What should I check each year on UK tax, pensions and property?

Living in Spain doesn’t switch off the UK. If you have UK rent, savings, pensions or property, a short check each year keeps you right with HMRC and the Spanish tax agency, and avoids paying tax twice.

Your yearly check-up

1. File your UK tax return if you have UK rent or other untaxed UK income
2. File your Spanish return between April and June, including UK income, and claim the deduction for UK tax paid
3. File Modelo 720 and 721 by 31 March if your overseas assets require it
4. Check your National Insurance record and decide about voluntary contributions
5. Update the Student Loans Company, your UK bank, pension providers and electoral registration office
6. Review your wills. See Do we need a Spanish will?

Two tax years, two returns

• As a non-resident with UK rent you can’t use HMRC’s own online service. Send a paper return, use commercial software or an accountant, and include the residence pages (SA109)
• British citizens keep the UK Personal Allowance against UK income; non-residents claim it each year
• If last year’s UK bill was £1,000 or more, you may need to make payments on account on 31 January and 31 July
• UK pension providers don’t take off Spanish tax, so you may need a Spanish return even if a UK pension is your only income

Renting out your UK home

If you live abroad for 6 months or more a year, HMRC treats you as a non-resident landlord. Your letting agent (or your tenant, if the rent is over £100 a week and there is no agent) takes basic-rate tax off the rent after expenses, unless HMRC approves your application on form NRL1i to get the rent in full. Either way you declare the rent on a UK return.

Under the 2013 UK–Spain treaty, rent from UK property can be taxed in both countries. As a Spanish resident you declare it in Spain and deduct the UK tax paid on it, so you pay at most the higher of the two. If you keep a UK home empty, Spain may tax a notional income on it instead. See Should I rent out or sell my UK home?

Your pensions

• State Pension: paid in Spain and it rises each year, because Spain is in the EEA. The full new State Pension is £241.30 a week in 2026/27. It is taxed only in Spain, so you declare it there
• Private and workplace pensions (including NHS pensions) are taxed only in Spain. Send form DT-Individual, certified by the Spanish tax agency, so HMRC lets your provider pay without UK tax
• UK government service pensions (civil service, police, armed forces, local authority and similar) are usually taxed only in the UK. Spain exempts them but counts them when setting the rate on your other income. If you are also a Spanish national, they are taxed only in Spain
• From 6 April 2027, most unused UK pension funds and death benefits count towards your estate for UK inheritance tax
• See What happens to my UK pension? and Pensions and retirement in Spain

Voluntary National Insurance

From the 2026/27 tax year you can’t pay Class 2 for time abroad. You can pay Class 3 (£18.40 a week) if you lived in the UK for 10 years in a row or paid 10 years of qualifying contributions. If you applied before 6 April 2026, the old 3-year rule may still apply, as long as you apply for 2026/27 and pay by 5 April 2027. Apply with form CF83, and check your State Pension forecast on GOV.UK first. If you work in Spain you pay Spanish social security instead.

ISAs, savings and overseas assets

• You can keep your ISA and it stays tax-free in the UK, but you can’t pay in once you are not UK resident. Tell your provider
• Spain doesn’t recognise the ISA wrapper. As a resident you declare interest, dividends and gains on your Spanish return. Under the treaty, UK interest is taxed only in Spain, and UK tax on dividends is capped at 10% or 15% and credited
• Modelo 720 reports overseas bank accounts, investments and property. You file for a category worth over €50,000, then again only if it rises by more than €20,000
• Modelo 721 reports crypto held with providers abroad, on the same €50,000 test at 31 December, between 1 January and 31 March
• Spain also has a wealth tax that counts worldwide assets of residents. The state exempt amount is €700,000, but regions differ: €500,000 in Catalonia, €2 million in the Valencian Community and €3 million in the Balearics. See How do I move money from the UK?

Keeping a UK bank account

Keep at least one UK current account that works from abroad for pensions, refunds and UK bills. Some UK banks close accounts when customers move to the EEA. They must give notice: at least 2 months for accounts opened before 28 April 2026, and generally at least 90 days for newer ones, with some exceptions. Nationwide’s app can only be downloaded from UK app stores and its passcodes go only to UK numbers, so set things up before you leave. Ask each bank in writing what happens now you live in Spain, and complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service if notice falls short.

Selling UK property

• Report any sale of UK property to HMRC within 60 days of completion through a Capital Gains Tax on UK property account, even if there is no tax or you made a loss
• Spain taxes a resident’s gain too, with a deduction for UK tax
• Exchange-rate moves can change the euro gain: ask your adviser before you exchange contracts

Voting, student loans and inheritance tax

British citizens who have lived in the UK can register as overseas voters for UK Parliament elections, and must renew every 3 years. If you are registered in England, Scotland or Wales you can vote by post or by proxy; in Northern Ireland, by proxy or in person. Tell the Student Loans Company if you leave the UK for more than 3 months. If you keep a UK home as a second home in England, councils can charge up to double council tax. Since 6 April 2025, UK inheritance tax depends on long-term UK residence (10 of the last 20 tax years), and you stay in scope for up to 10 tax years after leaving. UK property is always in scope.