Modelo 210: the Spanish tax most foreign owners have never heard of

If you live outside Spain and own a Spanish property, Spain taxes you on it every single year — even if it sits empty and earns nothing. No bill arrives, no letter, no reminder. It is a self-assessed tax, filed on a form called Modelo 210 (in English simply “Form 210” — Spain’s Non-Resident Income Tax return), and the tax office (the AEAT) simply expects you to know.

Most foreign owners don't. Many find out years later, at the worst possible moment: when they sell.

Why you owe tax on an empty home

Spanish law treats a non-resident's property as producing imputed income — a notional benefit of owning it. The taxable amount is 1.1% of the property's valor catastral (its rateable value), or 2% where the municipality hasn't revised values recently. That notional income is then taxed at:

• 19% if you are resident in the EU, Norway or Iceland;
• 24% for everyone else — which, since Brexit, includes UK residents.

A worked example: a flat with a valor catastral of €80,000, recently revised, owned by a UK resident. Imputed income is €880; tax at 24% is €211.20 a year. Owned 50/50 by a couple, each files their own Modelo 210 for €105.60. Two owners, one property, two filings — every year you own it.

The valor catastral is not the market price — it's usually far lower. You'll find it on your annual IBI receipt (the local property rates bill).

How much will I pay? Worked examples

The formula for an empty property is: valor catastral × 1.1% (or 2%) × your tax rate × your ownership share. Assuming a recently revised catastral value (1.1%):

If your municipality hasn’t revised values in the last decade, the 2% base applies — multiply these figures by roughly 1.8. Two owners at 50/50 each pay half, on separate returns. For your own numbers, use the free Modelo 210 calculator.

The two situations

Rented for part of the year? You file both, pro-rated: rental income for the let months, imputed income for the empty ones.

The gross-rent rule is the second Brexit sting: an EU-resident landlord deducts agency fees, repairs and community charges before tax; a UK-resident landlord pays 24% on every euro of rent.

The sting at sale

Non-payment rarely surfaces through an inspector's letter. It surfaces at the notary. When a non-resident sells Spanish property, the buyer is legally required to withhold 3% of the purchase price and pay it to the AEAT (on form Modelo 211 — the retention has its own guide). To recover any of that retention, the seller's tax position is reconciled — and years of unfiled Modelo 210s emerge, with surcharges and interest, while a six-figure completion hangs on it.

Why nobody told you

The AEAT doesn't post reminders to foreign addresses. Estate agents rarely mention it. And it's easy to confuse with IBI, the local rates bill that usually goes out by direct debit — paying IBI feels like "paying the property tax", but IBI and Modelo 210 are separate taxes to separate administrations. One is billed; the other is silently owed.

What to do

1. Find your valor catastral — it's on the IBI receipt.
2. Work out which situation you're in — empty, rented, or mixed.
3. File — through the AEAT's online form, a gestoría, or one of the online filing services that specialise in Modelo 210. The three routes, compared.
4. Keep the paperwork together and the date in front of you. The documents the filing needs — escritura, IBI receipts, rental contracts — are exactly the ones that go missing in a drawer in another country. Photograph them into KeepUp and they're filed against the property, with a reminder each year before the window closes. It's free for one place — see how it works.

This article covers the common cases for individuals; special situations (multiple owners in different countries, companies, the Basque Country and Navarra's separate regimes) have their own rules — check the AEAT's guidance or ask an adviser.

Updated 21/07/2026: added worked examples, Form 210 naming, and links to the new filing and 3% retention guides.