Hello!

My partner & I are looking to move back to Spain in the next year or so. We currently live in England.

We lived in Spain back in 2016/17 for about 8 months in our early 20s. We went over because I got a job, and my partner had just graduated and got an internship. We ended up leaving because I didn’t love my job and he was struggling to get a job after doing an internship.

Here’s the stupid part - I had no idea I was meant to file a tax return. I saw taxes / national insurance coming out of my paycheck and assumed the system was the same as in the UK - where if you’re an employee then you don’t need to file a tax return, it’s all automatic.

I was earning 26,000 euro a year, but I only worked 8 months (Oct-June). So I don’t know if I would have had any additional tax to pay, but I realise I should have filed anyway. I vaguely remember a woman at work mentioning it and probably should have asked about it, but I didn’t realise there was something I missed until I started googling tax arrangements in Spain this year.

If I go back to Spain to work, is it likely to be a problem? I’d have a new NIE and social security number etc. I guess I should probably talk to a tax consultant but just wanted to put this out there in case anyone has any experience with this!

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