In this conversation, Pia Arrieta, Partner at Diana Morales Properties Knight Frank, speaks with Santiago Lapausa, economist, tax adviser and partner at JC&A Abogados, about a subject that is often overlooked in real estate: the need for tax advice before a buyer or seller makes any property decision.

The interview makes a strong and practical case for early tax planning, especially for international clients. It shows that buying or selling property in Spain is not simply a local transaction. In many cases, it is part of a wider cross-border financial picture, and poor timing or poor structuring can lead to costly mistakes that are hard, or even impossible, to reverse.

Summary of the conversation

The main message of the interview is clear from the outset: property decisions should never be made without a tax strategy.

Santiago explains that any property purchase abroad is an investment, and every investment needs a plan. Tax planning is presented not as an optional extra, but as the tool that helps investors understand the risks, the opportunities and the best route forward. His point is simple: when money is involved, tax authorities are always part of the picture, so buyers and sellers need to know the rules before they act.

A key theme throughout the discussion is that many international clients wrongly assume that buying in Spain is a purely local matter. Santiago stresses that this is one of the most common errors. For foreign buyers and sellers, the real issue is often not just Spanish tax law, but the interaction between Spain and the client’s country of origin. That is where problems arise, and where proper advice can make the greatest difference.

The interview also underlines the need for joined-up advice. Pia and Santiago both stress that the estate agent, the lawyer and the tax adviser should all be working from the same strategy. Without that coordination, clients risk delays, missed opportunities or expensive tax consequences after the deal has already gone through.

One of the strongest parts of the conversation is the use of case studies. These examples bring the issue to life and show how just a few months’ difference, or a different ownership structure, can change the tax outcome dramatically.

Analysis: the key messages behind the discussion

1. Tax advice is not the final step. It is the first one.

The first question is not only what property to buy, but how to buy it in the right way. This is the most important takeaway from the interview. Santiago makes it clear that tax planning should happen before a client starts viewing properties, not after they have found one they like.

That matters for two reasons. First, Marbella is a fast-moving market, so buyers need to be ready to act. Second, once a purchase or sale has already been completed, many tax issues can no longer be corrected. The interview frames tax advice as a way to protect the client before they become committed.

2. Cross-border planning is where the real complexity lies

Another major point is that international buyers and sellers often underestimate how one country’s tax rules affect another’s.

Santiago repeatedly returns to this. He explains that what a client does in the UK, France or Serbia may have direct consequences in Spain, even if the client assumes otherwise. This is especially relevant for people relocating, retiring or moving assets across borders.

This gives the conversation real value. It is not just about tax in the abstract. It is about timing, residency, ownership, inheritance and long-term planning, all seen through an international lens.

3. Timing can change everything

A recurring theme across the case studies is that a few months can make a huge difference.

This is especially striking in the examples involving tax residency. Clients may assume that if they move country halfway through the year, only part of the year is relevant. Santiago explains that Spain does not work that way. In several cases, becoming Spanish tax resident too early, or leaving Spain too early, can trigger major tax consequences.

That makes timing one of the most powerful messages in the interview. It is not always a question of changing the investment itself. Sometimes the strategy is simply to do the same thing but at the right moment.

4. Structure matters as much as the asset

The Serbian case study shows that how a property is acquired can be just as important as the property itself.

Rather than focusing only on the home, Santiago looks at the source of funds, family ownership, rental use, tax treaty protection and even visa implications. This is a more strategic and sophisticated view of property acquisition, and it highlights the value of specialist advice for high-net-worth clients.

This is a particularly useful angle because it shows that tax planning is not just about avoiding mistakes. It can also create a more efficient structure from the start.

5. A legal solution in one country may fail in another

The final case study on trusts is perhaps the starkest example in the interview. It shows that a structure that is perfectly valid in the UK can be ineffective, or even harmful, once the client moves to Spain.

This is one of the strongest warnings in the conversation. It underlines Santiago’s wider point that clients should never assume that a structure created elsewhere will automatically work in Spain. Cross-border planning must take the destination country fully into account.

The case studies explained

Case study 1: the UK-Spain retirement move

This example involves a British client over 65 who wanted to retire to Marbella. He planned to sell his main residence in the UK, which would be tax-free there, and also sell his UK business, where he could benefit from a 25% tax relief.

At first glance, the plan looked sensible. But the problem lay in the difference between the UK and Spanish tax years. The UK tax year runs from April to April, while Spain uses the calendar year from 1 January to 31 December.

Santiago explains that if the client moved to Spain too early in the year, for example in March or April, he would become Spanish tax resident for the whole calendar year. That means Spain could take into account income and gains arising from January onwards, including the business sale.

This would be a serious issue because Spain would not recognise the same 25% relief available in the UK.

The solution was not to abandon the move, but to adjust the timing. The strategy was to buy the home in Spain, but delay becoming Spanish tax resident until later in the year. That allowed the business sale to remain taxed only in the UK, while also giving the client up to two years to sell his UK home and still preserve the tax-free treatment.

