Those who own a holiday home in Spain must pay an annual tax by December 31st even if they are a non-resident and don’t rent out their property.

The paperwork for the tax known in Spanish as Renta Imputada(Deemed rental income) must be filed by December 31 using the Modelo 210 and applies to all non-resident owners even those who don’t make money by renting out their properties.

The tax assumes that the property is an asset that could be rented out, even if it’s not, and comes on top of the annual property tax (or rates) known as Impuestos Sobre Bienes Inmuebles(IBI) that owners need to pay their local council.

The tax is calculated based on the cadastral value of the property which can be determined by looking at the latest IBI bill. You will also need to find out when the last cadastral revision was made by your municipality and that determines the percentage multiplier you will need to work out how much tax is owed.

If it was revalued within the last ten years then the coefficient is 1.1 percent or if prior to ten years then it is 2percent. That figure is multiplied by the cadastral value of the house and then taxed by either 19.5 percent for those whose country of residence is within the EU or Iceland or Norway. All other residents of countries outside of the EU (which will include the UK after the Brexit deadline) is 24 percent

So for example, the tax on a property valued at €76,381 on the cadastral would be around €207.

Failure to pay can lead to hefty fines and could cause problems when the time comes to sell your property on as unpaid taxes count as debts and need to be cleared before title deeds can legally be exchanged.

Required paperwork:

As usual with Spanish bureaucracy you will need certain paperwork in order and be able to provide evidence of the following:

• National Insurance number in your country
•  Spanish NIE number
• Passport number
• Date of Birth, Town of Birth
•  Country of Fiscal residence (where you are legally registered to pay taxes)
• Address in your country of residence
• Full Address of the property or properties in Spain
• Catastral Value and year revised Catastral reference number of Property in Spain (shown on the IBI bill)
• An IBAN bank account number to include on the form if you want to pay from your bank.

How to I file this tax?

You can apply to pay the tax online at Spain’s tax agency using the  Modelo 210 which you can find HERE and complete online if you have an electronic ID. (Here's how to get one)

Otherwise you can still complete it online but will have to print it out and take it to a bank in order to process payment.

Spain’s tax office has helpfully produced a guide to filling out the form in English HERE.

December 31st deadline

The deadline for the submission of form Modelo 210 is the 31st December 2020 for income deemed or actually derived in 2019.

If you have previous years outstanding you can still pay for up to four years but will have to pay a penalty for late payment.

READ MORE: 

• 'It's absurd': How Britons who let out properties in Spain could see taxes triple after Brexit 
• BREXIT: The money matters Brits in Spain need to consider
• What worries British second home owners in Spain most about Brexit