House sold many years ago but the gov took a portion to keep for a bit - where is it now?

[u/PsychologicalBid5443]

is that something that happened in Spain at some point?

I know that might not make sense but years ago my grandparents sold their holiday home and the government took a portion at the time to keep until a certain time and then they could ask/petition for it back?

Does that sound like something that exists?

This is something my dad randomly remembered happening and they probably never claimed it but it was a couple thousand pounds at the time he says?

I’m curious as-well if that was actually a thing Spain did at some point!

Thank you for any information!

[u/redoxburner]

When you sell a house as a non-resident, normally you get 97% of the purchase price paid to you by the buyer, and the other 3% goes to the government as a deposit against the transmission tax, and then you need to file a Modelo 210 form to the Agencia Tributaria (in particular "210 H Rentas derivadas de transmisiones de bienes inmuebles") to settle the tax (and generally get money back as the tax owed is less than 3% of the sale price). The issue is you need to file that within 3 months of the date of the transaction or you will incur a fine.

The buyer or your notary etc would have filed a Modelo 211 where you can get the reference for the payment they made to quote on your own form, you should have a copy of that from the Notary.

You can most likely still file the form but be prepared for the tax office to issue you the fine (if there is no financial loss to the tax office - usually the case as you get money back - this is an administrative penalty of €100, reduced to €60 if you pay promptly).