The new bonuses for inheriting the main residence of a deceased person in Malaga start to be applied this Friday.

After overcoming administrative phases and claims, this Friday the new discounts on the payment of capital gains tax on inheritance take effect for ... heirs who did not live with the deceased in their usual residence. The Official Bulletin of the Province (BOP) published the modification of the corresponding ordinance this Thursday, so the application begins this Friday of Sorrows.

It is not easy to understand the calculation system of what is really paid in the Tax on the Increase in Value of Urban Land (IIVTNU), which is paid by the seller when selling a property or by the heirs when receiving a property. In the first case, it is 'inter vivos', in the second, 'mortis causa'. Both have very different treatments and bonuses. In the case of inheritance, to the pain of losing a loved one is added the burden of paying for something that the original owners paid during their lifetime.

Increase in Bonuses

In the case of mortis causa capital gains, the deduction for non-cohabitants increases from 12.5% to 25%. It is worth remembering that the last fiscal year was the first in which bonuses were given to heirs who did not live with the deceased person. The promise always made by the government team has been to continue increasing the bonuses progressively up to the maximum legally allowed: 95%.

Specifically, when cohabitation is not proven, a 25% bonus of the full quota will be applied for properties whose cadastral value does not exceed 150,000 euros. An impact of 1.8 million euros is estimated with this bonus, which would benefit about 8,000 families.

Relatives

This bonus is in addition to those already applied to cohabiting relatives, reaching a reduction percentage of 95% for properties with a cadastral value less than 100,000 euros and which represents another approximate amount of 1,000,000 euros per year.

Controversy

It is worth remembering that in terms of capital gains, both 'inter vivos' and 'mortis causa', since 2022 the average amount of quotas has been reduced by 36% as a result of the application of the new calculation formula by the application of Royal Decree Law 26/2021. This results in a practical reduction of about 20 million euros per year in the tax that remains in the hands of taxpayers. An amount that to this day has not been compensated to the Spanish municipalities by the central government.

Additionally, the update of the coefficients set by the Government in terms of capital gains will allow Malagueños to pay on average 6% less in 2025.

The controversy over this tax has been significant in Málaga. In fact, a few weeks ago, SUR reported that the Málaga City Council would fail to collect more than 70 million due to undue capital gains, an issue not attributable to municipal management, but to judicial decisions based on a changing legal framework.