It may seem an obvious statement, but it is important to keep your affairs in order. You would be surprised how many individuals and businesses slowly lose track of things such as accounts, taxes, rates and the accompanying paperwork. It’s a bit like climbing a slippery slope – once you start to lose your footing the chance of sliding all the way down becomes ever greater.

For that reason it is best to stay on top of things, and to do this you need to know what your basic rights and obligations are; what is owing to you and what you owe others, including the authorities. This applies to businesses, but also to private individuals, especially those who own property. When you own a property abroad you must bear in mind that it almost always comes with its own running and administration costs.

Like many of the other European governments, Spain's new Partido Popular is adopting a hard-line stance towards the country's economy. Since officially taking power a week before Christmas, the new government has already vowed to cut down on tax evasion and trim the public sector.

This new 15€ billion package involves a range of cuts and tax increases and is likely to prove unpopular, but Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and his team insist that these severe measures are essential.

It always takes a bit of adaptation getting back to the office routine after the Christmas holidays. Some people feel down after the New Years Eve revelling comes to an end, others can’t wait to get back to earning – rather than spending – ways, while many of us are sad to end the holidays but also slowly becoming bored, so a gradual return to work is perhaps the best solution.

In Spain many people work through the conventional Christmas period anyway, taking only a few days off around Christmas and New Year’s. Instead, the focus is on the period around Los Reyes, or Three Kings, the traditional highpoint of Christmas in Spain, and also the time when children here receive their gifts. Three Kings Day falls on the 6th of January, so in Spain the working year only really kicks off in earnest from that date onwards.

With more and more sales taking place online, people are increasingly finding that cash is becoming an archaic concept. In fact companies anticipate that clients will want to pay via a credit or debit card, therefore businesses from family corner shops to multinational chains are making this process as easy as possible.

However, this new era of 'plastic money' has resulted in some companies imposing charges on customers. A small credit card surcharge to cover any costs incurred would be a little more understandable, but not only have some businesses been adding disproportionately large sums to credit card payments, they have also been punishing clients for using debit cards.

Anyone who lives in Spain will have experienced the popularity of the Spanish puente (literally 'bridge'), which results when a Public Holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday and workers take an extra day to make a four-day weekend.

While previously any move to change this tradition might have attracted howls of protest from outraged employees, the currently rocky economic climate has led the Spanish Confederation of Employers’ Organisations (CEOE) to suggest that in the future all Public Holidays should be moved to the nearest Monday or Friday, thereby rendering the time-honoured four day puente extinct, a proposal that has been greeted with a surprising lack of animosity from unions.

In order to improve the status and reputation of Spain's huge real estate industry three new qualifications (covered by the BOE. 276 Royal Decree 1550/2011 of 31 October) have been introduced that should improve the quality of professionals working in the industry.

The most basic of these, Commercial Real Estate Management, ensures a desirable level of competence. The legislation covering this qualification notes the content of this course: “Securing and marketing products and focusing on assisting real estate mediation and legal procedures, plus fiscal and financial aspects of the sale, purchase or rental, in direct contact with the customers or through various marketing channels, coordinating a team of business and using, if necessary, the English language.”

The European Commission has announced that it will order Spain to appear before the European Court because of its ‘discriminatory rules relating to Inheritance and Gift Taxes’. This situation has arisen because, despite receiving two previous warnings in 2010 and earlier this year, non-resident EU citizens are still being asked to pay higher taxes than those resident in Spain.

It is a practice that is in direct contravention of the laws permitting the free movement of EU citizens within Europe, and Spanish representatives will no doubt be told that the current situation needs to be rectified as soon as possible

When the Spanish public went to the polls to elect a new government on Sunday 20th November, they had one hope in common – that whatever the outcome there would be a decisive victory. A hung Parliament could have resulted in a disastrous future for the country, with politicians fighting amongst themselves and blocking legislation prepared by the opposing party.

In the event, the Partido Popular won a landslide victory, so the worst-case scenario quoted by professional and amateur political pundits was thankfully avoided. The focus of the local, national and international press has now turned to Spain's future under the management of Mariano Rajoy and the PP.

Who wouldn’t like to be featured in a newspaper – especially when you’re receiving kudos from lofty sources. And if it’s in a major national newspaper, so much the better.

A recent report in the UK's popular broadsheet, The Independent on Sunday related the story of ex-Premier League footballer, Neil Heaney, whose struggle to retrieve money from an unscrupulous developer has led him to build a new career that should help property investors who, like him, were let down by 2008's collapse of the property market.

Heaney is now the Chief Executive of Judicare, which incorporates a Spanish law firm and a UK legal services company providing specialist assistance for individuals affected by the current crisis in the international property market. Recently Heaney visited Madrid to open an office to complement the services offered by existing premises in Hertfordshire and Tenerife.

Sometimes our clients need advice on matters of taxation as much as they require legal assistance. Having an expert on hand to guide you through the intricacies and peculiarities of the Spanish tax system has proved essential.

Perez Legal Group's Miguel Osuna Gomez is a lawyer, accountant and fiscal advisor, so he is uniquely qualified to offer advice to individuals and companies about their tax situations. The point at which financial and legal requirements collide can often be confusing, yet making a mistake at this point can be extremely costly.

Apart from having a thorough knowledge of fiscal and legal detail, Miguel is also able to identify ways in which clients can save money on their tax responsibilities, for instance in the case of inheritance tax.