Yours for a fiver: How a Costa Del Sol seller is trying to shift his apartment in Spain. Could this be the start of a new selling trend or just another symptom of the stagnant Spanish property market? When a 3-bedroom property in Marbella, went on the market, its owner Neil Hudson, hoped it would fetch over £500,000.  Yet, despite many years of viewings, the 1,614sq ft property failed to sell due to the slow Spanish market, too much competition and lack of buyers. Raffling a home for £5 per ticket is not a new concept as several UK homeowners have tried similar competitions in recent years and many have failed. The promoters of prize draw competition have said that they will not make the mistakes other competitions have made. Speaking to Prize Draw Competition, Neil Hudson who is also the owner of the property said:                “Some other competitions have been run very amateurishly and what seems like an easy scheme to organise actually requires a huge amount of work. We have spent two years doing our market research and our planning. We have entered many property raffle competitions to win of course, but also to make sure we fully understand the positives and negatives from these. It is essential also that the general public has full confidence in the scheme. We have done everything to ensure that the correct legal framework is in place. It is fully compliant with the UK Gambling Commission’s guidelines and the draw will be streamed live online and overseen by independent adjudicators. The winners will be selected by a random generator and the source code for this has been published online to prove its legitimacy.. We have also made sure that we are using experienced marketing companies and have publicity campaigns being implemented, both off and online as ultimately it is a numbers game and needs to be seen by many millions of potential winners to sell enough tickets and most  other schemes have floundered from not putting enough resource into the marketing. We are not limiting ourselves to just UK entries, but are publicising this worldwide and give it the maximum exposure it deserves.” More information can be found at prizedrawcompetition.com   For more information about the prize draw competition please take a look at the Website, Facebook , Twitter, and Instagram Or please call Neil Hudson: +44 (0)7424776838 or email info@prizedrawcompetition.com

Britons Win £2.6 Million in Spanish Holiday Home Tax Fiasco

Britons Win £2.6 Million in Spanish Holiday Home Tax Fiasco

British people who bought Spanish holiday homes have been refunded at least €3.3 million (£2.6 million) in punitive taxes that should never have been charged to them in the first place.

Great news for any one purchasing a holiday home

The overcharging came as a result of Britons being overcharged Inheritance Tax and has led to millions of euros being refunded by the Spanish authorities.

The Barcelona based Spanish Legal Reclaims law firm is also managing a further €7 million worth of claims.

The CEO of Spanish Legal Reclaims says that anyone paid inheritance tax in the last five years are eligible to claim back the tax that they paid. He does warn that it is difficult to do this, however.

He also added that he expects at least €3 million more to be filed in the next few years as more claimants come forward and demand a refund.

There are other law firms who are getting in on the action and helping Britons win back their money after being unfairly charged inheritance tax. The situation is so bad that there are currently no official estimates on how much could be won back.

As Spain is the country where Brits usually buy holiday homes and second properties it’s been estimated that 100,000 people have overpaid a grand total of €300 million in inheritance tax.

Spanish authorities raised inheritance tax and levied it on lifetime gifts. Inheritance tax is paid when someone dies and leaves their home to their family or friends.

In several cases the inheritance tax came to a third of the value of the property and the person who inherited the house would have to pay this within six months of receiving the property.

On the other hand Spanish residents were exempt from up to 99 percent of inheritance tax and paid almost nothing.

It was decided by the European Court of Justice in 2014 that charging people from outside of the country, but still within the EU or a European Economic Area country, more than locals was discriminatory. As a result it demanded that these people should be paid back and even paid back with interest.

The average claim by non-residents is costing the Spanish authorities €30,000. This repayment is also not an automatic thing. Claimants have to file to receive one .

Mr Cuervo, CEO of Spanish Legal Reclaims, said that if a non-resident was charged inheritance tax since 2010 they are eligible to reclaim the tax in Spain. They would need the help of specialised lawyers however as it’s a complex thing to do. There is more than one form to fill in and you need all the help you can get.