FTAdviser.com

Advertising

The European Court of Justice found that the Spanish government's rules on capital gains tax (CGT) were in contravention of the European Community Treaty which mean that anyone who sold a property between the above dates will be entitled to an average of £13,370. It is understood that around 90,000 Britons are affected.

However, IFAs that offer advisory services on European property investments, such as Staffordshire-based Needanadviser.com say that Britons are likely to have to wait for a long time to see this money returned.

Jo Roberts, director of the company, said that there have always been massive complications with trying to mitigate the tax payable to the Spanish Government.

She explained, "The system is Spain has always been much tighter that it is here as you can’t transfer the property into two separate names and use two tax allowances as you can here. The trouble is that many people who invest in Spanish property don’t want to pay for the advice and have contracts that they want signed immediately. You can’t always help people like that."

Spanish lawyers have started working with British intermediaries to help their clients reclaim the owed monies. Emilio Alvarez, lawyer at Valencian law firm, Costa, said that the consequences of the ruling are huge and far reaching. "The ECJ ruling means that as many as 90,000 citizens alone could now come forward to make a reclaim," he added.

joe.mcgrath@ft.com