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Is it the end of the 720?

Jan 28, 2022 | Modelo 720 | 7 comments

The Court of Justice of the EU has published a judgment, on January 27, 2022, by which it declares contrary to Union Law the Spanish tax regulations that oblige tax residents in Spain to declare their assets or rights located abroad, in “Modelo 720”.

Ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union

The Spanish Minister of Finance and Public Function, María Jesús Montero, during the presentation of the collection data for 2021, explained that “Modelo 720” had been the subject of analysis by the European Union court for a long time and that the sentence fundamentally considers two aspects: that (1) a statute of limitations is not established and that (2) the percentage of the fines may be considered abusive.

According to Spanish regulations, residents in Spain who do not declare or declare imperfectly or declare out of time, the goods and rights they have abroad are exposed to the regularization of the tax owed for the amounts corresponding to the value of said goods or rights, the imposition of a proportional fine up to 150% of the value of the assets, even when these have been acquired during a prescribed period, as well as, specific fixed amount fines.

The judicial resolution states that: “The obligation to file the “Modelo 720”, which was launched by the former Minister of Finance Cristóbal Montoro, and the sanctions derived from non-compliance or imperfect or untimely compliance with said obligation, which have no equivalent regarding assets or rights located in Spain, establish a difference in treatment between residents in Spain based on the location of their assets. This obligation may dissuade residents of that Member State from investing in other Member States, prevent them from doing so or limit their ability to do so, and therefore constitutes a restriction on the free movement of capital”.

Fines before and after the sentence

The Court of Justice points out in this regard that Spanish law sanctions non-compliance of mere informative obligations by imposing very high fixed-amount fines, since they are applied to each piece of data or set of data; they are accompanied, depending on the case, by a minimum amount of 1,500 or 10,000 euros and their total amount is not limited.

However, although the sentence annuls the sanctioning regime and the non-status-of-limitation of “Modelo 720”, it does not imply the repeal of the obligation to file “Modelo 720”, whose term for the 2021 financial year expires on March 31, 2022.

María Jesús Montero claims that she will correct the two elements subject to revision of the “Modelo 720” with the “greatest speed”: “We are going to reformulate quickly, once we carefully read the small print, those aspects that have to be corrected”.

The minister explained that, although during the last three years no one had been sanctioned, pending this resolution, it is her intention to modify the two aspects before the March 31 deadline, and insisted on the obligation to file the 720 on time, this year.

Summary

As we have been saying at US Tax Consultants in recent years, residents in Spain, regardless of their nationality, must file “Modelo 720”, which is an informative return, which does not involve paying taxes, of all the assets they have abroad and as of next year will have to include cryptocurrencies. In addition one must be sure that all income generated by these assets has been declared in personal income tax return (IRPF) of the last four years. This means that in some cases where taxes have not been paid on those returns, it will be necessary to present complementary declarations, to regularize the tax situation.

Do not hesitate to call us if you have any doubts US Tax Consultants +34 915194392

7 Comments

  1. Manuel

    Veremoavé sigo tu recomendación Gracis. MK

    Reply
  2. Sheryl

    Do I need to file a 720 for the year I arrive if I will not be tax liable for that year due to arriving in July?

    Reply
    • Antonio Rodriguez

      Sheryl,
      You must file the 720 between Janaury and March of the following year after becoming fiscal resident of Spain. So, since you were not 183 day in Spain during 2021, you are not considered fiscal resident and you do NOT have to file the 720 this year.
      Antonio

      Reply
  3. MG

    Hi, how is the Model 720 treated when a dual citizen (US/Spanish) files the IRPF as Spanish and the 1040 plus the FBAR reporting bank accounts outside of the US as US citizen? I can understand a US citizen who comes to Spain gets a NIF but a Spanish citizen who all the US bank account and property were acquired as a US citizen way before 2012? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Antonio Rodriguez

      Please kkep in mind that you file a 1040/FBAR because of your nationality and you file the IRPF becasu of your residency. Both return include world wide income. If you fila IRPF is becase you are resident in Spain ans all residents in Spain must file a 720 is they have assets abroad, it does not matter if you acure them before 2012 or after. 720 is to Spain as the FBAR is the the U.S.A.
      FBAR
      Modelo 720

      Reply
    • Art

      Hello,
      I am wondering… if a person declares in Year1 his/her 10 bank accounts with a total amount of say +51k, and in Year 2 the amount owned reduces to 5k, there is nothing to declare, no? But if in Year3 the person closes 9 of its 10 bank accounts (total amount owned still 5k!), what is required to declare is only the details of those closed accounts, correct? But if this is the case (ie when it is not being declared that all what the person has is 5k), the tax authorities will still continue to assume that the person has more then 50k, and need to keep tracking all his/hers bank account, no? So, if in following years the person will continue to own only those 5k, he/she will be continue being obliged to report any new account open or closed.. indefinitely.. is this understanding correct?
      So I wonder how do you “disappear” from the radar of the tax authorities, and return to the same status and reporting obligation, as any other person having 5k from the start?

      Reply
      • Antonio Rodriguez

        It seems to me that you asumtions are correct!

        Reply

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