Staff Reporter
“WHEN I do a ten-hour day it feels like a half day these days,” explains rushed-off-her-feet Katie Rawlins, of Breaking Spain.
Whether it’s explaining medical documents, translating in court cases or sorting out a driving licence, she does the lot… and the phone starts ringing before 9am and often doesn’t stop till 10pm.
“Chasing up ITVs, sorting out NIEs, enrolling kids at school, sorting out a problem with the electricity bill, getting on the padron, those are just some of the things I do,” she explains.
The all-round problem-solving magic lady/fixer/agony aunt has been helping expats in the Manilva area (and a long way beyond) for the last decade.
Married to a financier, based in Gibraltar, the 37-year-old Briton moved to the town 12 years ago, following in the footsteps of her mum.
Describing herself as an ‘anarchist gestor’, she spends her time running around helping her 200 odd clients that often give her just hours to get a job done.
As well as working for Premiership footballers and millionaire businessmen, Rawlins – whose grandmother is Spanish from Valencia – mostly helps the common man on the street.
“I only charge 25 euros to sort out a utility bill and I think I am very good value for what I manage to achieve,” she adds.
• Visit www.breakingspain.com or call 616 686 732
The central tax authority in Madrid is a shame for Spain. My wife and me own a single apartment on the Costa del Sol with an underground parking space. Every year we have to complete 4 tax declarations for Non-Resident Tax for this single object. Thus the cost for the tax consultant was just as high as the tax itself. Therefor since 2012 I register our Non Resident Tax through a German website from Torrevieja, which costs me 38 Euros. This works fine except for the first time: The notified tax for 2011 had not been charged in January 2013. The reason was that we had not communicated our NIF to our Spanish bank when we opened the bank account in 2001. Without NIF the bank in January 2013 refused the payment without informing us. In February 2013 we have paid our tax debt of 230 euros for 2011. Since then, we continuously receive reminders from Agencia Tributaria at Madrid for the ‘missing’ 2011 tax. Several times our bank account had been embargoed. In November 2013 I personally clarified the situation at the Marbella office of Agencia Tributaria. I was lucky to find an English speaking tax officer.
The Marbella tax office then had tranferred all fines back onto our bank account and released all embargos. Nevertheless, every year we still receive several reminders from Madrid for the 2011 Non Resident Tax, most recently in early February 2016 by the Malaga Provincial tax office about 60 euros allegedly unpaid costs. That will probably become a never ending story? Why can the Non Resident Tax not be calculated and collected as easily as the communal IBI? After all, nothing had changed with our Spanish property since 15 years!