Modelo 210: Spanish Non-Resident Property Tax 2026 Guide

What is modelo 210 and who has to file the annual non-resident tax declaration?

IRNR is the tax levied on income obtained in Spain by people whose tax residence is elsewhere, and modelo 210 is the self-assessment return used to declare it. Its parent statute is Real Decreto Legislativo 5/2004, the consolidated text of the Non-Resident Income Tax Act. It applies squarely to any foreigner who buys a home on the Costa Blanca without moving their tax residence to Spain.

For a property owner there are three situations that trigger the obligation. The first is deemed income on an urban property kept for personal use, which article 13.1.h) treats as income obtained in Spain simply because the home is at the owner's disposal. The second is rental income when the property is let. The third is the capital gain on a sale, which article 13.1.i).3.º brings within the same tax.

There is no exempt minimum and no threshold below which you can skip the return: a house shut up for eleven months of the year generates deemed income exactly as an occupied one does. Nor does paying your IBI discharge the obligation, because IBI is a separate municipal tax, collected across Alicante province by SUMA Gestión Tributaria and entirely unconnected to the state tax office.

Modelo 210 is a self-assessment, not an assessment raised by the administration. That means the Agencia Tributaria (AEAT) sends no letter and no bill reminding you of the deadline: it is the taxpayer who must calculate, file and pay on their own initiative. That absence of any reminder is the single most common reason why owners build up several unfiled years without ever realising it.

Non-resident or Spanish tax resident? The 183-day rule explained

You are tax resident in Spain if you spend more than 183 days of the calendar year on Spanish territory, or if the main centre or base of your activities or economic interests is located here. This is set out in article 9.1 of Ley 35/2006 on personal income tax, to which article 6 of the consolidated non-resident tax text refers. The two tests are alternatives: meeting either one makes you resident.

When counting the 183 days, sporadic absences are added in unless you can evidence tax residence in another country with a certificate. There is also a rebuttable presumption that you reside in Spain if your legally non-separated spouse and dependent minor children habitually live here.

The document that evidences non-residence is the certificate of tax residence issued by the tax authority of the other state. When it is issued for treaty purposes, it is valid for one year from the date of issue. Without that certificate you cannot invoke the double tax treaty, and the Agencia Tributaria may end up treating you as resident.

Spain does not allow the tax year to be split: anyone who exceeds 183 days becomes resident for the whole calendar year, and that year is declared under IRPF rather than on modelo 210. The change of status also brings reporting duties on assets and rights held abroad, such as form modelo 720, which do not affect a non-resident. The year of a permanent move needs careful planning.

Do I have to pay tax on my Spanish holiday home if it's empty? Deemed income explained

A home that is not let is taxed on a deemed income equal to 1.1% or 2% of its cadastral value, depending on when the cadastral records were revised. Article 24.5 of the consolidated non-resident tax text refers across to the personal income tax imputation rule, today article 85 of Ley 35/2006. Not a single expense can be deducted from that base: not IBI, not community fees, not insurance, not utilities.

The reduced 1.1% rate applies, as the permanent rule, if a collective cadastral revision took effect in the tax period itself or in the ten preceding ones. For 2023, 2024 and 2025 a special rule in the 55th additional provision of the personal income tax act also applies, extending the 1.1% to any revision in force since 1 January 2012. That is the rule governing the modelo 210 filed during 2026, for the accrual dated 31 December 2025.

For the accrual dated 31 December 2026 you will need to check whether that special rule is extended. If it is not, the general test of the ten tax periods applies again, which could push the imputation up to 2% in many Alicante province municipalities revised more than a decade ago. Never assume last year's percentage still holds.

Where the property has no cadastral value, or the value has not been notified, a common situation with newly delivered new-builds in Orihuela Costa or Finestrat, the rate is 1.1% applied to 50% of the higher of the value checked by the administration and the purchase price. If the property is still under construction, or cannot be used for planning reasons, no income is imputed at all.

19% or 24%? Non-resident tax rates in Spain after Brexit

The general non-resident rate without a permanent establishment is 24%, falling to 19% for residents of another European Union member state and of those European Economic Area states with effective exchange of information, namely Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein. Article 25.1.a) of the consolidated text sets the rates. Switzerland, despite its geographical proximity and its agreements with the EU, is not in that group.

