ITP Transfer Tax in the Valencia Region: 2026 Guide for Buyers

What ITP is and when it applies instead of VAT

ITP, transmisiones patrimoniales onerosas, is one of the three modalities of the Impuesto sobre Transmisiones Patrimoniales y Actos Jurídicos Documentados regulated by Real Decreto Legislativo 1/1993. Article 7.1.A) subjects to it every onerous transfer inter vivos of assets, and article 8.a) makes the acquirer the taxpayer, whatever the parties agree between themselves. It is a state tax ceded to the autonomous regions, which set the rates and collect it.

The boundary with VAT is drawn by article 7.5: transfers made by businesses in the course of their activity are outside ITP and inside VAT, unless the transfer of real estate is VAT-exempt, in which case ITP applies after all. Second and subsequent deliveries of buildings are exempt from VAT under article 20.Uno.22.º of Ley 37/1992, so a resale flat in Torrevieja sold by a private owner, or by a company after its first occupation, pays ITP.

A new home delivered by the developer is a first delivery: it pays 10% VAT under article 91.Uno.1.7.º of the VAT act and, on top, the stamp duty on the deed (AJD) that article 14 of Ley 13/1997 fixes at 1.4% in the Comunitat Valenciana for accruals from 1 June 2026, or 0.1% when the deed documents the purchase of a habitual residence. The two regimes are mutually exclusive: nobody pays both ITP and VAT on the same purchase.

The taxable base: the higher of the price and the Catastro reference value

Since 1 January 2022, article 10.2 of the consolidated ITP act, as worded by article sixth of Ley 11/2021 on measures against tax fraud, fixes the base for real estate at the reference value determined by the Dirección General del Catastro on the accrual date. If the price agreed or the value declared is higher, the higher figure is the base. The reference value is therefore a floor, never a ceiling.

The reference value is not the cadastral value on your IBI bill. It is a separate figure, published each year by the Catastro from notarial sale prices in the area, and it can be consulted free of charge on the Sede Electrónica del Catastro for any property before you sign. Where no reference value exists, or it cannot be certified, article 10.2 falls back on the higher of the declared value, the price and the market value, subject to a value check.

Article 46.1 of the consolidated act completes the design: the administration may no longer open a value check when the base is the reference value or a higher amount. What it can do is issue an assessment when a buyer self-assessed on a price below that value, and that is the most common ITP assessment received by foreign buyers on the Costa Blanca today.

ITP rates in the Comunitat Valenciana from 1 June 2026: 9% general and 11% above one million

Article 13.Uno of Ley 13/1997 of the Generalitat sets the general rate for the acquisition of real estate, and of rights in rem over it other than security rights, at 9%. That figure comes from article 33 of Ley 5/2025, of 30 May, of tax, administrative and organisational measures of the Generalitat, which the BOE consolidated text notes takes effect for taxable events accruing from 1 June 2026 inclusive; the previous wording said 10%.

The same paragraph keeps the higher band: where the value of the property transferred, or of the right created or transferred over it, exceeds one million euros, the applicable rate is 11%. Article 13.Ocho adds an anti-splitting rule: purchases relating to the same registered property from the same seller within three years are treated as a single transfer for the purpose of that rate.

The rate that applies is the one in force on the accrual date, which article 49.1.a) of the consolidated act fixes on the day the act or contract is made, normally the date of the public deed. A private contract signed in May and a deed signed in June 2026 accrue in June. The Generalitat may change these rates in any budget or accompanying law, so the consolidated text of Ley 13/1997 on the BOE is the reference to check on the day you sign.

Reduced ITP rates: young buyers, large families, disability and protected housing

Ley 13/1997 concentrates its reduced rates on the habitual residence, defined by reference to the personal income tax rules under article 13.Seis, and it draws a line at €180,000. Under article 13.Tres, a first habitual residence bought by someone under 35 pays 6% when the value does not exceed €180,000, and 8% under article 13.Dos when it does; the same 6% and 8% apply to general-regime protected housing bought as a first habitual residence. The under-35 rate also requires that the buyer’s general and savings taxable bases in personal income tax do not exceed the limits of article 4.Cuatro: €30,000 in individual and €47,000 in joint taxation.

Article 13.Cinco sets 3% for values up to €180,000, and article 13.Cuatro 4% above it, in four cases: special-regime protected housing as a first habitual residence; the habitual residence of a large or single-parent family, within the income limits of article 4.Cuatro (€30,000 or €47,000 for the general category, €35,000 or €58,000 for the special category); the habitual residence of a person with a recognised disability of 65% or more, or an intellectual or mental disability of 33% or more, on the share that person acquires; and the habitual residence of a woman who is a victim of gender violence, again within the income limits.

Two formal conditions apply to every reduced rate. Article 13.Siete requires the purchase to be documented in a public deed, or formalised as one within the filing period. And because the rates for young buyers and families depend on personal income tax figures, a non-resident who does not file Spanish IRPF will rarely be able to evidence them. The reduced rates are, in practice, designed for people who live in the Comunitat Valenciana.

Filing modelo 600 with the Agència Tributària Valenciana within 30 working days

ITP is a self-assessment: the buyer calculates, files and pays. Article 102 of the ITP regulations, Real Decreto 828/1995, sets the filing period at thirty working days from the date on which the act or contract is made. Working days exclude Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays under article 30.2 of Ley 39/2015, so the period usually stretches to about six calendar weeks after the deed.

