Non-resident tax in Spain: what you pay on a Spanish property you don't live in
For a non-resident, a Spanish property is never idle at tax time: Spain taxes the rent you never collected, and from 2026 it can penalise you for leaving it empty. Own a Spanish home but live abroad and you pay non-resident income tax every year, plus the local property tax known as IBI, even in a year the place sits empty and earns you nothing.
For a UK owner the rate is currently 24%. It is charged on a notional rent, worked out from the property’s cadastral value, and declared to the Spanish tax office, the Agencia Tributaria, on a form called the Modelo 210[1]. This guide walks you through what you pay each year, how and when to declare it, the new cost of keeping a home empty, and what changes the day you become resident. It is educational, not advice for your own situation, so confirm the current figures with your lawyer or a gestor before you file.
What does a non-resident pay on a Spanish property each year?
There are two recurring charges, and one form carries the larger of them. First is non-resident income tax. If the home is empty you pay on an imputed, or notional, income. If you let it out you pay on the actual rent. Second is IBI, the annual tax the town hall charges. It works roughly like council tax in the UK, or Grundsteuer in Germany. The income tax goes on the Modelo 210. IBI you pay straight to the town hall, usually by direct debit.
Imputed income tax: paying on rent you never collected
This is the charge that catches people out. Spain assumes a second home that isn’t let still produces a benefit, so it taxes a notional rent whether or not a tenant ever sets foot in it.
The base is a percentage of the valor catastral, the administrative value the town hall gives your property (it’s on your IBI receipt). The rate is 1.1% of that value where the town hall has revised it within the last ten years, and 2% where it hasn’t. That figure is then taxed at the non-resident flat rate: 19% for owners resident in the EU or EEA, and 24% for everyone else[1]. Since Brexit, UK owners sit in the 24% band. On a modest villa this is often a few hundred euros a year. But it falls due every year the home stands empty, and it is yours to declare without anyone sending a bill.
If you let the property out
Let the place out and you swap imputed income for tax on the real rent. The split is the same: 19% for EU and EEA residents, 24% for non-EU residents, the UK included[1][3].
The post-Brexit sting is in what you can deduct. An owner resident in the EU or EEA can deduct letting costs, the comunidad fee, repairs, agency commission and a share of the IBI, and pay 19% on the profit. A UK owner pays 24% on the gross rent, with nothing deducted[3]. Two owners earning the same rent from identical flats can face very different bills, purely on where they live.
The Modelo 210: when it’s due, and what happens if you miss it
The Modelo 210 carries both faces of non-resident income tax. Imputed income is declared once a year. The return is due by 31 December of the year after the one it covers. Rental income has its own cadence, and the rules on frequency were reworked during 2026, so check the current deadline on the Agencia Tributaria site before you file rather than trusting an older date[2].
The imputed-income sum on a small second home is genuinely modest, which tempts owners to let it slide. Don’t. Late filing attracts surcharges and interest, non-filing compounds year on year, and the new empty-home measures below are not trivial. Many non-residents hand the Modelo 210 to a gestor, an administrative agent who queues and files on your behalf, for a small annual fee. As one couple who moved over put it, “it’s worth the expense to have a company help you” with the paperwork[4]. For a once-a-year form with real penalties attached, that is usually money well spent.
The new cost of leaving a Spanish home empty
Here is what the evergreen guides don’t yet carry. During 2026 the Spanish government introduced penalties of up to 150% on the tax due for vacant residential property, part of a national push to get empty homes back into use[5]. At the same time, Brussels is reviewing interventions in the EU housing market that could land specifically on non-resident second-home owners in Spain[6]. Between the two, leaving a home dark has moved from a lifestyle choice to a tax decision.
How hard this bites depends on where the home sits. Spain’s regions set much of their own property policy, and the gap is already wide: buying costs alone vary by up to 65,000 euros on a one-million-euro purchase across regions[7]. Expect the same regional patchwork on empty-home rules. The practical move is to weigh the cost of letting the property, even for part of the year, against the surcharge for leaving it empty.
What changes once you become a resident?
The picture flips the day Spain treats you as resident, which turns on spending 183 days here in the calendar year, a test most readers’ own countries also use. Imputed income on your main home falls away. In its place you are taxed on your worldwide income under IRPF, Spain’s personal income tax, filed on the Modelo 100 rather than the 210. Wealth tax may also come into view, depending on the region and the size of your estate.
One honest caveat: 2026 is an unusually fluid year. A snap general election is set for 29 November, and the uncertainty around it means national housing and tax rules could shift in the months after[8]. The obligations themselves, imputed income, the Modelo 210 and IBI, are not what’s in flux. The rates and deadlines are. Confirm any figure, including the ones here, against the Agencia Tributaria’s current tables or with a gestor at the time you file.
The one thing you can do today, whatever changes: dig out your last IBI receipt and find the valor catastral on it. That single number sets your imputed income, tells you roughly what the Modelo 210 will cost, and lets you judge whether keeping the place empty is worth more to you than the rent, and now the surcharge, that an empty home carries.
This article is provided solely for informational purposes, reflecting Northern Estate’s interpretation of current legal frameworks and market practices, which are inherently subject to change. It does not purport to offer, nor should it be interpreted as offering, professional investment, financial, or real estate advice. Individuals considering any form of investment or financial planning in relation to luxury real estate should consult with a qualified professional advisor to tailor advice specifically to their circumstances. Northern Estates has endeavored to ensure the accuracy of the information herein; however, we cannot accept liability for any errors or omissions.
Sources
[1] Agencia Tributaria, ‘Non-resident income tax: income obtained without a permanent establishment’, Agencia Estatal de Administración Tributaria, 2026. Available at: https://sede.agenciatributaria.gob.es/Sede/en_gb/no-residentes/impuesto-renta-no-residentes.html
[2] Ministerio de Hacienda, ‘Orden por la que se modifican los modelos de declaración del Impuesto sobre la Renta de no Residentes (modelo 210)’, Boletín Oficial del Estado, 23 June 2026. Available at: https://www.boe.es/
[3] Agencia Tributaria, ‘Rental income obtained by non-residents without a permanent establishment’, Agencia Estatal de Administración Tributaria, 2026. Available at: https://sede.agenciatributaria.gob.es/Sede/en_gb/no-residentes.html
[4] Lauree and Chris, expat relocation interview, Northern Estates, 18 October 2026.
[5] The Olive Press, ‘Spain introduces tax penalties on empty homes to tackle housing shortage’, 1 October 2026. Available at: https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2026/10/01/spain-property-law-empty-homes/
[6] Spanish Property Insight, ‘Brussels proposes EU housing market intervention’, 13 September 2026. Available at: https://www.spanishpropertyinsight.com/2026/09/13/brussels-proposes-eu-housing-market-intervention/
[7] Spanish Property Insight, ‘Huge difference in property buying costs across Spain’, 4 September 2026. Available at: https://www.spanishpropertyinsight.com/2026/09/04/huge-difference-in-property-buying-costs-across-spain/
[8] Spanish Property Insight, ‘Radical housing decrees defeated as snap election talk grows’, 2 October 2026. Available at: https://www.spanishpropertyinsight.com/2026/10/02/radical-housing-decrees-defeated-as-snap-election-talk-grows/