IBI

This is the local property tax which you pay each year and is similar to the council tax in England. It is based upon the rateable value of the property calculated by the Town Hall. The calculation is complicated and takes into account the size of the property, the size of the plot, whether it is rural or urban land etc. and is a fraction of the real value of the property as set out in the deeds.

In Alicante province this tax is collected by an organisation called SUMA based on the information that they are given by the local Town Hall. Their calculation is simple but again varies according to which municipality you live in. In Bigastro the percentage applied is 0.66.

Our tax bill for this year came in early August and we had until 5th October to pay it. There were problems with it though. They had my name as Ketih instead of Keith and our address was incorrect Worst of all though the bill was a lot higher than our neighbours bills. So we have queried it. That process takes time though and having not paid the bill then we got a second one with a hefty surcharge added on.

So we visited the SUMA office in Orihuela yesterday to try and sort this out. The calculation by SUMA is correct based on the rateable value they were given but the man at SUMA agreed that for a property the size of ours the rateable value was too high. So the advice was to pay the bill and wait for the Town Hall in Bigastro to revise our rateable value which apparently they are in the process of doing. This could take them three months to complete. Once that is done we will have a letter to take back to SUMA for a rebate.