Leaving Spain

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jonbar.1
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Leaving Spain

Postby jonbar.1 » Sat Jan 25, 2025 4:06 pm

An elderly,ex-pat, neighbour of ours is leaving to return to the UK.
She wanted to know what she needs to do regarding her "TIE" & "Salud Health Card"
Her Gestor has suggested that it is necessary to complete various forms, visit police station and health centre etc.( suggesting he would take care of it for a fee)
Out of curiosity I called into my local library/ information centre to enquire.
A very helpful chap who had some English,told me he wasn't sure,but made a couple phone calls ( one of which,I believe was the police station).
He told me that the lady need not do anything at all....except destroy the cards!
We're now not sure who's right. :think:
Anyone with experience of this please?
Cheers JB

El Cid
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Re: Leaving Spain

Postby El Cid » Sat Jan 25, 2025 5:21 pm

He’s right. She is free to go and live in the UK and do nothing at all. The TIE merely proves she has a right of residence in Spain and that remains for 5 years. She could in theory return to Spain within that time and resume her health care etc. As for arriving in the UK, if she was in reception of an S1 form, she has full NHS coverage from day 1, all she needs to do is register with a local GP. The one thing she ought to do is cancel her Padron as she is no longer living in Spain. If she was paying tax in Spain she should notify Hacienda that she will cease to be tax resident, but they will usually need confirmation from HMRC that she is now tax resident in the UK. So, although she can judo at get on a plane and go, she may want to be happy that she has done it all “properly” in which case the small fee a Gestor would make may be worth her peace of mind.

Sid

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jonbar.1
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Re: Leaving Spain

Postby jonbar.1 » Sat Jan 25, 2025 5:25 pm

Thanks Sid :thumbup:

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IreneD
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Re: Leaving Spain

Postby IreneD » Mon Jan 27, 2025 3:34 am

Sid is absolutely right (he gave me the same advice, thanks Sid) . We left Spain at the end of April 2023 and have kept our TIE cards. Our gestor is a friend and assured us she would point the hacienda in HMRC's direction, if needed. So far, so good.

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jonbar.1
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Re: Leaving Spain

Postby jonbar.1 » Fri Jan 31, 2025 8:22 am

Thanks Irene,
Our friend was also wondering about switching back to Uk Tax.
I phoned HMRC to ask. They said to simply phone them on arrival and she would be given a UK tax-code.Easy. :thumbup:
Does she need to communicate, in any way, with the Spanish Tax Office though?

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Re: Leaving Spain

Postby El Cid » Fri Jan 31, 2025 9:25 am

You can submit Form 030 to Hacienda to advise them that you are leaving Spain and are no longer tax resident. However if you have already exceeded 183 days they will consider you to be tax resident for the whole year. They don’t accept split tax years (HMRC do). You need to ask HMRC for a certificate of tax residency to send to Hacienda to complete the transfer.

Sid

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IreneD
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Re: Leaving Spain

Postby IreneD » Sat Feb 01, 2025 3:33 am

We did phone HMRC and told them our circumstances but they weren't very interested. Our income is too low to pay tax so we weren't given a tax no. Maybe we should have been?

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Enrique
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Re: Leaving Spain

Postby Enrique » Sat Feb 01, 2025 9:46 am

Hi IreneD,

" Do I need to submit and Tax Return in UK"

https://www.gov.uk/self-assessment-tax- ... tax-return
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Re: Leaving Spain

Postby Wicksey » Sat Feb 01, 2025 9:57 am

Unlike in Spain where we were encouraged to do a return each year even if there's no tax due, in the UK the self assessment was usually only for those that have to do it. When we were landlords we did one as we were expat, but now we aren't I'm hoping that I don't have to any more.

One year when our rental profits were very low I completed an online form to say we didn't need to complete an ITR and they wrote back to confirm we didn't have to that year. We've never had to pay tax in the UK but always usually needed to submit returns (my OH did creep over the tax free allowance the other year but I was able to pass over some of my unused allowance so he didn't need to pay - I guess that's something I'd have to do via a return if necessary). Usually tax is collected via your PAYE code if you have private pensions, although now the state pension has risen, I'm not sure how they are going to treat pensioners who creep into the taxable limit.

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Re: Leaving Spain

Postby Enrique » Sat Feb 01, 2025 10:10 am

Hi Wicksey,

" I'm not sure how they are going to treat pensioners who creep into the taxable limit."

Then you have to submit a Self Assessment , can be done on-line.
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Re: Leaving Spain

Postby jonbar.1 » Tue Feb 04, 2025 2:52 pm

UPDATE.
Despite reporting,in my original posting,that I had been advised ( by local info-centre) that you need not do anything regarding TIEs & Health.,except destroy the cards!
I am now advised by the local " Foreigners Dept" that it is necessary for our friend to download form"X18" from the police website.Then complete it and take it to a police station with the usual stack of personal paperwork.
We should have known :roll:
We dare not delve into the Health System for fear of finding even more beurocracy!
I will suggest throwing a bit of money at a decent Gestor to do the work.
Never expected that leaving Spain would be as difficult as getting in!

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Re: Leaving Spain

Postby El Cid » Tue Feb 04, 2025 4:33 pm

It’s only difficult because you are in danger of making it difficult. If in doubt use a Gestor.