Why this case matters This example shows how relocation planning is not just about where someone lives, but when they move. It also shows that good advice can create clarity and peace of mind. The client still achieved the move, but with a strategy that protected him from an unnecessary tax bill.

Case study 2: the Spanish wealth tax trap

This case involved a Serbian investor planning to buy a property in Spain worth more than €5 million. The natural assumption was that he should buy it in his own name, since the funds were already held personally following the sale of his business.

However, this raised a major issue: direct ownership could expose him to Spanish wealth tax and the solidarity tax on high-net-worth individuals.

One possible idea was to split the ownership between family members to reduce exposure, but that would have required transfers of wealth to his wife or children, with all the complications and tax risks that this might create.

Santiago instead looked at the wider picture, including the double tax treaty between Spain and Serbia. This made it possible to recommend a different route: purchasing the property through a Spanish company.That structure offered several advantages. It avoided the wealth tax issue under the terms of the relevant treaty. It also improved the tax treatment of any future rental income, since a company can deduct costs, whereas a non-European non-resident individual renting personally may be taxed on gross income without deductions. At the time, it also helped in relation to the Golden Visa rules, because the company structure met the qualifying investment level.

Why this case matters

This is a strong example of how ownership structure can completely reshape the outcome of a transaction. It also shows the value of planning early. Because the investor had not yet chosen a property, he had the time to put the right structure in place and then buy with confidence.

Case study 3: the over-65 exit mistake

This example concerns a French citizen aged 67 who had lived in Spain for more than ten years and was planning to sell his main home and move back to France.

Under Spanish rules, a resident over 65 who sells their main home can benefit from a full capital gains tax exemption, provided the property has been their permanent residence for the required period. In this case, the client clearly seemed to qualify.

The trap was timing. If he sold the property in March and moved back to France soon afterwards, he might end up spending fewer than 183 days in Spain that year. That would mean he was no longer treated as a Spanish resident for the tax year in question.

If he became non-resident, the over-65 exemption would no longer apply. Since he was not planning to reinvest in another main home, he could then face a large capital gains tax charge as a non-resident.

The strategy was simple but effective: put the property on the market early, find a buyer, but delay completion until after the summer. That way, the client would remain Spanish tax resident for the year of sale and preserve the exemption in full.

Why this case matters

This case is particularly striking because the client seemed, on the face of it, to be fully exempt. Yet by leaving Spain too early, he could lose that benefit altogether. It is a very strong example of how a routine sale can become a tax problem when timing is not planned properly.

Case study 4: the trust

The final example concerns a UK resident preparing to retire to Spain. Following advice in the UK, he had placed his assets into a trust as part of inheritance tax planning. In the UK context, this may have been perfectly valid and carefully structured.

The issue arose because he later moved to Spain, while his daughter, who was to benefit from the trust, was already resident in Barcelona.

Santiago explains that Spanish law does not recognise trusts in the same way as UK law does. For Spanish tax purposes, the trust is effectively treated as transparent, with the settlor still seen as the owner of the underlying assets.

That means that on the father’s death, the daughter could be taxed in Spain on the full inheritance, despite the trust having been created to manage the UK inheritance tax position.

In other words, a structure designed to solve a tax issue in one country failed to achieve the same result in another.

Why this case matters

This is perhaps the clearest example of the wider message in the interview: cross-border planning must be truly cross-border. Advice that is technically correct in one jurisdiction may be incomplete if it ignores the tax system of the country where the client is moving, investing or passing assets on.

The wider lesson for buyers and sellers

Taken together, these examples all point to the same conclusion: tax planning should sit at the very start of any property strategy.

For buyers, it can determine how the property should be acquired, when the move should happen and whether the investment should be held personally or through a company.

For sellers, it can affect the timing of the sale, the availability of exemptions and the final net return.

For international clients in particular, this is not just about saving money. It is about avoiding irreversible mistakes and making decisions with a clear understanding of the bigger picture.

The most important points to highlight

• Buying property in Spain without tax advice can lead to expensive mistakes.
• For international clients, the issue is rarely just Spanish tax. It is the interaction between Spain and the home country.
• Tax planning should happen before a client starts viewing properties, not after an offer is accepted.
• Timing matters enormously. In several cases, a delay of a few months can save substantial tax.
• Ownership structure can change the outcome completely, especially for high-value purchases.
• Estate agents, lawyers and tax advisers need to work from one shared strategy.
• A structure that works in one country may not work in Spain, particularly in inheritance and trust planning.

Conclusion

This conversation highlights an essential truth for anyone buying, selling or relocating to Spain: tax advice should never come as an afterthought. In an international market such as Marbella, the difference between a well-planned transaction and a poorly timed one can be substantial. With the right strategy in place from the start, buyers and sellers can move forward with greater speed, confidence and clarity.

Pia Arrieta, 15 Apr 2026 - News