid in Spain by all who are resident in this country, regardless of the nationality or last residence of the deceased or that the inherited properties are located in Spain or anywhere else in the world. Spanish law considers that Spanish residents are those who stay in the country more than 183 days a year, who have here their centre of activities or economic interests here, or those whose spouse and minor children are resident in Spain.
The real obligation implies that the inheritance tax must be paid in Spain by all non-residents who inherit property or rights located in Spain.
As it is established in Article 7 of the Law for Inheritance Tax 29/1987 of 18th December, it affects those heirs that without being resident in Spain acquire by inheritance “property and rights, whatever is their nature, that are located, may be exercised or fulfilled in Spanish territory, as well as the acquisition of amounts arising from life insurance contracts when the contract was made with a Spanish insurance company or has been held in Spain with foreign entities operating in the country.”
Article 18.2 of Decree 1629/1991 that approves the Regulation of the Inheritance and Gift Tax sets that “property situated in Spain, as well as movable assets (including the shares of a company) permanently affected to homes, land, farm or industrial establishments situated in Spanish territory…” are considered to be located in Spanish territory.
Since the approval of Law 10 of 28 April 2010 on prevention of money laundering, all operations performed on behalf of companies must include in the title deed information about the final beneficiaries (individuals) of the companies or those of the companies that own them, and that hold at least 25 % of the share capital. That means the Spanish authorities know exactly who the major shareholders and beneficiaries of those foreign companies with interests in Spain are, they can know if any of them died in Spain and it is not unreasonable to think that if at a given moment they deem that there is a considerable bag of tax evasion through this channel they may agree with the tax authorities of other countries the disclosure, check up or collection of the relevant information to verify the existence of the taxable event.
Therefore, we can conclude that incorporating a property to a foreign company that operates as a mere holding for the titles and whose only activity is referred to the ownership of the assets does not get the purpose of (legally) avoiding the actual obligation of payment of the inheritance tax in Spain. The only thing that might achieve, with greater or lesser extent depending on the circumstances of the death and the present and future possibilities of the Tax Office in Spain to become aware of that circumstance, would be a diversion or concealment of the taxable situation generated by the death. Or to put it more clearly: a vehicle for tax evasion that moreover, depending on the amount evaded, could fall within the definition of tax criminal offense under article 305 of the Spanish Penal Code with the very serious consequences that may result of it.
There is no tax evasion or anything illegal or reprehensible in the fact of buying a property on behalf of a foreign company or transferring it to a foreign company structure later. The potential tax evasion lies in the assumption that once the owner of the shares of the foreign company has passed away, his/her heirs do not settle inheritance tax in Spain for those goods located here.
Considering that the use of a foreign company to avoid paying inheritance tax operates more as a vehicle for hiding the taxable event than as a valid legal channel to avoid such payment, and even assuming the risks inherent in that practice, there are other considerations to keep in mind:
a) To purchase a property in the name of a foreign company should not bring additional costs to those that normally arise if the purchaser was an individual, obviating those associated with the constitution of the company.
However, the transfer of the property, by purchase or contribution, done by the beneficiaries of the foreign company has costs that in many cases may be higher than the same inheritance tax to be avoided.
b) The title deeds to transfer the property located in Spain to a foreign company must meet the legal requirements of both form and substance established by the country where it is fiscally domiciled but besides that, they have also to be registered at the Land Registry in Spain. Since our registration procedure is packed with legal requirements that do not exist in other foreign legal systems, the possibility that these deeds, or the documents that have to be included in them, contain points of conflict or defects that hinder the registration grows exponentially.
In contrast, the transfer of the property using a purchase and sale deed does not generate problems of registration in the Spanish Land Registry, but it increases the costs because of the transfer tax, which in many cases will be higher than the actual inheritance tax. Other disadvantages are the actual evidence of payment and the legislation for the prevention of money laundering, since it is necessary that the company actually pay the agreed price to the owners (shareholders of the same company).
2.- Is it Inheritance tax in Spain so burdensome?
There is a lot of contradictory information regarding the calculation of the Inheritance Tax; on the one hand, because it is slightly unclear due to the absence of a single law. There was a national law that applicable to non-residents and others with a regional character that applied to those who were residents in each of the regions with legislative autonomy. Now a days the regional law is applicable to both residents and non-residents. And on the other hand, by the viral dissemination in the forums and web pages of information furnished by individuals or companies seeking to create some alarm that allows them to promote their services and achieve their own economical benefit.
The truth is that, depending on many variables such as the residence of the deceased, location of the assets to be inherited, the relationship between deceased and heirs, the value of the estate, the existing wealth of the inheritors, age, etc.., a heir may not have to pay anything or might pay over 70% of the value of the goods inherited.
