Spain Non-Resident Property Tax: 31 December Deadline

If you own a home on the Costa del Sol but live in the UK, Ireland or elsewhere in Europe, there is one Spanish tax that catches many owners out. It has nothing to do with buying or selling, and it is due even if the property is never let. This is the annual non-resident property tax in Spain, and the return for 2025 must be filed and paid by 31 December 2026.

The good news is that the amount is usually modest – typically a few hundred euros a year – and the rules are simple once explained. Here is what you need to know, including the changes to the calendar that start next year.

The tax that catches out holiday-home owners

Spain assumes that a home you keep for your own use has a value to you, even when no rent comes in. So if you are not tax-resident in Spain and your property is used by you and your family, or simply stands empty, the Agencia Tributaria (Spain’s tax office) treats it as earning a notional, or “imputed”, income each year. That income is taxed under the Non-Residents’ Income Tax and declared on form modelo 210.

This sits alongside the local IBI council tax you already pay to the town hall. It is a separate return to the national tax office, and it is easy to miss because no bill arrives: it is up to the owner, or their adviser, to file it.

How non-resident property tax in Spain is worked out

The calculation starts with the cadastral value (valor catastral) shown on your IBI receipt. This is an official administrative value, not the price you paid – and it is deliberately set low. Under the rules for cadastral valuations, a “market relation” coefficient of 0.5 is applied, so a cadastral value is designed to be around half of market value at most. Because many towns last revised their values years ago, while prices have since risen, it is often well below half of what a home would sell for today.

So the tax is worked out on a figure that is a fraction of your home’s real value. Then:

Imputed income is 1.1% of the cadastral value where the town’s values have been revised in recent years (for 2023–2025, valuations in force from 1 January 2012 onwards), or 2% where they have not.
The tax rate is 19% for residents of the EU, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein – so Irish, Dutch, Scandinavian or German owners, for example – and 24% for everyone else, including UK residents.
Only part of the year? The amount is reduced pro rata if you bought or sold during the year, or if the home was let for part of it.
Joint owners each declare their own share. A garage or storeroom with its own cadastral reference counts as a separate property.

No expenses can be deducted against this imputed income; the only deductions allowed are for qualifying donations.

A worked example

Take an apartment bought for €450,000 whose IBI receipt shows a cadastral value of €150,000 – a third of the purchase price – in a town whose values have been revised. It was owned for the whole of 2025 and not let. The figures below are purely illustrative; your own cadastral value is on your IBI receipt.

	EU/EEA resident owner	UK resident owner
Purchase price (for comparison)	€450,000	€450,000
Cadastral value (from the IBI receipt)	€150,000	€150,000
Imputed income (1.1% of the cadastral value)	€1,650	€1,650
Tax rate	19%	24%
Tax for the year	€313.50	€396
As a share of the purchase price	about 0.07%	about 0.09%

In other words, for a €450,000 home the annual bill in this example is a few hundred euros – less than 0.1% of what the owner paid. If a couple own the apartment 50/50, each files their own return for half of these amounts.

Key dates – and what changes from 2027

For the 2025 tax year nothing has changed: the imputed-income return can be filed at any time during 2026 up to 31 December 2026. If you want the tax paid by direct debit from a Spanish bank account, the return must go in by 23 December.

From next year the calendar moves. Under Orden HAC/623/2026, published in Spain’s Official State Gazette (BOE) on 23 June 2026, the tax office has redesigned the non-resident forms and deadlines:

Imputed income: starting with the 2026 tax year, the filing window opens on 1 April rather than 1 January and still closes on 31 December of the following year. So your 2026 return can be filed from 1 April to 31 December 2027 (direct debit up to 23 December).
Rental income: owners who group their rental income into one annual return will file the 2026 return between 1 and 20 April 2027 (direct debit 1–15 April).
New boxes: returns filed from 1 January 2027 will ask for the number of days the property was held and each owner’s percentage share.

If you rent it out, buy off-plan or sell

Letting: for the days a property is let, you are taxed on the actual rent instead of the imputed income, on a separate return. Rules on deductible expenses differ for EU/EEA and other owners, so take advice before you start letting.

Buying off-plan: no imputed income applies while a home is still under construction. The obligation begins once your completed home is yours – one more reason to understand how off-plan purchases work from deposit to keys.

Selling: when a non-resident sells, the buyer must withhold 3% of the price and pay it to the tax office on account of the seller’s capital gains tax. Up-to-date returns make that process smoother.

Missed a year? Don’t panic, but don’t wait

Returns filed late but voluntarily – before the tax office writes to you – carry a surcharge that grows the longer you leave it: 1% plus 1% for each full month of delay, rising to 15% plus late-payment interest after twelve months. Penalties are higher once the tax office has opened an enquiry. The sensible course is to catch up on any missing years now.

Keep your IBI receipts, your NIE and your title deeds to hand, and consider appointing a gestor or fiscal representative to file each year for you. Many of our clients do, and it takes the worry away. If you are thinking about living in Spain instead, our guide to Residency Options explains the main routes – residents are taxed under different rules.

Planning a purchase and want the full picture of running costs? Read the hidden costs of buying property in Spain, download our free 2026 Buyers Guide, or speak to a Mosaic advisor – we can introduce you to trusted, English-speaking tax advisers on the coast.

This article is general information, not tax advice. Rules can change and every situation is different, so please check your own position with a qualified adviser.

Sources

Want to see the Costa del Sol first-hand?We can arrange a tailored viewing trip around the areas, developments and homes that suit the life you’re picturing.

Plan a viewing trip

Share: WhatsApp · Facebook · LinkedIn · Email