If you own a flat or a house in Spain but live somewhere else, the sale is taxed differently from a local owner's. The difference is not in the rate — that part is simple — but in the mechanics: part of the money never reaches you at all, because the buyer withholds it and pays it to the treasury in your name. After that you either get the difference back or pay the balance, and both run on deadlines that start ticking from the day you sign at the notary.
Below are the three numbers and four dates the tax side of a sale is made of. The figures for your own transaction are calculated by a tax gestor from your own documents; this article exists so that you understand what is being calculated and why.
The 3% withholding: an advance, not a tax
On the day you sign at the notary, the buyer does not hand you the whole sum. They are obliged to withhold 3% of the agreed price and, within one month, remit it to the tax authority on form 211. They give you a copy of that form — keep it, because without it you cannot prove the advance was paid.
Nothing changes for the buyer: they pay the same full price, just in two payments — 97% to you and 3% to the tax office. Not a euro comes out of their own pocket. Nor is it a penalty on you: the state simply takes part of your tax up front, because after completion a non-resident seller leaves the country and collecting anything from them becomes difficult.
Put plainly: on a €700,000 flat the buyer pays the same €700,000 — €679,000 to you and €21,000 to the treasury.
The sum is calculated on the price in the contract, not on your gain. On a €600,000 flat that is €18,000 you do not receive on the day, even if the real tax turns out to be a third of it.
Tax on the gain: 19%, not 24%
The gain on the sale of Spanish property by a non-resident is taxed at 19%. That applies to all non-residents equally — those living inside the EU and those living outside it.
You have probably read 24% somewhere, and the confusion is understandable: 24% is the rate for non-residents from outside the EU on other income, chiefly rental income and the imputed income on a home left empty. It does not apply to a gain on sale.
How the gain is calculated
The gain is not "sold for 700, bought for 500, therefore 200". The law allows both sides to be adjusted, and on a large property that is tens of thousands of euros of difference.
| Added to the purchase price | Deducted from the sale price |
|---|---|
| ITP or VAT paid on the purchase | Agency commission |
| Notary and Land Registry fees on that transaction | Plusvalía municipal, if you paid it |
| Lawyer's and gestoría fees on the purchase | Lawyer's and gestoría fees on the sale |
| Documented improvements | The cost of clearing a mortgage charge |
A worked example. A flat bought in 2014 for €450,000 and sold in 2026 for €700,000:
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Sale price | €700,000 |
| less agency commission and lawyer — in this example | −€30,000 |
| less plusvalía, if you paid it | −€4,000 |
| Adjusted sale price | €666,000 |
| Purchase price | €450,000 |
| plus ITP, notary, registry and lawyer on that purchase | +€45,000 |
| plus the documented 2018 reconfiguration | +€25,000 |
| Adjusted purchase price | €520,000 |
| Gain | €146,000 |
| Tax at 19% | €27,740 |
| Already withheld from the price and paid by the buyer (3%) | €21,000 |
| Balance to pay | €6,740 |
The figures are illustrative and exist only to show the shape of the calculation. On another sale at the same prices the 3% withheld could easily exceed the tax — and then the conversation is about a refund, not a balance.
Form 210: the deadlines
The return is filed by you, on form 210. The timing is counter-intuitive: one month runs first from the date of the notarial deed, and only then does a three-month filing window open.
A sale on 10 March 2026 → the return may be filed between 11 April and 10 July 2026.
Late filing attracts a surcharge — roughly 1% for each complete month of delay during the first year. The notary date is therefore the starting gun for two calendars: yours and the buyer's.
If more was withheld than was due
This is the most common situation for anyone who bought a long time ago and is selling without a large gain: 3% of the price comes to more than 19% of the gain. The difference is refunded, but not automatically — it has to be claimed on that same form 210.
The tax authority has six months from filing to pay it. If it misses that, interest then runs on the sum in your favour. In practice the money arrives later than one would like the first time round, and it is calmer to assume you do not have it until the end of the year.
