Hacienda recently announced that it was fixing its attention on the amount of cash you can carry legally.
In Spain the maximum amount of money you carry around on you is defined by the Ley 10/2010, de 28 de abril, which was put in place to prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism. The amount was set at 100,000 euros.
If you want to physically move that amount or more then you will have to declare your intention and be able to produce documents that clarify its origin should you be stopped.
As far as keeping cash at home goes, it is perfectly legal as long as it has a legal origin; i.e., it has been declared within you tax declaration. That doesn’t mean that you have to declare how much money you have at home, but that its origin is traceable through your tax declaration.
The fact is that it is becoming harder to use cash for large transanction and even paying for your coffee can now be done using your mobile phone or wrist watch.
Hacienda keeps a tab on certain large-denomination, bank notes and cash amounts paid into your account for 3,000 euros or over – your bank branch is obligated to report the transaction to Hacienda. But that’s not all, regular amounts paid in using cash also generates a red flag in the Hacienda offices.
Finally, transfers over 10,000 euros or loans over 6,000 are also monitored by that wonderful institution, Hacienda.
(Spain)
oh and here is another weird one.
the US government provides an annual 1099 tax certificate for government pensions so its accountable and traceable. On the other hand the UK HMRC provides no such tax certificate and the only way to account for HMRC money is through bank deposits on your bank statement (outside Spain of course) which dont even say HMRC.
Oh and by the way, dont let a Spanish bank con you into depositing your foreign pension. First of all Spanish banks have a Royal decree to freeze assests. furthermore, the bank may say its free if you deposit your foreign pension but if you do the conversion fee math like I did I would have lost one whole month of pension per year.
simple solution…..dont bank in Spain.Perfectly legal! Use an online bank such as WISE (formerly Transferwise)…. set up convenient direct debits for regular Spanish bills including taxes using euro which transact with no fee through an EU bank outside Spain.
Furthermore, each time you fly into europe from outside Europe you may bring in $9999.00 per family. There is no requirement to account for the origin at the port of entry if you do not exceed that amount. If you then attempt to deposit that amount in a Spanish bank it creates the problem you have highlighted. I am unsure of the tax declaration you imply for home held cash perhaps you mean the declaration of worlwide assets if you are a tax resident.
Incidently, you may not believe this but not all countries tax citizens so accounting for the origin of perfectly legal money can be problematic.
I have often wondered. Granparents live with you or grown up kids move back to the once empty nest. They fairly contribute to numerous expenses. Is that contribution traceable or taxable?