Buying a home in Spain is not a decision to be taken lightly. The decision to proceed, when added to the bureaucracy and lengthy purchase procedures in Spain, means choosing the right lawyer can make all the difference.
Perhaps now is the right time and you have taken the decision to go ahead. But what happens if you have a Limited company in the UK and you are considering using the company as the purchase vehicle. Is it legal or feasible to do it that way? The answer is yes and Sun Lawyers has many years experience helping its clients purchase Spanish property via a UK limited company. The Spanish laws, like many other countries, allow foreign companies to purchase properties where they can be added to the patrimony.
The advantages of using a limited company to purchase a Spanish property.
- British companies are not subject to Non Resident Taxes as they submit their tax declarations in the UK.
- If the purchased property is rented out or used for business purposes, all the income will need to be declared in Spain, on a quarterly basis with a 19% tax rate.
- If the administrator of the company was to die, there would not be any Spanish inheritance taxes involved as there would be a transfer of the shares in the UK.
What do I need to provide to my solicitor?
There will be several documents that your solicitor will need to check and verify before proceeding with the purchase on your behalf. The list of the documents to be provided are
Certificate of Incorporation
This Companies House certificate shows the company name, number and incorporation date.
Memorandum of Articles
This shows the company’s regulations, rights and obligations
Certificate of Good standing
This certificate details the members, their position within the company, the company address and date of where and when the company was registered. It also details any current actions against the company such as liquidation, dissolution proceedings etc.
Annual return (AR01)
The annual return lists the current shareholders, the number of shares each holds, and their position within the company. This is very important in order to distinguish the members and their position to be able to carry out the purchase.
Power of Attorney
This document will enable a solicitor, like Sun Lawyers to act on behalf of the company in Spain. Most of the company’s information will be detailed in the Power of Attorney to avoid complications and misunderstandings during the purchase process. This is why is so important to provide accurately the documents listed above.
Where to find the relevant information
You can obtain company documentation from Companies House Once obtained, the documents need to be notarised (verified by a Notary). Click to locate a nearby Notary as you will need to get them legalised (verified by a Notary) and have them sent to the Foreign Office to be authenticated. You can ask your local Notary to do this for you. Once these documents have been duly signed, verified and stamped (apostilled), they will need to be couriered to Spain as your lawyer will need to prepare the sworn translations to proceed.
Only once the sworn translations are ready, can the ball start rolling in Spain to continue with the purchase procedure.
The next steps are to obtain NIE certificates (a personal and unique tax identification number that is used to track all financial and legal activities in Spain) for all the administrators. Once granted, the company will then need a tax number called CIF that your lawyer will also get for you.
You can see it is a longer process than might be imagined, but with Sun Lawyers you are in safe hands to ensure the job is done correctly. For further information email admin@nl.sun-lawyers.com
