[Anonymous]

I am considering raffling my property but have been informed that it is a legal minefield. If anyone has tried raffling their property or if you know of any laws or licences that may be required to enable me to do this, I would be grateful for any information.

[Inez]

Hi Andy,

It may depend on which country you hold the raffle and what you catually call it. A spaniard made headlines here when he tried to do this in Madrid, but Hacienda told him he had to pay a massive tax up front based on the value of the prize (I think it was this, someone else may clarify) Guy said it was too expensive and gave everyone their money back. In Ireland its the same as I had an owner about to do this and found the same/similar rules

However in the UK if you make it as a draw, with a clear question and charge for entry, I think you can get away with it!

Ask at the lotteries commission in the UK for more info and good luck

[Anonymous]

Hi Andy

my sister is going through the same thing to sell her house here in Spain. We initially approached a Notary who basically said it was not possible under Spanish law and would mean you incur heavy tax bills

We are investigating the law in UK and from what I understand inorder to get round the lottery laws you have to have a challenging question which requires skill, judgement or knowledge to answer it. However a few eple have been tripped up and the gaming board have spoken to them about it because the questions werent deemed challenging enough.

I have also heard of a couple of people who are in fact being back charged large capital gains taxes because they effectively ran a lottery without a gaming licence (illegal anyway) which in effect is what this is

There are ways around it – offer something for sale for the amount of the ticket and offer the ticket for free (you have to then stipulate that entrants can be entertained from those not participating in the purchase otherwise again it is illegal.)

One guy was selling 15,000 tickets to a party with a free ticket to the draw

If you are selling a Spanish house then the only real way round it is to use a UK limited company, transfer the house to this company and then effectively raffle off the UK company

I would seriously take legal advice wherever you decide to do it because it is a legal minefield and from what I have read and been advised – th gaming commission can say yes its ok in one breath and n its not the next.

Good luck

Vince

[Author]

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