But is there a real risk of ending up paying very high rates? Do not be alarmed. As an example, to end up paying a 70% Inheritance Tax you need to be in this scenario: each heir should inherit here more than 2,000,000 Euros, not have any family relationship with the deceased and have a pre-existing wealth in Spain (before inheritance) exceeding 4,000,000 Euros. This is not a common case but rather a legal hypothesis not so easy to be found. Nevertheless you can still find web pages of legal advisors that in order to sell their business (incorporation of UK based companies) threaten you with a 81,6% maximum rate for Inheritance Tax.
Before the 1st January 2015 most of the Spanish residents that inherited from other residents paid little or nothing given the existence of reductions in the taxable figure for the main residence, bonuses that were applicable directly in the final tax figure, or tax exemptions according to regional laws. NOW ALL THOSE REDUCTIONS, BONUSES AND EXEMPTIONS ARE FULLY APPLICABLE TO NON-RESIDENTS in Spain, and after several sentences from the Supreme Court not just to residents within a country member of the European Union (EU) or the European Economic Area (E.E.A.), but to everyone.
Let’s see how it works in our 17 autonomous communities (Regional Governments):
There are many regions in Spain where parents, children and spouse of the deceased practically pay nothing at all.
In Cantabria there is a 100% bonus in the final tax figure for inheritors of groups I and II.
In the Canary Islands, the final tax figure has a 99.9% bonus.
In Andalusia there is a reduction of the tax base of € 1.000.000 and the final tax bill has a 99% bonus.
In Madrid, the final tax figure has a 99% bonus.
In Extremadura the final tax figure has a 99% bonus.
In Murcia the final tax figure has a 99% bonus.
In La Rioja, there is a 99% bonus in the final tax figure should the tax base is below 500,000 € and a 98% bonus if the tax base is over that figure.
In the Basque Country are exempt of payment the first 400,000 € that inherits each heir. The rest is taxed only at 1.5%.
In Navarra there is a flat rate of 0.8% for the wife/husband from 250,000 €. Ascendants and descendants have a tax of 2% from 250,000 € to 500,000 €; 4% from 500,001 € to 1,000,000 €; 8% from 1,000,001 € to 1,800,000 €; 12% from 1,000,000 € to 3,000,000 €; and 16% from 3,000,001 €.
In Castilla La Mancha there is a bonus in the final tax bill of 100% when the tax base is below 175,000 €; 95% for tax bases between 175,001 € and 225,000 €; 90% when the tax base is between 225,001 € and 275,000 €; 85% for tax bases between 275,001 € and 300,000 €; and a bonus of 80% for tax bases exceeding 300,000 €.
In Catalonia, the spouse has a 99% bonus and children have a bonus that starts at 99% and is reduced as the taxable figure increases. For example for a taxable figure of 1,000,000 Euros the bonus is 84.60%. Furthermore 95% of the value of the family home is exempt with a maximum figure of 500,000 €.
In the Valencia region (Costa Blanca) There is a 75% bonus applicable to the final tax figure for children under 21 (group I) and a 50% bonus on the final tax bill for the spouse, children over 21 and parents (group II). There are also reductions in the tax base with regard to the inheritance of the main property.
In the Balearic Islands there is a 99% bonus over the tax figure for children under 21 (group I). There is a reduction on the tax base of € 25,000 per each beneficiary of group II (spouse, children over 21 and parents). That amount goes also higher for children under 21. Both groups (I and II) are taxed at 1% up to 700,000 €; at 8% from 700,001 € to 1,000,000 €; at 11% from 1,000,001 € to 2,000,000 €; at 15% from 2,000,001 € to 3,000,000 €; and at 20% from 3,000,001 € onwards. 100% of the habitual residence is deducted from the tax base up to a maximum of 180,000 € per heir (children, parents and spouse) who have lived with the deceased.
In Galicia heirs under 25 pay almost no tax considering the huge reductions in the tax base and the bonus in the final tax figure. The allowance in the final tax figure is 99% for children under 21 years (group I). There is a reduction on the tax base of 400,000 € for group II (spouse, children over 21 and parents). Both groups (I and II) are taxed at 5% up to 50,000 €; at 7% from 50,001 € to 125,000 €; at 9% from 125,001 € to 300,000 €; at 11% from 300,001 € to 800,000 €; at 15% from 800.001 € to 1.600.000 €; and at 18% from 1,600,000 € onwards. The main property also has a 100% allowance for the spouse and at least 95% for children and parents up to 600,000 Euros value.