Sid

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Re: Leaving Spain

Postby jonbar.1 » Tue Feb 04, 2025 7:13 pm

Agreed Sid :thumbup:

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IreneD
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Re: Leaving Spain

Postby IreneD » Wed Feb 05, 2025 3:20 am

Thanks very much, Enrique - that's good - seems like there are advantages to being poor lol.

Jonbar, our only difficulty came about when we had to convince the nhs that we were planning to stay permanently in the UK. It's a bit hazy tbh, as it's nearly 2 years ago now but because we only came over with 2 suitcases and no furniture etc (left everything for our buyers, or got rid of stuff to Cudeca) there was no import list of the goods and chattels that most peope come back to the UK with.....crikey was it to HMRC? Might have been..... Anyway, we got this letter that said we were only entitled to emergency NHS treatment, as we weren't recognised as residents in the UK. We did have to fill in various forms and submit copies of various things e.g. proof we'd sold our house, copies of this and that which we had, no problem. And we actually dealt with a really helpful NHS chap in Lincoln who couldn't have been kinder to me, in my panic! But the Spain side, thanks to reassurance from Sid and confirmation from our wonderful gestor was actually straightforward. I would definitely agree that you make sure your gestor is kept firmly in the loop.

Getting slightly off the subject, it infuriates me that ignorant people assume that refugees enter the UK and are immediately handed accommodation and loads of benefits. Even my husband and I, bona fide British citizens had hoops to jump through to prove right to reside. But I'll leave that subject alone!

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Re: Leaving Spain

Postby Wicksey » Wed Feb 05, 2025 10:09 am

IreneD wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2025 3:20 am
Getting slightly off the subject, it infuriates me that ignorant people assume that refugees enter the UK and are immediately handed accommodation and loads of benefits. Even my husband and I, bona fide British citizens had hoops to jump through to prove right to reside. But I'll leave that subject alone!
From a Parliamentary debate paper from last year: "Public services available to illegal migrants include state education, NHS services, including A&E treatment and primary care such as GPs and dentistry appointments, compulsory psychiatric treatment, legal aid, and various local authority support
Even the most basic calculations put the economic burden on the British taxpayer of an illegal migration population of 1.2 million at £14.4 billion."
Even the Guardian reported that costs of housing illegal immigrants was 8m pounds a day back in Sept 2023. I imagine in Spain the figures are high too as they are also housed and given access to medical treatment the same as us.

I'm afraid it's always the same that the honest ones tend to have to jump through hoops to get what they're entitled to. Plenty of criminal gangs work the system and have got away with claiming millions, although thankfully a huge one got caught in the UK but the Government will not get all that lost money back as it's gone to Bulgaria by all accounts, 53m pounds!

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Re: Leaving Spain

Postby costakid » Wed Feb 05, 2025 4:54 pm

But a uk born cant get in a dentist, a doctors or even a school close to their home. £8b a year for hotels alone for people that are criminals. Before any of the woke brigade starts defending them anyone who enters the uk illegally by boat or lorry should be classed as a criminal and not rewarded for their criminality.

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Re: Leaving Spain

Postby El Cid » Wed Feb 05, 2025 5:03 pm

Classing them as criminals is easy, but it doesn’t get rid of them. Trump would build a barrier down the middle of the Channel and put machine guns on the beach. The pathetic UK government seems incapable of doing anything about it.

Sid

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Re: Leaving Spain

Postby El Cid » Wed Feb 05, 2025 7:36 pm

It's worth knowing that if you lived in the UK before 31st December 2020 and have an S1 certificate, you are entitled to full NHS cover the minute you step foot back in the UK. You might visit for just one day or for a year - you are immediately eligible for full NHS care. It explains all this in the letter you get with your S1 form. If you don't produce it when you arrive in the UK and want to register for the NHS, of course, they will treat you as a normal returnee.

Sid

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Re: Leaving Spain

Postby Trooperman » Thu Feb 06, 2025 10:50 am

On a slightly different, but nonetheless bureaucratic, note, I used to be registered with the local Guardia Civil as a Casa Rural holiday letting property and had to submit details of everyone who rented our finca for holidays.

Then I moved, about 2 hours drive away.

I did tell the Guardia Civil, via email, that no more rental returns would be sent as I had sold the property.

Their response was to tell me I had to return to the G.C. Quartel where I was registered and tell them to cancel all rental return arrangements.

I was spitting feathers when I emailed them back saying I could no longer do that as I was living 2 hours away, had health issues (partly true) and couldn't see why they just could not cancel the arrangement there and then or alternatively let me visiit the local Quartel to tell them the details.

I heard no more .... and I no longer receive reminders to fill in rental details for a property I no longer own.

Moral: If you allow the bureaucratic mindset to prevail, you will drown in a sea of redtape.
nil illegitimum carborundum

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Re: Leaving Spain

Postby KKKaty » Sat Feb 15, 2025 1:06 am

I was naughty when I left. My Lawyer and also a friend of mine was complicit. No forwarding address. Owed some tax. Closed and withdrew money from Spanish bank account on way to Airport. Did register with UK for tax on arrival a lot to fill in to actually prove I was a UK resident again! First time I returned to Spain I was a bit apprehensive but no pasa nada. Long time ago back. I visit most years. Still have old residencia card.

If carries on in UK under Starmer I might come back :lol:


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