Modelo 210: the yearly Spanish tax every non-resident owner files alone
Spain taxes the mere ownership of a home by a non-resident, even an empty one, even one never let. It sends you no notice and no form. Here is the calculation, the dates, and what happens if you have never filed.
Published · 8 minute read
Nobody is going to remind you
If you own a home in Spain without being a Spanish tax resident, you must file a modelo 210 every year, even if you never rent it out and even if you only come for 3 weeks. This is not a tax on rental income. It is a tax on ownership itself.
The difficulty is not the amount, which is usually modest. It is that the Spanish tax office sends you nothing. No notice, no reminder, no pre-filled form. It is what is called an autoliquidación: you calculate, you fill in, you pay. If you do not, nothing happens for years, and then one day something does.
The legal basis is article 13.1.h) of Real Decreto Legislativo 5/2004, which taxes « las rentas imputadas a los contribuyentes personas físicas titulares de bienes inmuebles urbanos situados en territorio español no afectos a actividades económicas ». In plain terms: a non-resident individual who owns a Spanish home that generates no business activity is taxed on income he never receives, calculated on the property's cadastral value.
In short
Every non-resident owner must file one modelo 210 per person per year, even if the home stays empty. The base is 2 % of the cadastral value across the 13 towns we cover, none revalued since 2010. The rate is 19 % in the European Union and 24 % outside it. From tax year 2026, filing opens on 1 April instead of 1 January.
The 3 numbers that decide the whole calculation
Everything else is arithmetic. These 3 numbers are enough to know what you owe, to the euro.
of the cadastral value is the taxable base under the general rule, and only 1.1 % if your municipality has revalued recently
the rate applied to that base if you live in the European Union, Iceland, Norway or Liechtenstein
the rate if you live anywhere else, which includes the United Kingdom since Brexit
The cadastral value is not what you paid, nor the market value. It is an administrative figure, usually far lower. You will find it on your IBI bill, the Spanish council property tax, under valor catastral. That is the source the Spanish tax office itself points to.
No expenses may be deducted from this base, and that holds for EU residents too. The tax office wording leaves no room: « no procederá la deducción de ningún tipo de gasto ». Expense deduction does exist, but only against rental income, which is not your case if the house sits empty.
Why it is 2 % and not 1.1 % across our 13 towns
The 1.1 % rate applies where the municipality's cadastral values have been revised by a general ponencia de valores in force during the tax year or the previous 10. So it depends on the town, not on the owner. Here is the answer for our 13.
| Town | Last cadastral revision | Base that applies |
|---|---|---|
| Busot | 1996 | 2 % |
| El Campello | 2008 | 2 % |
| Mutxamel | 2010 | 2 % |
| Aigües | 1988 | 2 % |
| Sant Joan d'Alacant | 2003 | 2 % |
| Xixona | 2004 | 2 % |
| Sant Vicent del Raspeig | 1998 | 2 % |
| Alicante | 1996 | 2 % |
| Agost | 2006 | 2 % |
| Villajoyosa | 2006 | 2 % |
| Relleu | 2002 | 2 % |
| Orxeta | 2002 | 2 % |
| la Torre de les Maçanes | 2003 | 2 % |
If your property is elsewhere, check before applying 2 %. The window rolls forward, and a town revalued in 2017 produces a tax bill almost half the size today. The revision year of any Spanish municipality can be looked up freely in the Ponencias de Valores section of the Land Registry portal.
One point of honesty here. For tax years 2024 and 2025 there is currently a gap between the consolidated BOE text, which limits a transitional rule to 2023 alone after the Congress repealed 3 successive decree laws, and the doctrine published by the Spanish tax office, which still applies that rule to 2024 and 2025. The gap only concerns towns revalued in 2012, 2013 or 2014. None of the 19 falls in that group, so it changes nothing here.
A full worked example, line by line
A flat in El Campello with a cadastral value of 90,000 €, owned all year, never let, single owner.
The taxable base
90,000 € times 2 %, so 1,800 €. That is the income the tax office deems you to have received, even though nothing was banked.
If you live in France, Belgium or the Netherlands
1,800 € times 19 %, so 342 € for the year.
If you live in the United Kingdom
1,800 € times 24 %, so 432 €. The 90 € difference is the one direct consequence of Brexit on this tax.
If there are 2 owners at 50 each
Each declares half, a base of 900 €, and files a separate form. A single joint form is not accepted for this type of income.
If you bought during the year
The base is reduced in proportion to the number of days of ownership. A purchase on 1 April gives 9 months out of 12, and a home under construction generates no deemed income at all.
If you let it for part of the year
The let months fall under a different regime and drop out of this calculation. Only the days the property was at your disposal count.
The deadlines changed in June 2026
This is the point most pages online have not caught up with, including some of the tax office's own help pages.
