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By destination · Benidorm · Alicante

Spanish taxes in Benidorm

Modelo 210, IBI bonifications, ITP and ISD for property owners in Benidorm — handled by a licensed colegiado who lives the Costa Blanca.

Quick answer

What a Benidorm owner pays turns on tax residence, not nationality. A resident of an EU Member State, or of an EEA state with effective exchange of tax information, is taxed at 19 % on net rent and may deduct expenses; everyone else pays 24 % on the gross with no deductions (arts. 24.6 and 25.1.a TRLIRNR). Tourist-letting authorisation is a separate regime and filing modelo 210 does not replace it.

What property owners in Benidorm need to know

Benidorm concentrates British, Dutch, Norwegian and Swedish second-home owners alongside a smaller established Russian-speaking community, in a market dominated by apartment blocks and a high share of properties that are let at least part of the year. Two rules do most of the work here. The first is that the rate follows tax residence and not the passport: 19 % on net rent with deductible expenses for residents of an EU Member State or a qualifying EEA state, 24 % on gross rent with nothing deductible for everyone else (arts. 24.6 and 25.1.a TRLIRNR). The second is that letting and taxing are separate regimes: authorisation to let to tourists is regulated by the Comunitat Valenciana and the ayuntamiento, and a correctly filed modelo 210 does not cure a missing registration any more than a registration excuses an unfiled return. The municipal layer — IBI, plusvalía, tasas — sits in the Benidorm ordenanza fiscal, which the town revises every year.

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Regional tax framework

ITP general rate
9%
ITP reduced rate (vivienda habitual)
6%
AJD (stamp duty)
1,4%
ISD bonification grupo I/II
99%
Autonomic law reference
Ley 13/1997 CV

These rates reflect the autonomic (CCAA) framework in force at the time of writing. Municipal IBI rates and bonifications are set separately by each ayuntamiento and we confirm the current figures from the latest ordenanza tax before any filing.

In Benidorm: municipal taxes and paperwork

Plusvalía settled with
Ayuntamiento de Benidorm
IBI billed by
SUMA Gestión Tributaria (Diputación de Alicante)

Municipal plusvalía (IIVTNU) when you sell

Benidorm is a city of towers, and that shapes the plusvalía municipal more than owners expect: the IIVTNU taxes only the increase in the value of the land, and in a high-rise the land component attributable to a single apartment is a modest fraction of the cadastral value. The Ayuntamiento de Benidorm sets the rate and the coefficients in its ordenanza fiscal, within the 30 % ceiling of art. 108 TRLRHL, and the tax is settled with the town hall, not with AEAT. In an onerous sale the seller is the taxpayer (art. 106.1.b), but where the seller is a non-resident individual the buyer becomes the substitute taxpayer under art. 106.2. Since RDL 26/2021 the base can be computed two ways and the cheaper applies — worth checking on a flat bought at the top of a previous cycle.

Plusvalía calculator →

The 3 % retention and modelo 211

If you are selling a Benidorm apartment and you are not tax-resident in Spain, the buyer must withhold 3 % of the price and pay it to AEAT on modelo 211 within about a month of the deed. That withholding is an advance against your IRNR on the gain, which you then declare on modelo 210: 19 % if you are resident in the EU or EEA, 24 % if you are not. Residents of Russia should note the split introduced by the 2023 suspension of the Spain-Russia treaty — rental income moved to the 24 % third-country rate, but the capital-gains rate on a sale is set by national law at 19 % regardless of residence, and the 3 % retention machinery is unchanged. Whichever passport you hold, the excess is only recoverable through a filed modelo 210.

Guide: selling as a non-resident →

IBI: the annual bill and who issues it

Benidorm's IBI is billed by SUMA Gestión Tributaria under the collection powers the ayuntamiento delegated to the Diputación de Alicante (art. 7 TRLRHL), so the receipt carries SUMA's name and SUMA's payment references even though the rate and the bonifications are decided by the Ayuntamiento de Benidorm in its own ordenanza fiscal. Benidorm's bonification catalogue is narrower than that of some neighbouring towns, so do not assume a relief you had elsewhere carries over — read the current ordenanza. The mechanics are the same everywhere: the tax accrues on 1 January (art. 75 TRLRHL) against whoever owns the property that day, and unpaid receipts attach to the property itself under art. 64.1 TRLRHL. For a flat that is empty for most of the year, a Spanish direct debit is the only arrangement that survives a change of address abroad.

