Property Tax in Spain for Non-Resident Owners: The 2026 Guide
What every non-resident buyer needs to sort out first
Buying a property for sale in Mallorca or Ibiza as a non-resident comes with tax obligations that start before you sign at the notary and continue for as long as you own the home. Spanish town halls pursue the current owner for any unpaid tax on a property, not the person who sold it, so a buyer who skips due diligence can inherit someone else's debt along with the keys.
Before any of that, you need an NIE (Número de Identificación de Extranjero), the foreigner identification number required to complete a purchase in Spain. It doubles as your tax ID for every return you file afterwards and never expires. Most buyers apply through the Spanish consulate in their home country or in person once in Spain, and the lawyer handling your purchase can usually guide you through the paperwork.
A gestor, the closest Spanish equivalent to a tax accountant, is worth engaging from day one. Even owners who never rent out their property and use it purely as a holiday home still have an annual filing obligation under Modelo 210, the standard form non-residents use to declare Spanish income and gains. Skipping it is one of the most common, and most avoidable, mistakes among foreign owners.
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Buying a property as a non-resident: taxes and costs
Budget for total taxes and costs of somewhere between 11% and 14% of the purchase price, depending on whether the property is new or resale and where its price falls within the Balearic Islands' tax bands. That is a wider range than older guides tend to quote, because the regional transfer tax scale has become more progressive in recent years. This section covers the tax side specifically. For a fuller walkthrough of every step in a purchase, our guide to buying a property in Mallorca and our overview of costs and taxes cover the rest.
VAT (IVA) on new-build property
Buying directly from a developer means VAT, called IVA in Spain, at 10% of the purchase price. A new-build home in one of Mallorca's new developments priced at €1,000,000 adds €100,000 in IVA. Resale property is exempt from IVA entirely.
Stamp Duty (AJD) on new-build property
New-build purchases also carry Stamp Duty, Actos Jurídicos Documentados or AJD, at the general Balearic rate of 1.5% of the purchase price. On the same €1,000,000 new build, that is a further €15,000.
Transfer Tax (ITP) on resale property
Resale property is exempt from IVA but instead carries Transfer Tax, Impuesto de Transmisiones Patrimoniales or ITP, which the Balearic Islands charge on a progressive scale rather than a flat national rate. The bands in force for 2026 are as follows.
| Portion of the declared value | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to €400,000 | 8% |
| From €400,000 to €600,000 | 9% |
| From €600,000 to €1,000,000 | 10% |
| From €1,000,000 to €2,000,000 | 12% |
| Above €2,000,000 | 13% |
That progressive structure matters most at the top end of the market, where many of our luxury properties for sale sit. A resale villa for sale in Mallorca priced at €1,500,000 works out at an effective ITP rate of around 10% once you blend the bands, not a flat 7% or 8% as some older guides still suggest. Ask your gestor or lawyer to confirm the exact figure before you sign, since it changes the budget meaningfully on higher-value purchases.
Notary, land registry and legal fees
On top of IVA, AJD or ITP, notary fees, land registry charges and the fees of the lawyer you instruct typically add a further 1% to 2% of the price. The lawyer's role during the purchase process includes checking the property is free of debts and unpaid taxes before completion, which is worth far more than the fee itself.
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Owning a property in the Balearic Islands: annual taxes
IBI, the annual local property tax
Impuesto sobre Bienes Inmuebles, or IBI, is the Spanish equivalent of council tax, billed once a year by the town hall where the property sits. It is based on the cadastral value rather than the market price, and the rate is set independently by each municipality, so two similar properties a few kilometres apart can carry noticeably different bills, from a few hundred euros for an apartment to several thousand for a large finca or villa. Ask the seller for the most recent IBI receipt before you buy, since it gives a realistic sense of the annual cost.
Wealth Tax (Impuesto sobre el Patrimonio)
Wealth Tax applies to the value of Spanish assets held by non-residents, and the rules changed meaningfully in 2024. The Balearic Islands raised their own tax-free allowance to €3,000,000 for resident taxpayers, well above the national default of €700,000, while keeping a regional rate scale that runs higher than the old national one at the top end.
| Net taxable base | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to €170,472 | 0.28% |
| From €170,472 to €340,937 | 0.41% |
| From €340,937 to €681,870 | 0.69% |
| From €681,870 to €1,336,740 | 1.24% |
| From €1,336,740 to €2,727,479 | 1.79% |
| From €2,727,479 to €5,454,958 | 2.35% |
| From €5,454,958 to €10,909,952 | 2.90% |
| Above €10,909,952 | 3.45% |
These are the published regional bands, and given how often Spanish tax decrees get amended, it is worth confirming the exact figures for the current tax year with ATIB or your gestor before using them for planning. Whether non-resident owners can also benefit from the higher €3,000,000 regional allowance, rather than the national €700,000 figure, depends on your country of tax residence and is genuinely unsettled at the moment. Two Supreme Court rulings handed down in October and November 2025 found Spain had been treating non-residents unfairly in a related area of Wealth Tax, and tax advisers are still working through what that means in practice. If your Spanish assets are anywhere near either threshold, this is a conversation for a gestor or tax adviser, not a figure to assume from an article.
Very large estates should also be aware of the Impuesto de Solidaridad de las Grandes Fortunas, a separate solidarity tax that can apply above €3,000,000 in taxable base regardless of regional Wealth Tax allowances, designed specifically to stop high-value owners avoiding tax altogether through regional exemptions.
Non-resident income tax on a property you do not rent out
This is the obligation most non-resident owners overlook. If you use your Mallorca or Ibiza home purely for your own holidays and never rent it out, Spain still treats that as a form of income and taxes it. You declare an imputed rental value, generally 1.1% or 2% of the cadastral value depending on when it was last officially revised, through the same Modelo 210 return. It is taxed at 19% for residents of the EU, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, and at 24% for everyone else, including UK and US owners. The amounts involved are usually modest, often a few hundred euros a year, but the filing itself is mandatory and frequently missed by owners who assume that not renting means not owing anything.
Selling a property in Spain as a non-resident
Capital Gains Tax
When you sell, the gain between your purchase price and sale price is taxed at a flat rate rather than a sliding scale: 19% if you are a tax resident of the EU, Iceland, Norway or Liechtenstein, and 24% if you are resident anywhere else, which includes the UK since Brexit and the United States. German and Scandinavian sellers therefore pay a meaningfully lower rate than British or American ones on an identical gain.
The buyer is legally required to withhold 3% of the agreed price at completion and pay it directly to the Spanish tax authorities on your behalf, as a payment on account of whatever Capital Gains Tax you owe. If the 3% withheld turns out to be more than your actual liability, perhaps because you sold at a loss or a modest gain, you can claim the difference back once you file your final return.
Plusvalía Municipal
Plusvalía Municipal is a separate local tax charged by the town hall on the increase in the value of the land under the property, not the building itself, and it falls on the seller. Since a 2021 reform, you can choose whichever of two calculation methods produces the lower bill: an objective method based on the cadastral value and a coefficient for the years you owned the property, or a real method based on the actual increase in value. If you can show the property sold for the same price or less than you paid for it, no Plusvalía is due at all.
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By Iris Gruenewald
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