In Castilla León there used to be a 99% bonus applicable to the final tax figure but not any more. Now they have a reduction on the tax base of € 60,000 Euros per beneficiary of group II (spouse, children over 21 and parents), amount that goes higher for children under 21. There is also another reduction on the tax base of € 400,000 less any figures that might have been deducted.
In Aragón children under 18 pay almost no tax considering the 100% reduction on the tax base with the limit of 3,000,000 €. Children over 18 and the spouse have a 100% reduction in the tax base with a limit of 150.000 € and provided that the value of their preexisting assets do not exceed 402.678,11 €. There is a bonus of 65% of the resulting tax figure provided that the taxable amount is equal to or less than 100.000 € and the heir’s preexisting estate does not exceed 100.000 €. This bonus in the final tax figure is incompatible with the abovementioned reductions in the tax base. Finally, for all of them apply a reduction to 99% of the tax base on the main residence with a limit of 125.000 € per beneficiary. The property must be kept in their estate for 5 years.
In Asturias, there is a reduction in the tax base for the spouse and direct relatives when the value of the assets and rights acquired (besides the habitual residence) does not exceed 300,000 €. In that case the taxable base will be zero. Both groups (I and II) are taxed at 21.25% up to € 56,000; To 25.50% from € 56,001 to € 216,000; To 31.25% from € 216,001 to € 616,000; And to 36,50% from 616,001 €. Acquisition of the main residence has a reduction between 99% and 95% depending on the value.
Resuming, in a good number of regions , those property owners who have had the foresight to grant a Spanish Will shall find that in the majority of cases their heirs will not have to pay Inheritance Tax, and if they have to pay it, would very rarely reach a high rate.
Therefore, the reasons that some companies give to recommend that the property is transferred to a company domiciled outside Spain, as that otherwise the inheritance tax will be disproportionate, or the heirs should have the property in their name for a number of years to be eligible for bonuses or reductions, etc, are erroneous in most cases.
3.- European Commission lawsuit against discriminatory legislation
Before the 1st January 2015 regional regulations, applicable to residents in these regions, were much more beneficial to the taxpayer than the State regulations, applicable to non-residents, which entailed a clear discrimination between European residents and non-residents. Thus, the European Commission asked the Spanish Government in 2011 and 2012 to change the legislation to prevent discrimination. As it was not achieved, the Commission sued the Spanish State in the Court of Justice of the European Union. This process had its hearing in Luxembourg in January 2014 and the sentence was issued on the 3rd September 2014.
What was the result?
The Tribunal considered that, as the Commission was denouncing, the Spanish legislation for inheritance tax, as it allowed the existence of different treatment to the taxation of inheritance and donations between residents and non residents in Spain that generated an extra cost for non residents European citizens
The European Court ruled against the Spanish State, for breaching Article 63 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union as well as Article 40 of the Agreement on the European Economic Area, so the Spanish Government had to change the legislation so that there is no room for discrimination between residents and non-residents. This way, spouses, children and parents that inherit from a non resident in Spain pay now the same as those that inherit from residents. As we have already seen, they pay little or nothing in most communities thanks to the reductions, bonuses and exemptions that they enjoy.
Inheritance tax is a very unpopular charge and it is likely that the target will be to keep working in taxing lightly those acquisitions by inheritance that happen within the close family, being this the model followed by most of the countries around us where rarely the spouse or children are taxed, or they enjoy reductions and exemptions that greatly limit the payable amount.
Taxpayers who have paid Inheritance Tax and believe they have been discriminated because of their residence may now legally claim the refund of what they have overpaid.
4.- International double taxation. Can I end up paying inheritance tax in Spain and in my home of residency?
Today, thanks to the freedom of movement of people and capital within the EU, there are many inheritance procedures in which an international element is involved, either because the assets constituting the deceased estate are located in several countries or the deceased and the beneficiaries have tax residence in different states. In such cases the lack of coordination between the different countries, as a result of the fiscal sovereignty of each of the countries, can cause a problem of international double taxation, that is, that both countries might be seeking to tax the same taxable event.
Obviously double taxation is contrary to the principles of tax justice and a serious obstacle to the free movement of people and capital. The states try to correct or mitigate it through unilateral domestic legislation or by international treaties and conventions (bilateral or multilateral) signed for that purpose. The problem is that while in regard to income tax, there are plenty of bilateral treaties between different states, there is no such coverage in respect of the taxation of inheritance. Few treaties in this sense exist within the EU and in particular in the case of Spain there are only bilateral agreements to avoid double taxation on inheritance with Greece, France and Sweden.
