01/09/2022 at 08:28 CET
Cristina Gallardo
the return to Spain from Juan Carlos I will presumably perform when the file by the Public Prosecutor’s Office Supreme Court of the three proceedings against him for possible crimes of money laundering against tax authorities public corruption and influence peddling.
At this point, one of the unknowns to be solved will be that of the tax status of the ex-monarch depending on the length of your stay in the country and also taking into account your lack of income, Since in principle it would be a retiree whose son, King Felipe VI, canceled the service in March 2020.
So things, current tax regulations would threaten their plans to spend time in Spain and pay taxes in Abu Dhabi, according to tax experts consulted by El Periódico de España. Your obligations to the Spanish Treasury depend on several factors to analyze, such as the stay the time in our country, the place where the heart of its possible economic activities and also what is stated in the agreement to avoid double taxation signed with the United Arab Emirates, which determines that to be considered as a tax resident in this country, one must have UAE nationality.
Sources from the Spanish Association of Tax Advisers (AEDAF) emphatically point out to this newspaper that in principle, and from a technical point of view, “indeed, the king father you are not a tax resident in the Emirates, for the purposes of the double taxation agreement. “The spokesperson for the Technical Union of the Ministry of Finance (Gestha), Carlos Cruzado, shares this analysis, and goes further by declaring that, according to him, Juan Carlos I should continue to pay taxes in Spain today.
The aforementioned agreement published in the Official Journal of the State (BOE) in 2007 indicates in its article that the expression “resident of a Contracting State” implies, in the case of the Kingdom of Spain, any person who, by virtue of of the laws in force in our country, is subject to tax because of your domicile, residence, etc. In the case of the United Arab Emirates, it should only take into account “natural persons” domiciled in the said territory “and who are nationals of the United Arab Emirates Emirates.
“Attract talent”
Thus, the Convention It should not be for the King Emeritus to circumvent taxation in our country derived from continuous residence, since UAE nationality is expressly required to claim that their tax residence is in Abu Dhabi and for this reason they should not be taxed again in Spain.
There is no trace of the granting of this nationality, and that despite the fact that the Arab country reformed its law last January to offer the citizenship to certain groups of foreigners, in order to attract “talents” that it contributes to the development of the country, as Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum explained on this occasion.
In any case, according to the president of the Association of Tax Controllers, Ransés Pérez Boga, it is not always necessary to be in the double taxation agreement, as the conditions may not be met to place the subject in question in said situation of taxation in two countries at the same time, which the document tries to avoid.
In the case of the emeritus, some details are unknown in order to establish what exactly his tax situation would be, but a general scenario can be drawn up., adds this expert, who goes through the analysis of several factors.
The first of these would be the one related to period of residence in our country, and whether or not this can be considered “sporadic”. In general, a factor to take into account is whether or not this residence is greater than 183 days (six months) which establishes the law to generate tax obligations, although it is not the only one. The problem, anyway, would end if the king had Abu Dhabi tax residency certificate, documentation that is not difficult to obtain in countries like the one Juan Carlos I chose to settle in August 2020, although it seems to conflict with what the aforementioned agreement indicates .
It would also be necessary to analyze, in the opinion of Pérez Boga, where the core of successful economic activities, which does not appear to be Abu Dhabi (there is no evidence that there is any activity), and it could be located in Spain if there are any properties or assets.
Another factor to be analyzed according to the tax inspectors is to determine the tax domicile according to where does the spouse live and the minor children of the person to be studied. In the case of Juan Carlos I, there are no longer any minor descendants, but his wife is still Queen Sofia, resident of Spain.
As reported by El Periódico de España, and once the investigations against King Juan Carlos – which are expected to take place in the first weeks of 2022, despite the fact that the three proceedings have been extended by six months as the legal deadlines expire this December. – both the Zarzuela as La Moncloa will give the green light for his return. This will take place when it suits Felipe VI, as the announcement that the previous monarch is once again marching on Spain does not obscure any act of the Crown on designated dates.
The surveys
The first of the investigations opened to the emeritus concerned the possible indictment of the AVE in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, although it focuses on the activities of the emeritus while he was head of state and therefore inviolable according to the Spanish Constitution.
What else, the case is deflated after December 13, the Swiss prosecutor Yves Bertossa filed, for lack of evidence, the investigation he opened for money laundering after learning that Juan Carlos I had received 100 million dollars (64.8 million d ‘euros) in 2008 from the government of Saudi Arabia, which he later donated to his former lover Corinna Larsen in 2012.
The second line of investigation opened and also recently extended analyzes the payment of up to 800,000 euros in credit cards in the name of Air Force Colonel Nicolás Murga, who acted like the monarch’s straw man. The investigations also remained in force after Juan Carlos I regularized with the Treasury the travel expenses paid by his cousin Álvaro de Orleans with the Zagatka Foundation.
The third cause concerns bank movements of accounts which were intended for the British island of Jersey. The prosecution opened its investigation after receiving a report from “financial intelligence”. of the Service for the prevention of money laundering (Sepblac) which stressed that the ex-monarch could be the beneficiary of a company which was hiding nearly ten million euros.