Guide
The tax on a Spanish holiday home when you live somewhere else
A flat in Spain that nobody rents out still produces a tax bill every year. Here is where the number comes from, and why two owners of identical flats can pay very different amounts.
Facts checked against the law in September 2026.
The short answer
- Spain taxes an income nobody paid you: 1.1 percent of the cadastral value, or 2 percent where that value is older than ten years
- The rate is 19 percent if you live in the EU or the EEA and 24 percent if you live anywhere else, Switzerland and the United Kingdom included
- Only residents of another EU state may deduct costs. From outside, the mortgage, the community fee and the repairs count for nothing
- Every co-owner files their own form, for their own share
- IBI, the wealth tax and the Modelo 210 are three separate things
Spain taxes the flat even when it is empty
Spanish law taxes the possibility of using a property, not only the money it makes. If you are not tax resident in Spain and the flat is not let, a percentage of its cadastral value counts as your income for the year and is taxed. Only a habitual residence escapes this, and somebody who lives abroad does not have one in Spain. A flat you use for three weeks in August is taxed for the whole twelve months.
Where the number comes from
It starts with the cadastral value, which is on the IBI receipt the town hall sends every year. That value is not what the flat would sell for; it is usually far below the market price. The receipt also says when the value was last revised, and that decides your percentage: 1.1 percent where the revision took effect within the last ten tax periods, and 2 percent where it did not.
Where you live decides your rate
A resident of another EU state, or of Iceland, Norway or Liechtenstein, pays 19 percent. Everybody else pays 24 percent, and that includes Switzerland and the United Kingdom, which belong to neither. Your nationality is irrelevant: a Spaniard living in Zurich pays the same 24 percent as a Briton living in Zurich.
From outside the EU you deduct nothing
This is the difference that matters when the flat is let. A resident of another EU state may deduct the costs of earning the rent. Everybody else is taxed on the gross rent, with the mortgage interest, the community fee, the insurance and the repairs counting for nothing at all. Two neighbours with identical flats and identical tenants can end up paying very different tax purely because one of them lives inside the EU and the other does not.
One form per owner
Spain wants a Modelo 210 from each owner, for their own share, with their own NIE. A couple who own half each file two forms on half the value or half the rent, not one form between them. It is administrative rather than expensive, but it catches people out.
When it is due
For a flat you keep for yourself, the return for one year is due by 31 December of the next. For a let flat there is an annual window early in the following year. Both windows have moved in recent years, so check the current date rather than trusting an old article, including this one.
IBI, wealth tax and Modelo 210 are not the same thing
IBI is the municipal property tax, paid to the town hall, and it is the receipt that carries the cadastral value. Modelo 210 is the national income tax on the flat. And Spain also levies a wealth tax that can reach a non-resident owner of an expensive property, which is a third filing again. Paying one of them says nothing about the other two.
If you have never filed
Filing late of your own accord costs less than being found. Spain can go back several years and add a surcharge, and the tax office does eventually notice: your ownership is in the land register and the town hall bills you for IBI every year. If several years are open, that is a conversation with an adviser rather than a form filled in a hurry.
Questions that follow
The flat earns nothing. Is there really tax?
Yes. That is the whole point of imputed income: the law taxes the use you could make of the property. The amounts are often modest, a few hundred euros a year on a typical holiday flat, which is exactly why people are surprised to learn they should have been paying it for a decade.
Where do I find the cadastral value?
On the annual IBI receipt from the town hall, which also gives the year of the last revision. The Catastro's own site shows it as well, with your NIE and a certificate. Do not use the purchase price: it is a different figure entirely.
I live in Switzerland. Is there really no way to deduct the mortgage?
Not against the Spanish tax. The deduction in the non-resident income tax act is written for residents of another EU state, and Switzerland is not one. It is worth knowing before you buy with a loan, because it changes the arithmetic of letting a Spanish flat considerably.
Do I declare the flat at home as well?
Usually yes. Spain has the first right to tax property that stands in Spain, and your own country then either exempts it while counting it for your rate or credits the Spanish tax. Which one applies is in your treaty with Spain.