The refund is paid by transfer to the account given in the return. A Spanish account is not obligatory for this: the form provides for a foreign account, and for SEPA countries you need the IBAN, the SWIFT-BIC, and the bank's name and address. If there is no account at all, a refund can be requested by cheque — but that is a separate written application and several more weeks.
If you sold at a loss
You still file. Without the return, the 3% withheld simply stays with the treasury: the tax authority does not know there was no gain until you say so and attach both deeds. Selling for less than you paid is not rare for property bought at the 2007–2008 peak, and it is exactly the case where form 210 is filed for a refund rather than for a payment.
When there may be no tax at all
If you are tax resident in an EU or EEA country with tax-information exchange, and you are selling a home that was your main residence in Spain, the gain can be exempted — provided the whole sum received is reinvested in a new main home. Reinvest part of it and a proportionate part of the gain is exempt. The rule has applied since 1 January 2015.
In practice this is rare: for most foreign owners the Spanish flat was not a main residence. But if you did live in it and are moving on, ask a gestor about it before the sale rather than after: the procedure depends on whether the reinvestment happens before the return is filed or after.
And one more tax people forget
Besides the tax on the gain there is a municipal one — plusvalía municipal, the tax on the increase in the value of the land under the property. It is calculated on entirely different rules, paid to the town hall, and its size does not depend on your gain at all. I have covered it separately in plusvalía municipal in Barcelona when you sell.
One point here matters directly to non-residents: where the seller is not resident in Spain, the buyer becomes liable for it by law. Not out of kindness, but because that is what the local taxation act says. In a negotiation this turns into an argument: the buyer knows they will pay it, and prices it in. Better to arrive at that conversation as the prepared side.
Frequently asked questions
Who actually pays the 3% — me or the buyer?
Technically the buyer remits it, on form 211, within a month of completion. But it is your money: they deduct it from the sum they hand you. You receive 97% of the price and a copy of form 211.
Can the 3% be skipped if I am selling without a gain?
No. The withholding does not depend on the outcome of the sale; it is calculated on the price. An overpayment can only be recovered afterwards, through form 210.
I have no Spanish bank account. How do I get the refund?
The return provides for a foreign account — for SEPA countries the IBAN and SWIFT-BIC, plus the bank's name and address. If there is no account at all, the refund is requested by cheque, as a separate application to the tax authority.
Do I need an NIE to sell?
Yes. Without it there is no transaction, and it is needed to file the return as well. If the number was issued long ago, check in advance that it is in order.
How long does all this take after signing?
One month for the buyer's withholding. Then three months for your return. Then up to six months for the refund, if one is due. So the tax tail of a sale runs for about a year, and that is normal.
I am selling a flat with a mortgage on it. Does that change the tax?
In the calculation of the gain, in one direction only: the cost of clearing the mortgage charge — notary, registry, gestoría — is deducted from the sale price. The outstanding balance itself reduces neither the gain nor the tax: that is your obligation to the bank, not a cost of the transaction.
The tax side of a sale looks complicated right up until it is laid out by date. I run the sale as a whole — from the price the property will actually bear to the signature at the notary — and I make sure the tax calculation is done before the signature rather than after, so that you know in advance what will be left in hand. The calculations themselves are done by a tax gestor from your documents; you pay for that work separately, which is more honest than promising "all included".
If you would rather start with the price, send me the address and the floor area and I will reply within one or two working hours.
Sources
The official texts this article rests on. Links checked on 29 September 2026.
- Retención del adquirente de un inmueble (modelo 211) — Agencia Tributaria
- Tipos de gravamen en el IRNR sin establecimiento permanente — Agencia Tributaria
- Ganancia patrimonial derivada de la transmisión de un inmueble — Agencia Tributaria
- Modelo y plazo de declaración (modelo 210) — Agencia Tributaria
- Exención por reinversión en vivienda habitual, IRNR — Agencia Tributaria
- Texto refundido de la Ley Reguladora de las Haciendas Locales, art. 106 — BOE
For reference only, and current as of September 2026. Rates, thresholds and deadlines change, and they depend on your personal circumstances and your country of tax residence; the calculation for a specific transaction is always made by a qualified tax adviser.
