DT17553 - Double Taxation Relief Manual: Guidance by country: Spain: Notes

The convention that entered into force in 2014 replaced that which had been in effect since 1976. Apart from a general updating to reflect changes in the OECD Model Tax Convention and the domestic laws and treaty preferences of both state, notable changes include:

Income from immovable property

The existing convention allows Spain to tax income from time-share rights exceeding, in aggregate, four weeks in any calendar year. This period is reduced to two weeks by the new convention.

Dividends

The dividend withholding tax rate in the previous convention was 15% for portfolio investors; with the exception of property income dividends, this reduces to 10% for portfolio investors and to zero for pension schemes and direct holdings.

Interest

For interest the rate of 12% in the previous convention is reduced to zero.

Royalties

For royalties the rate of 10% in the previous convention is reduced to zero.

Teachers

The previous convention made provision for visiting teachers to be exempt from tax in the host state in certain circumstances. The new convention contains no similar provision, but does allow for teachers benefiting from the provision of the previous convention at the time the new convention entered into force to continue to do so for as long as they would have done under the terms of the previous convention.

Government service pensions

In a change from previous practice, all income received by a resident in Spain is now taken into account to calculate the applicable rate of income tax in Spain – regardless of whether the income itself is taxed in Spain. So a UK Government pension, although generally exempt from taxation in Spain, will be taken into account for the purposes of determining the tax rate which applies to other income which is taxable in Spain. This is common practice in other states around the world and, although confirmed by the text of the new convention, it was always open to Spain to apply this treatment.

Anti-avoidance

The new convention includes an anti-treaty shopping provision in paragraph 2 of Article 23.

Arbitration

The new convention provides for disputes on the application of the convention under the Mutual Agreement Procedure process to be settled via arbitration (paragraph 5 of Article 25).