I spent all my tax-paying adult life in the US, so I knew the drill: Form 1040, a few schedules depending on what I had going on that year, maybe some real estate, interest from savings accounts, investment income. Never loved it, but I understood it (or TurboTax did anyway!).
Then we decided to pick up and move to Spain.
Within weeks, I hit a brick wall of new terms, new frameworks, and new ways of doing things. IRPF. Modelo 100. Modelo 720. AEAT. Hacienda. The 183-day rule. A foreign asset declaration I had never heard of with penalties that sounded alarming. A wealth tax.
Huh?! Yikes!
And the part that really surprised me … I learned I would still have to file US tax returns even after moving abroad. The US taxes citizens on worldwide income regardless of where they live. I had lived in the US my whole life and never needed to know that. Moving to Spain made it matter.
Finding my footing
I had a few early consultations with Spanish tax advisors and gestores. Some were helpful. Some were less helpful for my US-specific issues like LLCs and RSUs. And in some cases, especially in the beginning, I just came outright unprepared because I didn’t know what I didn’t know.
Eventually I did find a great advisor, who would go on to take care of all the Spain-side obligations. And separately, my CPA “tax guy” back home happened to have expertise in cross-border taxes and would keep taking care of the US side of things.
I pestered them both with questions constantly. Some of it was anxiety. But really I was curious and wanted to map things out. I wanted to understand what was being filed, why it mattered, how the Spanish system worked, and how both sides overlapped.
I also started answering tax-related questions on the various Facebook groups I’m part of. Anxious US expats or aspiring expats trying to get their bearings. Young professionals, retirees, the whole range.
The questions were not complicated. They were just unfamiliar.
Do I have to keep filing US taxes even though I live in Spain now?
What’s up with the wealth tax?
My gestor handles Spain, but who helps me understand the US side?
Are my Roth IRA withdrawals taxable in Spain?
I had spent hours answering versions of these questions, orienting people, pointing them toward the right concepts, the right questions to ask their advisors, the right order to think about things.
And then one morning I woke up with the light bulb over my head. Instead of answering the same questions over and over, I should organize what I had learned, and what I had yet to learn, in one place.
What HolaSam is
HolaSam is not a tax filing service. It does not replace a gestor or a CPA. It does not give you legal advice or tell you exactly what you owe.
What it does is orient you.
It helps you understand the shape of your cross-border tax situation: what may apply to you, what you might be missing, what questions to ask. It is the resource I wish I had when I first moved to Spain. The thing that would have helped me walk into my advisor’s office already knowing the vocabulary, already understanding the structure, already aware of the two-system reality.
There is a specific gap that HolaSam is designed to fill: most gestores know Spain. Most US CPAs know the IRS. Almost nobody explains how the two interact in plain English. That is the gap, and that’s what we’re here for.
Who it is for
If you are an American living in Spain, or thinking about moving, and you are trying to make sense of what you owe, what you need to file, and how the two systems interact, HolaSam is for you.
If you are already working with a gestor and a CPA but want to understand what they are doing and why, HolaSam is for you.
If you are a Spain advisor or gestor and want to work more seamlessly with your foreign clients, HolaSam is for you.
The product is still early. The content library is growing. I am genuinely excited to help others in their journey!
Cheers,
John