[hola32]

Hi everybody!

I'm Spanish and my husband is American. He retired last year and although we are living in the U.S. we are thinking about living in Spain permanently. If we move to Spain I will be working there and we are not thinking about buying a property there but about renting something. We don't have properties here in the States either just some money invested here in the U.S. My question is, if he will not have any properties in Spain and just his pension from the government, does he has to pay any taxes in Spain being a permanent resident?

Thank you very much!

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

99.9% of the time, if you live in a country and use their services and facilities, they will expect you to pay taxes.

[hola32]

Thank you for your answer but are you guessing or you know for sure?

I just can't see how he should pay taxes in Spain to the Spanish government for a retirement pension from the US government... another thing would be if he buys some property in Spain or works, but if he is just living there and spending his retirement pension there he is already giving money to Spain and paying his taxes to the American government who is the one that is paying him... shouldn't he?

[AW805]

You raise an interesting question. Of course he would continue having to pay US taxes since he is a US citizen from money earned here. You would pay taxes from earnings earned in Spain to Spain. I don't know that I agree with he'd also have to pay taxes to Spain on his US earnings... but I don't know the laws in Spain.

[hola32]

Hi AW805!. and thank you for your answer!

That's what I thought, that if the money comes from the US government taxes should be paid to the US government and not to the Spanish one cause Spain doesn't have anything to do with that... in fact in Spain if you are not working you don't have to make your taxes once a year... I just got confused cause I read somewhere that there is an agreement between Spain and USA about taxes to not make a person pay taxes twice (in both countries).

[AW805]

Hi Hola32: I hope you don't misunderstand me. I understand your reasoning and questioning paying Spanish taxes on US income but I don't know Spanish laws.
The Spanish tax system can be complicated. Foreign residents with income and/or assets abroad should obtain expert advice regarding Spanish taxes.

[hola32]

I will ask for expert advice. Thank you very much indeed