Spanish Passport, worth it?

[knuk]

Hi, I have the opportunity to get a Spanish citizenship, and considering that it is ranked as one of the best ones in the world right now... I was wondering if it was worth it getting it.
As far as I know, the tax law in Spain is quite draconian and as aggressive or more than the IRS at chasing down people. (and I think I heard that the whole financial system allows real time monitoring to the tax bureau!)

OTOH, I was wondering since Spain is a territorial tax system, would it be worth sucking it up for the first years there and then moving out to a tax free country once I get the passport? I could keep a strong European passport while residing in a tax free country...

Any thoughts?

 

[Sols]

Probably pointless if you have another EU citizenship. A potential upgrade if you don't. You can use your Spanish citizenship to easily move to low tax EU member states like Malta, Cyprus, and Ireland.

Spain does not have a territorial tax system. But Spain also doesn't tax based on citizenship alone. As long as you have no financial ties to Spain (don't live in Spain, don't have children in Spanish schools, and so on), you don't need to worry about Spanish tax.

If your citizenship acquisition requires a period of residence in Spain, suck it up and do it by the book. Wouldn't want your application declined on grounds of tax fraud.

 

[knuk]

Probably pointless if you have another EU citizenship. A potential upgrade if you don't. You can use your Spanish citizenship to easily move to low tax EU member states like Malta, Cyprus, and Ireland.

Spain does not have a territorial tax system. But Spain also doesn't tax based on citizenship alone. As long as you have no financial ties to Spain (don't live in Spain, don't have children in Spanish schools, and so on), you don't need to worry about Spanish tax.

If your citizenship acquisition requires a period of residence in Spain, suck it up and do it by the book. Wouldn't want your application declined on grounds of tax fraud.

Hi @Sols thanks for replying!
Then I guess the following link is completely wrong:

Territoriality of Tax Systems in Europe

Under a territorial tax system, international businesses pay taxes to the countries in which they are located and earn their income.

taxfoundation.org

 

[Sols]

The term territorial taxation is normally used in reference to tax systems like the ones found in Panama and Hong Kong, where tax is applied only on locally sourced income.

That article uses a slightly different meaning of the term. It's probably not factually inaccurate, but it's using the term territorial taxation in a slightly unusual manner.

 

[knuk]

The term territorial taxation is normally used in reference to tax systems like the ones found in Panama and Hong Kong, where tax is applied only on locally sourced income.

That article uses a slightly different meaning of the term. It's probably not factually inaccurate, but it's using the term territorial taxation in a slightly unusual manner.

@Sols thanks for replying
I was wondering if you know how does Spain taxes cryptocurrencies.
What if there are unrealized gains from before I become a tax resident of Spain.

 

[Vor]

I mean I'd only want a spanish passport If i was like Iranian or something lol. If you have a EU passport already I'd want nothing to do with spain. They could offer me as an American a Spanish passport in an instant for free and I wouldn't want it. Depends on your situation. Personally Spain would be fine to visit but would never wanna live in that communist dump.

 

[JackAlabama]

Hi, I have the opportunity to get a Spanish citizenship, and considering that it is ranked as one of the best ones in the world right now... I was wondering if it was worth it getting it.
As far as I know, the tax law in Spain is quite draconian and as aggressive or more than the IRS at chasing down people. (and I think I heard that the whole financial system allows real time monitoring to the tax bureau!)

OTOH, I was wondering since Spain is a territorial tax system, would it be worth sucking it up for the first years there and then moving out to a tax free country once I get the passport? I could keep a strong European passport while residing in a tax free country...

Any thoughts?

If ur existing passport is very weak for travel/prestige like from Africa etc., get it.
If ur from USA and want to renounce citizenship and need an equal travel doc, get it.
If you need to access EU / Schengen urgently and it needs a citizenship, then get it.
Otherwise I would not get it

 

[knuk]

I mean I'd only want a spanish passport If i was like Iranian or something lol. If you have a EU passport already I'd want nothing to do with spain. They could offer me as an American a Spanish passport in an instant for free and I wouldn't want it. Depends on your situation. Personally Spain would be fine to visit but would never wanna live in that communist dump.

No, I don't have an EU citizenship, that's the whole point of this. Btw, I wouldn't see the point for an European to get naturalized in another European country, they already have the benefits of the Schengen Agreement.

I own a shitty passport from a third world country, so I consider it to be an opportunity of having one door open to the European Union.
I wouldn't mind getting a passport from another European country if I could get it faster.
I have considered Portugal's golden visa as well, with clear tax benefits, but I have to spend full residency for 5 years to get naturalized there.

In the case of Spain, I have the benefit of getting it after 2 years of residing there with no investments required.

 

[Vor]

No, I don't have an EU citizenship, that's the whole point of this. Btw, I wouldn't see the point for an European to get naturalized in another European country, they already have the benefits of the Schengen Agreement.

I own a shitty passport from a third world country, so I consider it to be an opportunity of having one door open to the European Union.
I wouldn't mind getting a passport from another European country if I could get it faster.
I have considered Portugal's golden visa as well, with clear tax benefits, but I have to spend full residency for 5 years to get naturalized there.

In the case of Spain, I have the benefit of getting it after 2 years of residing there with no investments required.

then go for it since it's an upgrade from the third world passport!

 

[JackAlabama]

then go for it since it's an upgrade from the third world passport!

Yep, in the worst case and all in your life goes south, you might even get some handouts which you are unlikely to get from the third world one. See it as some kind of (unreliable) insurance.

 

[knuk]

Yep, in the worst case and all in your life goes south, you might even get some handouts which you are unlikely to get from the third world one. See it as some kind of (unreliable) insurance.

Well considering that Spain is culturally and economically as disastrous as their brethren in Latin America, after getting the citizenship I would prefer switching the residency to a more stable country... lol

 

[Allisgood]

In the case of Spain, I have the benefit of getting it after 2 years of residing there with no investments required.

I know it’s 2 years for certain nationalities but I also read that it takes around 2 more years for processing. Unless they process people with Latin background faster.
So you could be looking at a possible 4 years waiting at least
(2 years residency + 2 years processing, where you also need to remain in Spain).

 

[JackAlabama]

Well considering that Spain is culturally and economically as disastrous as their brethren in Latin America, after getting the citizenship I would prefer switching the residency to a more stable country... lol

Yep. After just having experienced another nice experience on the investment side just last week, agree.

Such a passport wont come for free of course if you have not won the 20th century birthplace lottery.