Hacienda just sent me a parallela for 2023 tax return in Donostia
four thousand euros is a huge hit but don't panic yet. the 10 day window is just for the initial allegations phase. your gestor should be able to file an extension or at least get the documents in. did you keep your rental records from madrid? if you can show you didn't have a permanent home or any local income until the dnv started, you might have a chance. honestly though, san sebastian is known for being very rigid about these things.
the problem is the tourist visa time. if he was in madrid since january or february, he hits the 183 day rule before the dnv even kicks in. hacienda sees that as a full year of normal residency. it happened to a friend in irun last year and he lost the appeal.
Wait, did you actually have the Beckham Law approval letter (model 149) before you filed? You can't just assume the DNV gives it to you automatically. You have to apply for the tax status separately after the visa is granted.
Welcome to the Basque Country. The Gipuzkoa tax office is a separate beast from the national AEAT. They have their own rules and they are famously aggressive with new arrivals. Your gestor needs to be a specialist in the Foral system, not just someone in Madrid or Barcelona.
i moved to donostia last october and my lawyer warned me about exactly this. the gipuzkoa office doesn't always accept backdating to the start of the year if your entry date into spain was much earlier than your visa approval. they see it as you trying to avoid the higher progressive tax rates for those first few months. ask your gestor about the 'modelo 151' filings and if they were done correctly for the basque region. it is different from the rest of spain.
actually the beckham law application is retroactive to the start of the year you move to spain, but only if you were not a resident in the previous 5 years. the problem you have is the transition from tourist to dnv. hacienda often argues that if you were here on a tourist visa, you were already a resident in practice for that tax period. definitely don't pay that 4,200 euros immediately. have your gestor check if you can prove you didn't have your center of economic interests here until august.
I had the same thing happen in 2023. Hacienda argued that since I spent more than 183 days in Spain before the DNV was officially issued, I had to pay the progressive scale for the whole year. I lost the appeal and had to pay. It sucks.
That is actually wrong according to the latest circulars. If you are eligible for the regime, it should cover the entire tax year you become a resident. Don't just pay it. Fight it.
this is why i always tell people to wait until july 1st to move here if they want the dnv beckham rate to be clean. if you are here for more than 183 days in the first calendar year, you are a tax resident for the whole year. the dispute is whether you can apply the 24 percent rate to the income earned before the visa was issued. hacienda usually says no for the months you were on a tourist stay. it is a messy legal gray area that hasn't been fully tested in the basque courts yet.
is it really a gray area? i thought the beckham law explicitly covers the whole first year. if the law says you are taxed as a non resident for the full year, why would they split it?
it should cover the whole year but the basque foral authorities have their own interpretation of the special regime. they are notoriously protective of their tax revenue. they will fight you on the start date every single time.
Is the 4,200 euro including the penalty? Usually they hit you with a 50% fine if they think you were negligent. If they didn't add a fine yet, count yourself lucky and just settle.
did your gestor file the beckham law election within the 6 month window from when you started with social security? if that timeline is off even by a day, the gipuzkoa tax office will jump on it. they love these parallela letters. they are basically looking for any excuse to move you to the general tax bracket which goes up to almost 50 percent for high earners in gipuzkoa. it is much higher than madrid scales.
the basque country authorities are a whole different beast. you are dealing with the gipuzkoa tax office, not the central aeat treasury. they have their own specific rules for beckham law equivalents and they are much more aggressive about checking resident status dates. if you were in madrid on a tourist visa first, they are going to count those days toward your 183 days of residency. if you spent more than half the year in spain, they usually want you on the general progressive scale for that entire year. it is a common trap for dnv folks who arrived early.
totally agree. i am in bilbao and the bizkaia office did the same to me. people don't realize that basque taxes are separate and they don't always follow the same grace periods that madrid does. you really need a local specialist who understands foral law specifically.
Which gestor are you using? I need a recommendation for someone in Donostia who understands international remote work. My current one just looks at me blankly when I say the word digital.
Does this affect people in Bilbao too? I am moving there next month on the DNV and I am terrified of the paperwork. These stories make me want to stay in a hotel and not register anywhere.
man i am so sorry. san sebastian is a beautiful place to live but the local hacienda is the strictest in the country. i had an issue with a housing deduction there and they wouldn't move an inch. make sure your gestor is actually based in the basque country and not a generic online agency from madrid. you need someone who knows the people in that specific office. good luck and keep us posted on what they say.
I am in San Sebastian as well and my gestor told me to wait until I had stayed for a full calendar year before trying to switch to the Beckham Law precisely to avoid this parallela. The Gipuzkoa office is very old school.