Hello,
I have been in Spain for some years now and about 4 years ago I opened and then closed a business on the coast. At the time of closing the business I went to inform my abogado but he said he didn’t have the necessary papers at the time and that someone would come to my shop with the papers a week or so later. By then I had moved and forgotten about everything until one day at my bank I was told the Social Security wanted about 4500 Euro from me. I contacted two lawyers here in Spain who were useless but one of them said she had contacted the necessary government department and had told them that the business was no longer trading and also provided them with information on where I have been working ( and paying tax) since. I thought it might be all over until the other day I went to a different bank to find that the Social Security had embargoed 2400 Euro of a total they want of around 6000 Euro.
What can I do? Can someone please get in contact with me who knows about these matters and how to deal with them so I can try and resolve this matter and get my money back and before they try to take any more?

Solicitors do not deal with tax matters - find a good gestoria - which coast are you talking about?

Hi Feliz,

You must be one of the few solicitors in Spain who deal with impuetos, administracion de fincas, y declaracion de renta because if you are a criminal solicitor you would not deal with these issues - you might be an office dealing with tax returns and tax advice and you may have a gestor in your practice to deal with impuestos and therefore offer these services.

We deal with many solicitors, many known personally to us and my Spanish wife tells me that they employ gestorias to deal with these issues not themselves.

Hello & thanks for the replies.
What would happen if i declared myself bankrupt; would the outstanding amount be cleared?
If I didn’t declare myself bankrupt and instead got a mortgage to buy an apartment here in Spain, could they take the house from under me if the matter wasn’t cleared up?

I think you will find it difficult (impossible?) to get a mortgage when you have outstanding debts - especially at the moment when all credit finance is tight given the world situation.

You must get good professional advice and sort out your problem - then with a clean slate move forward.

Hi Westwood,
What a terrible situation! We try to do the right thing then find ourselves at a loss!
I don’t think it would do any harm to try another abogado or two… write to the British Consulate in Malaga (if this is your province) and they will provide you with a list. (I just did this and am very satisfied with the one I picked)..
Even if this is not a civil or criminal case, they should be able to advise you correctly,
I have a legal ‘laboral’ lawyer in Marbella.. but I think she mainly does employment law rather than businesses.
I think the solution is always to keep searching for the definitive answer - and hopefully our questions are answered and we can get on and enjoy our life here and feel Ok that we are ‘legal’/clean and green!

Good luck! sj
PS - have you notified Social Security that you are no longer running a business/self employed? DE-REGISTER ASAP if not already done so! (A good accountant can do this for you).