Spanish Mortgages: No Tax on Term Extension or Switching to Interest-only

Raymundo LarraĆ­n Nesbitt, June, 26. 2009

Spain’s Tax office has replied within the last month two binding legal queries which shed some light onto the taxation of the amendment of mortgage terms.

On the first reply of 25th of May, the Dirección General de Tributos (DGT) clarified that switching  to interest-only will no longer attract Stamp Duty. On the second reply of 10th of June, the DGT has stated that changing the mortgage’s reassessment date will no longer pay Stamp Duty either. It would be regarded as exempt following art 9 of Law 2/94. E.g. a borrower changes the mortgage resetting from once a year to a quarterly basis.

Regardless if the borrower chooses one or both options they will not attract tax. Also, a lender cannot lawfully charge more than 0,1% to extend mortgage repayments

This is welcome news indeed for struggling mortgage borrowers that will now have more options available to them without being taxed on choosing them. Reducing citizen’s tax burden is always the right path on the road to financial recovery.

 

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