The European Commission issued a recommendation in December 2011 on measures that Member States should implement in their internal law system to avoid double taxation (OJ of 20 December 2011).
In this recommendation the Commission echoes the problem of the existence of hundreds of thousands of cross-border inheritances every year and the low incidence of international conventions in this regard and it proposes the adoption of a series of measures to address this problem and which aim, briefly, would be to achieve that “the overall tax burden of a particular inheritance does not exceed the charge that would apply only if the member state which has the highest tax burden of the member states involved had tax exclusive competence on the whole succession.”
However, and although this is not a definite solution and have gaps and failures in its implementation, it is common practice to apply internal and unilateral relief provisions to regulate this situation in regards to personal liability. States usually articulate mechanisms in their domestic legislation to enable that their resident taxpayers can deduct the amounts paid by real obligation in other countries.
In Spain the Article 23 of the Law on Inheritance and Gift Tax provides:
“1. When the Inheritance tax is due by personal obligation (residents in Spain) the taxpayer is entitled to deduct the smaller of the following two amounts:
• a) The actual amount paid abroad because of a similar tax that affects the capital gains (from inheritance) subject to tax in Spain .
• b ) The result of applying the effective average rate of this tax to the capital gain (from inheritance) corresponding to assets located or rights that can be exercised outside Spain, where they had been taxed abroad for a similar tax.”
In the United Kingdom, for example, there are bilateral agreements for this matter just with the Republic of Ireland, USA, South Africa, France, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, India and Pakistan. In the cases where there is no bilateral agreement, the amounts paid in the foreign country can be unilaterally deducted in the United Kingdom up to, as maximum, the amount you would pay for that good or right in the UK, or the amount actually paid abroad if lower.
For example:
A resident of the United Kingdom dies and leaves an estate of £ 1,000,000. Included in the estate there is a property in Spain that is valued at the equivalent of £ 230,000. The IHT paid in Spain by two heirs was the equivalent of 26,000 Sterling Pounds.
The estate (tax base) would be £ 1,000,000
Less threshold: £ 325,000
Total taxable figure: £ 675,000
UK IHT @ 40%: £ 270,000
The part that corresponds to the property in Spain is calculated using the formula:
property value / (total value of the estate x IHT)
Thus IHT portion corresponding to the asset in Spain would be £ 62,100 and therefore as it exceeds the amount paid in Spain namely £ 26,000 GBP, the amount to be deducted would be limited to the figure paid in Spain.
The following pages of the HMRC explain how calculation is made:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/ihtmanual/ihtm27181.htm
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/ihtmanual/ihtm27185.htm
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/ihtmanual/ihtm27187.htm
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cto/customerguide/page20.htm
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cto/customerguide/page13-3.htm
In the Republic of Ireland they have similar rules. There are bilateral agreements on this matter with the United Kingdom and the United States. In the cases where there is no bilateral agreement, the amounts paid in the foreign country can also be unilaterally deducted in Ireland up to, as maximum, the amount you would pay for that good or right in Ireland, or the amount actually paid abroad if lower.
This page of the Irish Revenue explains the reliefs for double taxation:
http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/cat/guide/double-taxation.html#section1
Therefore, it is not true that the absence of a bilateral double taxation agreement about inheritance taxation means that the tax has to be paid in full in the two countries.
In fact, using the example of Britain, where the Inheritance tax has a flat rate of 40% after the threshold and therefore higher to Spanish rate in the vast majority of cases, it is highly likely that whatever the amount paid in Spain is, it could be deducted from the amount to be paid in the UK. Therefore the IHT to be paid in the UK would not be affected by the incorporation of property to the British company as when the heirs receive the shares of the company by inheritance these must be valued taking into account the existing assets of the company at market prices.
5.- You inherit 50% of your property from your spouse and pay IHT over it. Is it true that your children will have to pay again IHT on the second death?
When calculating the overall tax cost of the inheritance, those consultants that recommend the use of foreign companies usually include a first IHT to be paid by the surviving spouse to which they add the potential tax payable for subsequent beneficiaries, but when making those calculations they selfishly forget the content of Article 20.3 of the Law, further improved in terms of deadlines in regional Governments, so they present an inflated cost that in many cases does not correspond to reality.
Article 20.3: “If within a maximum period of ten years the same goods were the subject of two or more transmissions “mortis causa” in favor of descendants, in the second and subsequent transmissions will be deducted from the tax base, in addition, the amount of tax paid in previous transmissions. Subrogation of property shall be allowed where it is established conclusively”.
Therefore, the answer to the question above is NO, provided that no more than 10 years have elapsed between the two deaths.
6.- How are the properties to be inherited valued?