The rate applies to the taxable base, not to the cadastral value. This is a very widespread misunderstanding among foreign buyers: the base for a home kept for personal use is 1.1% or 2% of the cadastral value, and only that result is then multiplied by 19% or 24%. Confusing the two figures multiplies the estimated tax bill by fifty where the imputation is 2%, and by more than ninety where it is 1.1%.

Capital gains arising on the disposal of assets are taxed at 19% for all non-residents, whatever their country, under article 25.1.f).3.º. Dividends and interest are likewise taxed at 19%, without prejudice to any limits set by the applicable treaty. Non-resident pensions, by contrast, follow their own scale of 8%, 30% and 40% where the treaty gives Spain the right to tax them.

The dividing line between 19% and 24% depends exclusively on the taxpayer's state of residence, not on their nationality nor on where the property is. A British citizen tax resident in Ireland applies 19%; a Spanish citizen tax resident in the United States applies 24% on their home in Guardamar. The certificate of tax residence is therefore the document that underpins whichever rate you apply.

Can I claim expenses on Spanish rental income as a UK resident?

Non-residents who do not live in the EU or in an European Economic Area state with effective exchange of information are taxed on the gross rent, with no deduction of any expense, under article 24.1. Spanish VAT charged is excluded from the base, but neither IBI, nor community fees, nor insurance, nor repairs reduce what you pay.

Residents of the European Union, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein benefit from the special rule in article 24.6: they may deduct the expenses provided for in the personal income tax act that have a direct and inseverable economic link with the income obtained in Spain. That covers IBI, community charges, home insurance, utilities, loan interest, depreciation and repairs, apportioned over the days actually let.

The reduction for residential letting under IRPF — today 50% as the general rule, with 60%, 70% or 90% only in the specific cases listed in article 23.2 of Ley 35/2006 following Ley 12/2023 — never applies to non-resident tax: article 24.1 expressly rules out reductions. Nor can the IRPF multiplier percentages be applied to the income obtained. It is one of the most repeated errors on owner forums and one of the most frequent triggers of a corrective assessment from the AEAT.

With mixed use, very common on the Costa Blanca, you declare both things: rental income for the days actually let and deemed income apportioned over the remaining days of the year. Declaring July and August and forgetting the imputation for the other ten months is a classic slip among holiday lets in Guardamar and Santa Pola.

Modelo 210 deadlines in 2026: what changes under Orden HAC/623/2026

The deadline depends on when the income accrues, not on the year in which you file. Orden HAC/623/2026, of 12 June, published in the BOE of 23 June 2026, has amended Orden EHA/3316/2010 and introduced a staggered regime, so that two different calendars now run side by side: the one for 2025 accruals and the one that takes effect with 2026 accruals.

Deemed income accrues on 31 December each year. For the 2025 accrual the deadline is unchanged and runs from 1 January to 31 December 2026. For the 2026 accrual and later years, however, the window opens on 1 April of the following year and closes on 31 December: the 2026 imputation cannot be filed until 1 April 2027, and anyone trying in January will find the period has not yet begun.

For rental income, grouping moved from quarterly to annual under Orden HFP/1338/2023 for accruals from 2024 onwards, so talk of quarterly rental returns is out of date. Grouped rental income for 2025 was filed from 1 to 20 January 2026; for 2026 and later years it is filed in the first 20 calendar days of April of the following year. Where returns are filed separately, accruals in the first three quarters of 2026 keep the first 20 days of the month following the quarter — April, July and October — so that the July-to-September 2026 quarter falls due on 20 October 2026, while fourth-quarter 2026 accruals move to 1 to 20 April 2027.

The return for a gain on the disposal of a property, income type 28, is filed within three months once one month has elapsed from the date of transfer. Returns with a refund due are filed from 1 February of the year following the accrual and within a four-year window. Nil-tax returns are filed from 1 to 20 January of the year following the accrual, a deadline that article 5.c).2.º of Orden EHA/3316/2010 leaves untouched after Orden HAC/623/2026.

How to file and pay modelo 210 from abroad

There are four ways to file. With an electronic certificate or DNIe you reach the fullest version of the form and can grant authority to a third party. With Cl@ve only individuals may file, after registering in the system. The paper pre-declaration lets you complete the form on the Sede electrónica, print it and hand it in at a collaborating bank; anyone without a Spanish NIF can obtain an identifying code from the form itself. Finally, a social collaborator or authorised agent can file using their own certificate.

