Britons battle for '€490m in overpaid inheritance tax'

Costa del Sol News | Noticia

More than 40,000 Britons may have been overcharged Spanish inheritance tax for properties or assets inherited in Spain, and the legal battle is on to claw back the estimated 490 million euros in overpayments.

The European Commission has taken Spain to the European Court of Justice for the country's policy of taxing non-residents up to 34 per cent inheritance tax (IHT) on inherited property while Spanish residents pay nearly nothing.

A European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling will take time but lawyers are already taking action to represent affected Britons, who were charged overpayments averaging 12,000 euros each.

While 60,000 Britons are believed to have been affected in the last eight years - as well as thousands of other EU citizens - only 40,000 are still able to file a claim due to Spanish legal time limits, which stop claimants attempting to make a claim after four years from the tax payment date, says Spanish Legal Reclaims, an action group set up to represent people caught out by the policy. 

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