Buying from a non-resident? We work out and file your Modelo 211

Yes: withhold 3% of the agreed price and pay it to the AEAT.

The law requires the buyer (the acquirer) to withhold and pay 3% of the agreed consideration, as a payment on account of the seller's tax. It is not your tax: it is part of the price that, instead of paying it to the seller, you pay to the tax office on the seller's behalf. What triggers the duty is that the seller is a non-resident, by tax residence and not by nationality.

Yes: the rule does not distinguish whether the buyer lives in Spain or abroad.

The duty falls on the acquirer with no conditions: it does not matter whether you buy personally or through a company, or whether you live inside or outside Spain. What counts is the seller: a non-resident income tax (IRNR) taxpayer with no permanent establishment, who can be an individual or a non-resident company.

On the agreed consideration, that is, the price you agreed.

It is not calculated on the cadastral reference value: that value is used for ITP, which is a different tax with a different base. If the price is in a currency other than the euro, it is converted at the official European Central Bank rate on the date of accrual.

One month from the transfer date, with the AEAT office for the property's location.

Within that period you must file Modelo 211 and make the payment. In a sale by notarial deed, the transfer generally takes place when the deed is signed. The retention belongs to non-resident income tax, which is a state tax: it is filed with the AEAT, not with the Generalitat or the Region of Murcia, and the Valencian Community and Murcia have no special rules for it.

Only in two cases set out in the regulations.

The first: the seller proves they pay Spanish personal income tax (IRPF) or corporate tax with a certificate from the tax authority, the certificate of tax residence in Spain issued by the AEAT, which the seller requests. The second: the property is contributed to the creation or capital increase of a company resident in Spain. If the seller does not provide that certificate, the general rule still applies.

Yes: the reinvestment exemption does not remove the retention.

The law itself says that, even when the exemption for reinvesting in a main home applies (only for sellers resident in the EU, or in the EEA with an effective exchange of tax information), you still have to withhold the 3%, and the seller still has to file their own return and pay whatever is due.

You still have to pay it, the property becomes charged and it is an offence.

Three consequences. You are still bound to pay the retention even if you paid the seller the full price. The property becomes charged with the lower of the retention and the seller's tax: the registrar notes it in the margin of the registration, with the amount the property answers for, and whoever acquires a charged asset is secondarily liable with it if the debt is not paid. And failing to pay a retention is a tax offence that the law never classes as minor.

File and pay as soon as you can, without waiting for the tax office to write to you.

If you file without a prior request, the surcharge under article 27 of the General Tax Law applies: 1% plus 1% for each full month of delay, with no penalty. After 12 months the surcharge is 15% plus late-payment interest from then on. The surcharge is reduced by 25% if you pay the full amount due when you file and pay the surcharge within the period opened by its notification. If the AEAT has already started an action you know about formally, those surcharges no longer apply and a penalty is possible.

They deduct it from the tax on their own return.

The seller files their own Modelo 210 within three months after the end of your deadline, deducts what you withheld and, if there is any excess, the AEAT refunds it after the necessary checks. That is why, once you have paid, you give them a copy of the Modelo 211: it is what they use to prove the payment on account. Their return is a separate service that we also offer.

At a collaborating bank in Spain: a transfer from abroad cannot be used for the 211.

The 211 is paid at a bank or savings bank that collaborates with the AEAT in Spain. Depending on whether you file on paper or online, payment can be in cash, by debit to an account at that bank or by a card it has issued. The transfer from abroad that exists for Modelo 210 cannot be used for the 211. Before the deadline we tell you which option suits you.