There are three routes for payment. The NRC code is generated on the payment gateway with a charge to an account at a Spanish collaborating bank. Direct debit has accepted SEPA accounts outside the collaborating network since February 2024. And a transfer from abroad requires you to file the return online first, choosing the acknowledgement of debt with payment by transfer option, which produces a payment identifier valid for 30 days and always denominated in euros.

Direct debit closes earlier than filing does, which is a widespread source of confusion. For deemed income on the 2025 accrual, the last day to set up the direct debit is 23 December 2026, whereas the last day to file the return is 31 December. For 2026 accruals and later, the direct debit window for deemed income runs from 1 April to 23 December, and for grouped rental income from 1 to 15 April.

The income type codes entered on the form identify what you are declaring: 01 for letting, 02 for deemed income, 28 for a gain on disposal, 33 and 34 for disposals with reinvestment and 35 for lettings with several payers. Picking the wrong code means having to correct the return afterwards.

Modelo 210 for joint owners: husband and wife, garages and how many returns you file

One return is filed per owner and per property. Deemed income cannot be grouped, because the grouping rules in article 2.1.b) of Orden EHA/3316/2010 only allow income arising from the same asset or right to be grouped, and article 28 bis.1 of the consolidated text confirms the point by stating that a draft return is generated for each property. The income is attributed to each owner in proportion to their share.

The practical consequence surprises many foreign couples: a couple who bought a home in Orihuela Costa 50/50 file two modelo 210 returns a year, one per spouse. If they also own a garage space with its own cadastral reference, they file four, because a garage or storeroom with a separate reference generates its own imputation.

The only accepted exception is the disposal of a property by a non-resident married couple, where article 2.1.a) of Orden EHA/3316/2010 allows a single joint return signed by both spouses. Outside that case, grouping co-owners into one return is incorrect. Where a right of enjoyment exists, the income is attributed to the holder of that right rather than to the bare owner, a frequent situation in inheritances with a surviving spouse's usufruct, in which the usufructuary takes on the filing obligation while the children holding bare ownership impute no income on that share.

Do I need a fiscal representative in Spain as a non-resident?

Not every non-resident is obliged to appoint a fiscal representative, whatever many websites repeat. Article 10.1 of the consolidated text imposes it on non-residents from outside the European Union, and from European Economic Area states without mutual assistance rules, where they operate through a permanent establishment, in the cases covered by articles 24.2 and 38, or where the tax administration requires it because of the amount and nature of the income or because of the ownership of the property. In addition, the same article 10.1 requires a representative to be appointed, with no further condition attached, by persons resident in countries or territories with which there is no effective exchange of tax information who own assets situated in Spanish territory.

The appointment must be notified to the Agencia Tributaria within two months, with the representative's express acceptance. Failing to comply is a serious infringement penalised with €2,000, rising to €6,000 where the taxpayer lives in a country or territory without effective exchange of tax information. The penalty qualifies for the general reductions in the General Tax Act.

Even where it is not legally required, appointing a representative is usually sensible for one practical reason: article 11.1.b) fixes the tax domicile of a non-resident with property income as that of their representative and, failing that, the place where the property is located. Without a representative, AEAT notifications are sent to a shuttered house in Torrevieja and the owner only learns of the file once the appeal deadlines have run out.

It is also worth remembering that article 9 establishes joint and several liability for the payer of the income and for the depositary or manager of the non-resident's assets, except where the withholding obligation in article 31 applies, in which case whoever pays answers as a withholding agent instead. Anyone managing a letting or holding the keys to someone else's property should understand the scope of that liability before taking the job on. It is a material point for holiday letting agencies on the Costa Blanca.

What happens if I don't pay non-resident tax in Spain? Late-filing surcharges and penalties

Filing late of your own accord, without a prior demand from the administration, carries no penalty: only the surcharge under article 27.2 of the General Tax Act, as worded by Ley 11/2021. That surcharge is 1% plus a further 1% for each full month of delay, and no late-payment interest is charged during the first twelve months.

After twelve months the surcharge becomes 15% and late-payment interest accrues from the day after that twelve-month point. Tax late-payment interest stays at 4.0625% in 2026, and the statutory interest rate at 3.25%. Filing before the year of delay is up avoids that jump.

The surcharge is reduced by 25% if both the surcharge itself and the debt arising from the late return are paid in full within the period set by article 62.2 of the General Tax Act. The picture changes entirely if the AEAT contacts you first: the surcharge then disappears and the penalty route opens instead, with enforcement-period surcharges of 5%, 10% or 20% if the assessed amount is not paid within the voluntary period either.

