can anyone help me I owned a bar for a few years and paid social, I sold the bar 12 months ago and now someone has told me I can claim all my social back if I am leaving the country does anyone know if this is right and if so is there a time limit on how long you take to claim it back PLEASE

I dont know ...... which country are we talking about?

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Sorry I am talking about Spain

You're not getting this confused with Capital Gains Tax are you? theres just been an announcement that people who sold property in Spain over the last few years can claim back the difference on that, as the rate has been bought down. There is a time limit on that though.

I cant say for sure, but I cant see that they would refund your health (SS) payments as that is something you paid for your health requirements whilst you lived here. If you hadn't paid those then you would have had to take out private cover presumably.

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The only place I've ever heard about claiming back social insurance contributions is when you paid into the national retirement fund. I believe there is usually an option (in the EU) to reclaim those contributions back if you leave the country. But, if you're back in the UK, you may not want to - the time you worked in Spain can be counted toward your UK retirement if you leave the retirement contributions where they are.

It's also possible that when you reach retirement you will be entitled to a small amount from Spain, based on those years you paid in. It may not sound like much now, but when you're tallying up your retirement benefit at age 65 or whatever, having an extra few euros a month coming in can be handy.
Cheers,
Bev