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INHERITANCE & GIFT TAX · ANDALUCÍA

The tax people dread is usually the small part.

Spain’s inheritance and gift tax (ISD) is set partly by each region — and Andalucía is now very favourable to close family. UK heirs can generally use the Andalucía rules too, not the harsher state ones. Planned in advance, with the will and the ownership working together, the bill often shrinks dramatically. We plan it with the legal team, in plain English.

Plan the tax (in English) What we look at

Most families arrive braced for a fortune and leave owing far less. The expensive mistake isn’t the tax — it’s not knowing which rules apply to you.

A SHORT STORY (NOT ABOUT PAPERWORK)

The heirloom, the toll at the gate, and the man who knew the local rate

A family carried a small gold heirloom across the valley to pass it, at last, to the next generation. At the town gate stood a tollkeeper with a ledger, and word had reached them long before they arrived: the gate charged a toll on anything of value that passed through, and the rumoured rate was ruinous. They had half a mind to turn back and bury the thing in the hills rather than lose it at the gate.

An old man sitting in the gate’s shade asked what they were afraid of. When they told him, he laughed softly and turned the tollkeeper’s ledger toward them. The ruinous rate, it turned out, was the one charged to strangers and distant traders. For a family bringing an heirloom to its own children, the local rule barely applied — a token, no more. The rumour they’d dreaded was the wrong column entirely. They passed through paying almost nothing, kept the gold, and were glad they hadn’t buried it in a panic.

And because it was autumn, the old man gave them one more piece of advice: store the harvest wisely now, while there was time and sun, and winter would ask far less of them than they feared. Plan in the warmth and the cold is survivable. Wait until the frost, and you pay for the delay as well as the winter.

Andalucía’s inheritance tax is that gate. The ruinous rate people dread is the wrong column for close family — and, since the EU rulings, for UK heirs too. Read the right rule, store the harvest before winter, and the toll on your heirloom is usually a token. That reading, done early, is the whole of the plan.

WHAT YOU NEED

Four things that decide the bill

Inheritance and gift tax in Spain turns less on how much the estate is worth and more on who inherits, how closely, and under which rules.

A picture of the whole estate

What sits in Spain and what sits at home — the flat, the accounts, the shares, and who is set to inherit each part. The Impuesto sobre Sucesiones y Donaciones (ISD) is charged on the beneficiary, so who receives what, and how closely related they are, changes the bill more than the size of the estate does.

The family relationships, mapped

Andalucía’s reliefs are largest for close family — Groups I and II, meaning spouses, children and parents. A more distant heir (a sibling, a friend, an unmarried partner without registered status) is treated far less kindly. We map who falls where before anyone assumes a number.

Where the heirs are resident

Since EU court rulings, non-resident heirs — UK families inheriting from Spain, for instance — can generally apply the autonomous-community rules rather than the harsher state ones. That single point often turns a frightening state calculation into a modest Andalucía one, but it has to be claimed correctly.

The deadline you’re working against

For an inheritance, the tax is generally due within six months of the date of death, filed on Modelo 650. Miss it and surcharges and interest begin, whatever the reliefs. For lifetime gifts the timing is different again — either way, the date is part of the plan, not an afterthought.

The Andalucía reliefs, the non-resident position and the filing deadlines are set by current Spanish and regional law, and confirmed for your specific estate.

WHAT WE PLAN

How the exposure is lawfully reduced

Nothing here is a trick. It’s applying the reliefs you’re entitled to, choosing the cleaner route, and drafting the will so the tax lands where it costs least.

Confirming the Andalucía relief that applies to you

Close relatives in Andalucía often pay very little inheritance tax — but “very little” depends on the group, the amounts and the current rules. Rather than quote you a headline percentage, we confirm the relief that actually applies to your family and your estate, so the figure you plan around is yours, not a slogan.

Using the non-resident route properly

For UK and other non-resident heirs, we apply the autonomous-community regime the courts opened up, so you’re assessed under the favourable Andalucía rules and not defaulted onto the state ones. It’s a big deal for Britons, and it’s the kind of thing that’s easy to lose by filing the wrong way.

Lifetime gifts, weighed honestly

Sometimes passing an asset during your lifetime — a gift, a donación — is cleaner and cheaper than leaving it in the estate; sometimes it triggers other taxes and it isn’t. We weigh the gift route against the inheritance route for your specific case, and tell you straight which one wins.

How the will and the ownership are structured

How your Spanish will is drafted, and how the asset is owned, quietly decide how much tax lands where. Planning this in advance — alongside a Brussels IV Spanish will — lawfully reduces exposure and spares your heirs a scramble. Left to chance, the same estate can cost them a great deal more.