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NIE and empadronamiento

A NIE is unavoidable in Benidorm: the notary needs it for the deed, the bank needs it for the mortgage and the account, and AEAT needs it for every subsequent return. Form EX-15, fee €9.84 (790/012), resolved within five days, applied for by prior appointment at the Oficina de Extranjería or an authorised National Police station in Alicante province — or at a Spanish consulate before you arrive. Empadronamiento with the Ayuntamiento de Benidorm is a separate, purely municipal act: under Ley 7/1985 it registers you as habitually living in the town, and it is the certificate the town hall asks for before a health card, a school place or a residence-linked municipal benefit. It is worth being deliberate about it. In a town where many owners split the year between two countries, the padrón is one of the objective traces that a tax-residence review will look at.

Guide: how to get a NIE →

Municipal rates, coefficients and bonifications are set by each ayuntamiento in its ordenanza fiscal and revised every year, so none are quoted here. We read the ordenanza in force and confirm the exact figures before any filing.

Specific questions about Benidorm

I rent my Benidorm apartment on Airbnb. Do I need a tourist licence in Comunidad Valenciana?

Yes, and it is a separate obligation from the tax one. Letting to tourists in the Comunitat Valenciana requires the dwelling to be registered as a vivienda de uso turístico with the regional tourism administration, and the ayuntamiento has its own say on urban-planning compatibility; the requirements and the paperwork change, so we check what is in force for the specific property before it is advertised rather than repeat a rule of thumb. What we can be categorical about is the relationship between the two regimes: filing modelo 210 on the rental income does not authorise the letting, and holding the registration does not excuse the return. They are enforced by different administrations and a defect in one is not cured by compliance with the other.

Is Benidorm a good base for becoming a Spanish tax resident?

Tax residency under Spanish IRPF triggers when you spend >183 days in Spain or your centre of economic interests sits in Spain. Benidorm itself is fiscally neutral on that decision — the tax regime that applies is national IRPF + autonomic CV brackets. We model both scenarios (UK resident with Spanish property vs Spanish resident) before any client makes the move.

I'm a Russian citizen with a Benidorm apartment. How does the suspended Spain-Russia treaty affect me?

Start from the rule that actually decides it: Spanish IRNR taxes by tax residence, not by citizenship. A Russian citizen who is tax resident in an EU Member State gets the 19 % rate and the expense deduction like any other EU resident; a person tax resident in Russia is outside both the EU and the EEA, so art. 25.1.a TRLIRNR applies the general 24 % and art. 24.6 gives no deduction — the rent is taxed gross. On the treaty itself we do not assume: Russia moved in 2023 to suspend the operation of parts of the double-tax convention with Spain, and the position on which articles remain operative is precisely the kind of question we verify against the text in force before applying any treaty relief, rather than telling a client the treaty "no longer exists".

Why is the plusvalía on my Benidorm apartment lower than on a villa sold for the same price?

Because IIVTNU taxes land, not buildings. In a Benidorm tower the cadastral land value attributable to one apartment is a small share of the total, while in a detached villa the plot carries much more of the value — so on an identical sale price the taxable base differs sharply. The rate itself is the same for both: whatever the Ayuntamiento de Benidorm has approved in its ordenanza fiscal, capped at 30 % by art. 108 TRLRHL. Your IBI receipt shows the land and building split the calculation starts from.

Recent regulatory changes

The state calendar changed: Orden HAC/623/2026 turned the rental modelo 210 into an annual return filed in the first twenty calendar days of April of the following year, ending the quarterly cycle that used to shape a Benidorm letting year. On the autonomic side, Ley 5/2025 de la Generalitat takes ITP on immovable property to 9 % and AJD to 1.4 % for chargeable events accruing from 1 June 2026, and the ISD bonification for groups I and II has been 99 % of the quota since Ley 6/2023. Tourist-letting rules and the Benidorm IBI ordenanza move on their own calendars and are not quoted here: we check both against the version in force for the property in question.

Official sources

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