A respected international lawyer has started a campaign against Spain's Beckham Law regime, claiming that the rules are "in effect a state-sanctioned predation of wealthy expats."
Writing in Sears, Robert Amsterdam argues that the Spanish authorities have "cynically weaponised a tax law whose original purpose was to attract foreign wealth" and that "high-earning foreign employees are now caught in the crosshairs of a systematic assault by the Spanish revenue authority."
Adverts in respected financial publications such as City A.M. and Financial Times have also been launched, the latter of which included a full-page feature stating: "WARNING: Spanish pickpockets operating in this area."
READ ALSO: What foreigners in Spain should know about the 'Beckham Law' tax regime
The Beckham Law was first introduced in 2004 to attract talent and highly qualified workers to Spain with fiscal incentives. It was nicknamed after the footballer David Beckham as he was the first one to take advantage of it when he moved here to play for Real Madrid.
If you qualify for the Beckham Law, it means that you can pay tax in Spain as if you were a non-resident for a total of six years, even though you live here. Essentially, you will pay a flat fee of 24 percent up to €600,000.
READ ALSO: How to apply for Spain's Beckham Law tax regime
Yet clearly some feel the specialist tax regime has not served other foreigners well. In fact, Amsterdam’s own law firm launched the Spanishtaxpickpockets.com website to help other foreigners in Spain who feel they've been unfairly treated by the tax authorities.
Remarkably, Amsterdam claims that wealthy foreign individuals are investigated by the authorities because of a "troubling incentive system" that lies at the heart of Spanish tax audits: "Spanish tax auditors are rewarded with a cut of the sums they recover, whether through court judgments or settlements."
"This profit motive," Amsterdam argues, "has led to aggressive audits and inflated assessments of the wealth of high-profile individuals."
The central allegation, it seems, is that the Spanish tax authorities are keen to coerce wealthy foreigners into settling tax bills before trial or investigation, even when there might not be a legal case. Amsterdam notes auditors "carrying out depositions of associated vendors and making premature international information requests."
"The consensus is that these methods are designed to reach quick settlements, even in cases where the claims might be legally questionable," he says.
"This policy," Amsterdam concludes, "undermines the most basic principles of justice, violating rights enshrined in both the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights."
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