Readers’ forum: Spanish retirement

My client is a British national who has retired to Spain. His state pension is paid void of UK tax because he has a Spanish tax residency. He declares his UK state pension in Spain every year.

However the client has recently received a letter from the Spanish Agencia Tributaria that he should declare his civil service pension in Spain. I am worried because this might be for the purpose of assessing his tax status.

Can readers advise me whether the Spanish tax authorities can legally use the client’s civil service pension to assess his tax status and presumably deduct further tax from the civil service pension. Would such an act be in direct contravention of the double taxation agreement that in effect would mean being taxed twice on the pension?

I look forward to hearing from readers who may have encountered a similar situation.

Query 19 818...