The form is modelo 600, filed with the Agència Tributària Valenciana (ATV), the tax agency of the Generalitat, because the tax on property located in Alicante, Valencia or Castellón is ceded to the Comunitat Valenciana. Filing is electronic, and the notarial copy of the deed, the reference value certificate where relevant and the documents supporting any reduced rate accompany it. The stamped self-assessment is needed to register the purchase at the Land Registry, which is why nobody delays it.

Payment is made within the same period. The deadline is identical whether the buyer is resident or not, and a non-resident who has granted a power of attorney to sign remotely will normally let the same attorney or gestoría file the 600 in the following days.

Value checks, assessments and how to contest them

Where the buyer self-assessed on the reference value or a higher figure, article 46.1 of the consolidated act bars any value check. Where the base declared was lower, the ATV issues an assessment for the difference, and a buyer who disagrees with the reference value itself can only contest it in two ways under article 10.3: by requesting the rectification of the self-assessment, or by appealing the assessment. In both cases the administration must obtain a binding report from the Catastro before deciding.

Where there is no reference value, the traditional value check of articles 57 and 134 of the General Tax Act remains: the administration may use its own experts, average market prices or the other listed means, must notify a reasoned valuation, and has six months to conclude. Article 47 of the consolidated ITP act and article 135 of the General Tax Act then allow the buyer to request a tasación pericial contradictoria, an appraisal by an independent expert, within the period for the first appeal against the assessment.

An assessment can be appealed by a recurso de reposición within one month of notification under article 223.1 of the General Tax Act, or by an economic-administrative claim before the regional tribunal. Documentary evidence that the property was in poor condition, or that comparable sales were lower, is what moves the Catastro to correct a reference value; a bare disagreement does not.

The mortgage deed and AJD: what the buyer does not pay

A purchase financed with a Spanish mortgage produces two deeds: the sale and the loan. Since the 2018 reform, article 29 of the consolidated act makes the lender the taxpayer for stamp duty on mortgage loan deeds, and article 14.Tres of Ley 13/1997 sets that rate at 2% in the Comunitat Valenciana when the lender is the taxpayer. The buyer does not pay it.

On a resale purchase the sale deed itself pays ITP and not the gradual stamp duty, because article 31.2 of the consolidated act reserves the gradual AJD for deeds containing acts not subject to ITP. Only the new-build buyer pays AJD on the sale deed, at 1.4%, or 0.1% for a habitual residence, together with VAT.

Buying as a non-resident: same tax, more paperwork

Nothing in Ley 13/1997 or in the consolidated ITP act depends on the buyer’s residence. A German, British or Russian buyer pays the same 9%, on the same base, within the same 30 working days as a buyer from Alicante. What changes is what happens around the tax.

First, the NIE. Every foreign buyer needs a Número de Identidad de Extranjero before signing, because it is the tax identification number on the deed and on modelo 600; our guide on how to get an NIE explains the procedure. Second, if the seller is also a non-resident, the buyer must withhold 3% of the price and pay it to the AEAT on modelo 211 within one month, under article 25.2 of the non-resident income tax act, and under article 106.2 of the Local Finance Act the buyer becomes the substitute taxpayer for the municipal plusvalía that the non-resident seller owes. Third, from the day after completion the buyer owes annual non-resident income tax on the property, declared on modelo 210.

A tax representative in Spain is compulsory for non-residents only in the cases the tax rules expressly list, under article 47 of the General Tax Act and article 10 of the non-resident income tax act, but appointing one gives the ATV and the AEAT an address in Spain for notifications, which is where value-check assessments otherwise go astray.

Costa Blanca, Valencia and beyond: where the Valencian rate applies

Ley 13/1997 applies to property located in the three provinces of the Comunitat Valenciana: Alicante, Valencia and Castellón. Torrevieja, Orihuela Costa, Guardamar, Benidorm, Altea, Calpe, Jávea, Dénia and the city of Alicante all sit in Alicante province, and the city of Valencia in its own; every one of them shares the 9% rate, the €180,000 thresholds and the ATV as the filing office. Our destination pages for the Costa Blanca hub and for each town cover the local layer that ITP does not: plusvalía, IBI and who bills it.

Cross the regional border into the Región de Murcia, at Pilar de la Horadada, and a different regional law and a different tax agency apply. A buyer comparing a home in Torrevieja with one in San Pedro del Pinatar is therefore comparing two ITP regimes, not one, and should check the Murcian rate with that region’s tax agency rather than assume the Valencian figure.

What does not change across regions is the state framework: the reference value as a floor for the base, the 30 working days, modelo 600 and the appeal routes are the same everywhere in Spain outside the foral territories.

Practical checklist before you sign on the Costa Blanca

Confirm the regime (ITP or VAT), look up the reference value on the Catastro site, and calculate 9% on the higher of that value and the price, or 11% if the value exceeds one million euros. If you believe a reduced rate applies, gather the evidence in the table below before the deed, because article 13.Siete requires the purchase to be in a public deed within the filing period.

Have your NIE before the deed, decide who will file modelo 600 and pay within 30 working days, and, if the seller is a non-resident, reserve the 3% for modelo 211 and remember the plusvalía substitution. Keep the stamped 600 with the deed: the Land Registry and any future buyer will ask for it. Our Costa Blanca purchase service handles the calculation, the filing and the registry on your behalf.