HOW IT WORKS

From a feared number to a planned one

1

Map the estate & the heirs

We list what you own in Spain, who is set to inherit, and how each heir is related to you. That map — not the headline value — is what decides the tax, so we build it first and build it properly.

2

Confirm the reliefs for your case

With the legal team, we confirm the current Andalucía reliefs for your Groups I and II relatives and the non-resident position for any UK heirs — so the numbers you plan around are the ones that actually apply, not a guessed percentage.

3

Plan the route: gift, will or both

We compare leaving the asset in the estate against a lifetime gift, and align the plan with how your Spanish will is drafted and how the asset is owned — the levers that lawfully reduce exposure.

4

File on time & keep the calendar

When the time comes, the return is filed inside the deadline — Modelo 650 within six months for an inheritance — so a generous relief is actually claimed and no surcharge is invited in through the back door.

Inheritance-tax planning sits alongside your Brussels IV Spanish will and, when the time comes, succession & probate — planned as one, not three.

FREQUENTLY ASKED

The questions we get first

Is inheritance tax in Andalucía really as low as people say?

For close family, generally yes — Andalucía applies very large reductions for Groups I and II (spouse, children and parents), so in practice many close relatives pay very little inheritance tax. What we won’t do is promise you a specific figure or a guaranteed “99%” off, because the relief depends on the amounts, the relationship and the rules in force when it applies. We confirm the current relief for your situation, so you plan around a real number rather than a headline.

I’m a UK heir and not resident in Spain — am I stuck with the harsher rules?

Generally not. Following EU court rulings, non-resident heirs — including UK families inheriting Spanish assets — can normally apply the autonomous-community rules rather than the tougher state regime. For estates in Andalucía that’s a significant advantage, because it lets you access the same generous close-family reliefs a resident would. It does have to be claimed the right way on the return, which is exactly the sort of thing we make sure is done correctly.

When is the tax due, and what happens if we’re late?

For an inheritance, the Impuesto sobre Sucesiones y Donaciones is generally due within six months of the date of death, filed on Modelo 650, and a one-off extension can be requested. Miss the window and the tax authority adds surcharges and interest — and that stings even when the underlying tax is small, because the Andalucía reliefs reduce the bill but not the penalty for filing late. The kindest thing you can do for an estate is start early, before the clock has run down.

Is it cheaper to give assets away during my lifetime?

Sometimes. A lifetime gift (a donación) can be cleaner and cheaper than leaving an asset in the estate — but it can also trigger other taxes and isn’t automatically the better route. It depends on the asset, the amounts and who receives it. We weigh the gift route against the inheritance route for your specific case and tell you honestly which one comes out ahead, rather than pushing one as a rule of thumb.

How does my Spanish will affect the tax my family pays?

A good deal. How the will is drafted, who inherits which asset and how the property is owned all shape where the tax lands and how much of the Andalucía relief is captured. That’s why inheritance-tax planning and a Brussels IV Spanish will go together — planned in advance, they lawfully reduce exposure and spare your heirs a scramble; left to chance, the same estate can cost them far more. We look at the will and the tax as one picture.

Can you handle all of this in English, with the tax side included?

Yes. We’re a bilingual firm on the Costa del Sol and we deliver the tax planning together with the legal team, so the will, the ownership and the inheritance or gift tax are considered as a whole — in plain English. You get a clear read on the likely bill after the Andalucía reliefs, the non-resident position for UK heirs and the deadlines, without having to stitch together a lawyer and an accountant who never speak to each other.

Alberto García López

Reviewed by a lawyer

Reviewed by Alberto García López

Immigration lawyer · ICA Málaga, reg. no. 11.441

We check every page against current Spanish law. This is general information, not advice on your individual case.

Globalium is an independent law firm, not a government agency, and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any public administration. Visas, permits and identification numbers are granted solely by the Spanish authorities, and you are free to apply to them directly yourself. Our fees pay for legal advice and representation, and are separate from any official fee or tax.

Signature of Alberto García López
BEFORE THE TOLL, READ THE RULE

Tell us who inherits. We’ll tell you the real bill.

A calm, plain-English read on your Spanish inheritance and gift tax — the Andalucía reliefs that apply to your family, the non-resident position for UK heirs, and the deadlines — before you assume the worst or leave it to chance.

Plan the tax (in English)

+34 667 77 02 19 · infoglobalextranjeria@gmail.com

P.S. — nobody plans inheritance tax for the joy of it. But an afternoon now, while the rules are on your side and the deadline is far off, is the difference between a token and a scramble. Store the harvest before winter.