Given that when inheriting property there is no acquisition price agreed between parties, the assessment to be used will be determined by the minimum value established by the counselors of economy and finance of the autonomous communities where the properties are located. These valuations will match the assessed value of the property (cadastral value) in those municipalities where the cadastral values have been recently revised and they will have a multiplier index for updating those where the review of assessed values has not been made in recent years.
In any case these cadastral values used to calculate the IHT are often smaller than the values of the property market in the area. There is no need to make an appraisal of the property by a surveyor/valuator expert, unless the actual value of the home is well below the minimum set by the administration or the condition of the home is very poor or dilapidated.
Also keep in mind that the burdens and debts of the property are tax deductible. As a result, the debts with the Community of owners, Town Hall, home loan, etc., can drastically reduce the taxable figure and therefore the amount to pay.
7.- Do I have to pay the tax immediately after death?
The tax is due upon death and must be settled within six months from that date. During the first five months from the date of death you could ask for an extension of another six months. In this case, default interest is payable by the extended days.
Distribution of the payment can also be agreed as long as it is requested within five months following the death. That distribution could be done in a maximum of five annual installments, provided that the payment is guaranteed.
Finally it may also be agreed a deferral, with the same conditions already seen, in case that the beneficiaries are still unknown and until the moment in which they are eventually appointed.
What happens if the liquidation is not done within 6 months and no postponement is requested or approved?
- Should the IHT be paid after the sixth month and before nine months since date of death, a penalty increase of 5% will be applicable over the due amount.
- Should the IHT be paid after nine months and before a year since date of death, a penalty increase of 10% will be applicable over the due amount.
- Should the IHT be paid after a year and before fifteen months since date of death, a penalty increase of 15% will be applicable over the due amount.
- Should the IHT be paid after fifteen months and before eighteen months since date of death, a penalty increase of 20% will be applicable over the due amount.
- Should the IHT be paid after eighteen months since date of death, a penalty increase of 20% will be applicable over the due amount, plus default interest generated from that time until the date that payment is made.
Payment of Inheritance Tax cannot be requested by the Tax Office after 4 years, 6 months and a day from death, unless there has been an action by the Tax Administration to interrupt that period. Courts, Civil registrars and Notaries are obliged to report in a monthly basis all IHT taxable situations that they might come to know in the exercise of their functions.
CONCLUSIONS
1.- It is impossible to give a single, fully comprehensive and universal response to all clients and cases as it requires a detailed study of all the circumstances of each family to recommend a solution or another. The solution provided cannot be to avoid paying the tax by hiding the taxable situation behind a company structure. Buying a property in the name of a foreign company can be interesting or desirable if the company will dedicated to the rental or sale of property or if the property has a very high value (saving that way the income and wealth taxes in Spain) but avoiding payment of inheritance tax should not be the reason for this practice.
2.- Any given solution must be directed not only to reduce, as much as possible, the due tax, but also to limit the direct cost of implementing that solution, and how this affects our legal position in other aspects, and that because, as we have seen, it is quite possible that the tax, as we know it now, might not exist at the time of our death.
In the meantime, the European, national and/or regional laws currently in force might change, reducing, eliminating or limiting the exposure that the tax would have in our estate. The national or regional legislation in relation to taxation or treatment of foreign companies holding real estate might also change. That is quite common and to give you an idea you can have a look at our entry about the controversial Andalusian Law that affects companies owning property in that region. Also bilateral or multilateral international agreements can be signed that radically change the way in which these taxes affect us.
Therefore any solution that might arise should be treated as provisional to a certain extend and therefore it is not advisable to take steps that can be very costly in the future if they are no longer effective. Bringing our assets in Spain into a foreign company and thereby avoid paying inheritance tax, can be a case of tax evasion, which already in itself should be enough to dismiss this option, but also in many cases it is not profitable considering the current laws, and no one can guarantee that in those cases where it may be advantageous today considering the cost/savings balance (and assuming the risks involved) it will remain in the future.
The current situation, in most of the autonomous regions, is that the spouses, ascendants and descendants residents who inherit do not pay Inheritance Tax any longer and in the few communities where they still have to pay, reductions in the the tax base are applicable. There are no differences between residents in Spain and non-residents. The trend in Europe is that the IHT disappears, at least with regard to the acquisition by succession of family assets between members of the family (spouses, parents and children).
Luis M. Vicente Burgos
VICENTE & OTAOLAURRUCHI ABOGADOS
You can read more about Inheritance in Spain in the following pages of our website: What you need to know about inheritance , FAQs on Wills and Inheritance and Claim now for a refunding of ‘discriminatory’ Inheritance tax paid in Spain.