Tax debt becomes time-barred after four years under article 66 of the General Tax Act. That is why a typical voluntary regularisation covers the four open years, a very common scenario among owners who bought years ago and never knew modelo 210 existed. Every 1 January the oldest year drops out and a new one is added to the backlog.

Double tax treaties: how to avoid being taxed twice on your Spanish property

Double tax treaties do not exempt you from Spanish tax on a property located here. Article 6 of the treaties Spain has signed gives the state where the property is situated the right to tax the income it produces — the deemed income and the rent — while article 13 does the same for the gain on a sale, so Spain always taxes all three. What the treaty does is oblige your country of residence to eliminate the double taxation, normally by exemption or by crediting the tax paid in Spain.

To rely on the treaty you must evidence tax residence in the other state with the certificate issued for that purpose by its tax authority, valid for one year from the date of issue. Without that document, you can neither apply the treaty limits nor claim credit at home for the tax paid in Spain.

In the British case, the 2013 Spain-UK treaty remains fully in force and allows the tax paid in Spain to be credited in the United Kingdom, but it does not change the Spanish domestic rate of 24% nor restore the right to deduct expenses that Brexit removed. It is the sharpest financial difference between a British owner and their Irish or German neighbour on the same urbanisation.

Russia calls for extra caution. Russia has unilaterally suspended the operative articles of the treaty and Spain has not terminated it, so the real effect on credit for the Spanish tax has to be checked case by case. It should not be assumed that the tax paid in Spain is automatically recovered in Russia.

Selling or inheriting a Spanish property: the 3% retention and what comes next

On a sale, the buyer is obliged to withhold 3% of the agreed consideration under article 25.2 of the consolidated text, and to pay it over on form modelo 211 within one month of the date of transfer under article 14.4 of the non-resident tax regulations (RD 1776/2004). If they fail to do so, the property transferred stands as security for the lower of that withholding and the tax actually due from the seller, with the resulting risk falling on the buyer. That 3% is a payment on account of the seller's tax, not an extra tax.

The seller then files modelo 210 with income type 28 within three months once one month has elapsed from the transfer. The capital gain is taxed at 19% for all non-residents, British, Russian and American owners included. If the sale produces a loss, or the 3% withheld exceeds the tax due, the return produces a refund and lets you recover the excess.

The reinvestment relief in the 7th additional provision only reaches an owner who sells what was their main home in Spain and reinvests the proceeds in a new main home, and only if they live in the European Union or in a European Economic Area state with effective exchange of information: it does not cover the sale of a second home and it leaves post-Brexit British owners outside it. The transaction also attracts plusvalía municipal, a local tax whose coefficients and rate each town hall sets in its own by-law, so it must be checked in Torrevieja, Orihuela or Alicante depending on where the property lies.

On death, all outstanding income is treated as due on the date of death and the tax debt passes to the heirs. Before accepting an inheritance that includes a Spanish property it is worth checking which IRNR years were left unfiled, because the debt travels with the estate. When settling Inheritance Tax, non-resident heirs, whether from the EU and the EEA or from third countries, may apply the relevant regional rules, which matters particularly in the Valencian Community.

Common mistakes British and northern European owners make on the Costa Blanca

The most widespread error is believing that an empty home creates no obligation. Deemed income exists precisely because the property is at the owner's disposal, and the IBI bill issued by SUMA Gestión Tributaria neither replaces nor covers modelo 210. Another classic is waiting for the Agencia Tributaria to send a notice that will never come, because the form is a self-assessment.

Two confusions recur in the calculation. The first is applying 24% straight to the cadastral value instead of to 1.1% or 2% of that value. The second is applying 24% to the gain on a sale when the correct rate is 19% for all non-residents. There is also the idea, false since Brexit, that British owners still pay 19%.

On the number of returns, owners go wrong by filing a single form per married couple, by forgetting a garage or storeroom with its own cadastral reference, by omitting the imputation for the months a holiday flat was not let, and by failing to apportion by days of ownership in the year of purchase or the year of sale.

Finally, on the calendar, 23 December, the last day to set up a direct debit, gets confused with 31 December, the last day to file. And calendars published before Orden HAC/623/2026 are still in circulation, even though they no longer work for accruals from 2026 onwards.