Up to and including tax year 2025, the modelo 210 is filed from 1 January to 31 December of the following year. For 2025 you therefore have until 31 December 2026, and until 23 December 2026 if you want the payment taken by direct debit.
From tax year 2026 the window narrows: filing no longer opens on 1 January but on 1 April. For 2026 it will run from 1 April to 31 December 2027. The change comes from Orden HAC/623/2026 of 12 June, published in the BOE on 23 June 2026.
The trigger date does not move: it is 31 December. If you sell on 15 December you still owe the part of the year you owned it, declared the following year.
One more change of form, from 1 January 2027 and whatever the tax year: the form gains 2 new boxes, the number of days and the ownership share. Those are precisely the 2 figures owners most often get wrong.
What happens if you have not filed
Many owners discover this tax after several years. The good news is that Spanish law draws a very sharp line between the owner who comes forward and the owner who waits to be caught. The gap is large.
| Your situation | What you pay on top | Penalty |
|---|---|---|
| You file 1 month late, on your own initiative | 2 % | none |
| 6 months late, on your own initiative | 7 % | none |
| 11 months late, on your own initiative | 12 % | none |
| More than 12 months, on your own initiative | 15 % plus late interest | none |
| The tax office claims before you move | late interest | 50 % to 150 % of the tax due |
The difference between line 4 and line 5 is the difference between paying 15 % more and paying between 50 and 150 % more. Put plainly: if you realise you are several years behind, the worst move is to wait. The limitation period is 4 years from the end of the filing window.
How to file without a Spanish digital certificate
This is the most common practical obstacle. There are 3 routes, and 2 of them require nothing Spanish at all.
The paper form, called predeclaración
You fill the form in online without identifying yourself, print it, and hand in the payment copy. There is even a button to generate an identification code if you do not yet hold a NIF.
A transfer from your own bank, with no Spanish account
The reconocimiento de deuda y pago mediante transferencia option lets you pay by transfer in euros from abroad, with a payment reference valid for 30 days.
Direct debit from a SEPA account
Since 1 February 2024 direct debit is accepted on non-Spanish SEPA accounts, covering the 27 EU countries plus Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. It does require online filing, and the deadline moves to 23 December.
An authorised agent
A gestor, a lawyer or a registered accountant can file for you with their own certificate under a power of attorney. That is the simplest route if you already use one from your purchase.
What we do, and what we do not do
We are not gestors or tax advisers, and we will not fill in your modelo 210. What we do is the rest: read the cadastral value off your IBI bill and send it to you as a photo, warn you when the deadline is coming, and keep the dated file on your house up to date, the one your gestor or your insurer will ask for one day. See what the report looks like
A question about your home?
The check visit is free, with no commitment. We come, we check the 38 points and we send you the report. You see what you are buying before you pay.
4 questions that always come back
I have never received anything from the Spanish tax office. Do I really have to file?
Yes. It is an autoliquidación: the tax office sends no notice and no draft. Its silence is not an exemption, it only means it has not looked at you yet. The limitation period is 4 years from the end of the filing window.
There are 2 of us on the deeds. Is one form enough?
No. Each co-owner files their own modelo 210 on their share. Grouping is expressly excluded for this type of income, and the only joint filing allowed between non-resident spouses concerns the sale of a property, not owning one.
My house sat empty all year. Does that change anything?
No, and that is what surprises people most. The tax falls on having the property at your disposal, not on using it. A house closed 12 months a year is taxed exactly like one occupied for 3. Only a property under construction or unusable for planning reasons drops out of the calculation.
Can I pay from my French, Belgian or Dutch bank?
Yes, in 2 ways. By transfer in euros using the debt acknowledgement option, or by direct debit from a SEPA account since 1 February 2024. No Spanish account is needed.
Sources: articles 13.1.h), 24.5 and 25.1.a) of Real Decreto Legislativo 5/2004; article 85 of Ley 35/2006; articles 27 and 191 of Ley 58/2003 General Tributaria; Orden HAC/623/2026 of 12 June, BOE of 23 June 2026; the modelo 210 pages of the Spanish tax office; ponencia de valores years from the Land Registry. All opened on 7 August 2026.
What to remember
- 1 form per owner per year, even if the home stays empty all year.
- A base of 2 % of the cadastral value across the 13 towns we cover, then 19 % for the European Union and 24 % for the United Kingdom.
- For tax year 2026, filing opens on 1 April 2027, no longer on 1 January.
- Coming forward yourself costs 2 % to 15 % extra. Waiting to be chased costs 50 % to 150 %.
Written by Fabrizio and Krystel, Domivaro, Busot. Updated 7 August 2026.
This article gives general information, checked against the sources cited on the date shown. It replaces neither your contract nor the advice of your tax adviser, your insurer or a legal professional. Domivaro provides maintenance and condition reporting, not a private security or tax advisory service.
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