General criteria and rules of ownership in case of marriage

General criteria

Assets and rights, as well as charges, liens, debts and obligations shall be attributed to taxpayers according to the rules on legal ownership applicable in each case and based on the evidence provided by them or discovered by the Administration.

When the ownership of the assets or rights, as well as the charges, liens, debts and obligations, is not duly accredited, the tax authorities shall have the right to consider as the owner the person who appears as such in a tax register or other public register.

Likewise, the assets and rights that belonged to the taxpayer at the time of the previous accrual are presumed to be part of the assets, unless there is proof of transfer or loss of assets.

Ownership rules in case of marriage

In the case of marriage, the rules on legal ownership of property and rights contained in the provisions regulating the economic regime of marriage apply, as well as the precepts of civil legislation applicable in each case to property relations between family members.

The ownership of the assets and rights that, in accordance with the regulatory provisions or pacts of the corresponding economic regime for married couples are shared by both spouses, shall be allocated to each spouse equally, unless a different share split is proven. The charges, liens, debts and obligations will be attributed to the spouses according to the same criteria.

The allocation between spouses of assets and rights related to the exercise of economic, business or professional activities is discussed in the section on the formation of gross assets when setting out the valuation of real estate related to economic activities in Chapter 3 of this Wealth Tax Manual.