I read that a residency visa gives the Spanish government claim to collect taxes on one’s worldwide income, interest and capital gains income.  Considering that Spain has taxation treaties with the US, what does this tax claim actually mean?  If we have no income generated in Spain, only US social security and maybe capital gains from stock sales with taxes paid to the IRS, would be then be liable to pay additional taxes in Spain?  Or to file a Spanish tax return each year documented with the IRS filing?

Many thanks for any light you can shed on this.

icaru,  I have exactly the same questions that you have.  I have tried to get these answers for almost a year now.  Have you had any success with finding out about the double taxation.  I would appreciate it if you would respond through this forum.  Thanks,  STEPHENM

I have never received a definitive answer but we decided not to request residency as it seems the law and its application are quite arbitrary.  If one can surmise something from the law here in Turkey, then the answer would be that your first obligation is to pay the taxes in Spain, then deduct the payments from your US tax return.

Even about the simple question of whether we must obtain residency for a stay of only 4.5 months / year went unanswered by the Spanish consulates in Boston, Washington, Istanbul and the actual Spanish gov website.  Conclusion: no one seems to care much about the legal procedure and even less in helping someone to determine what is legal and what not.  Worse than here in Turkey where we are residents now.

The new residency certificate has to be obtained for stays of more than 3 months.
If you live in Spain for more than 183 days a year it makes you tax resident, there is no choice however any tax paid in other countries will be taken into account when you do an annual tax return.
You need to find an asesor fiscal who will sort it all out for you.

We will never be in Spain for more than 120 days in any year.  So where does that leave us?

You should apply for a residents certificate after 3 months and then deregister before you leave again but to be honest I can’t see anyone doing this.
As you will be in the country less than 6 months a year you will not be resident for tax purposes but carry on paying your taxes in your home country.
You will still be liable for non resident tax here in Spain.

Thanks Kizzy, for your fast reply.  We won’t be renting our apt anyway, so no income from Spain.  I did enquire about a residence visa for just that extra month but it would require documents almost impossible to get even in 6 months from our country of residence.

Spain has not considered that some people will be there more than 3 months but less than 6.  Those people like us just belong to a dark hole in the law.

I believe France does have a long-stay visa that covers these situations.

Madrid is in the process of changing this tax:
http://www.abc.es/20071109/economia-economia/madrid-primera-autonomia-reduce_200711090255.html

The president of Madrid has suggested they would like to abolish this outdated tax by 2010.  I believe that Spain is the only country within the EU that is still exercising this tax.