Sell a flat in Spain and three numbers arrive at once: a tax rate, 3% of the price kept back by your buyer, and a town hall bill. Only one of them is capital gains tax in Spain, and its rate depends on a prior question.
That question is whether Spain treats you as resident. The capital gains tax basics hold here as anywhere: you are taxed on a gain once you have realised it. Your status then sets the law, the rate, the form and the deadline. Two sellers of the same flat, one resident and one not, do not file the same return.
Two taxes exist for one event. A resident's gain falls under the personal income tax (IRPF), wherever the asset is. A non-resident's gain falls under the non-residents income tax (IRNR), on Spanish-source gains only, each gain separately, with no offsetting of gains and losses.
In paraphrase, the law treats a gain as a change in your wealth's value shown by a change in its composition.
| Status | Tax that applies | Gains in scope | Rate | Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resident | Personal income tax (IRPF) | Wherever the asset is | 19% to 30% (savings scale, 2025) | Form 100 |
| Non-resident | Non-residents income tax (IRNR) | Spanish-source only | 19% on a sale gain | Form 210 |
Spain decides residence with its own tests, built on the time you spend in the country and on where your main economic interests sit. The answer holds for the whole calendar year.
Becoming resident changes more than one return, which is why moving abroad as an investor is a subject of its own.
The holding period does not matter. Gains on transfers go into the savings base, where dividends and interest share the scale. The State scale and the regional scale add up to the rates below (tax year 2025, and the law as it stood on 8 October 2026).
| Band of the savings base (EUR) | State rate | Regional rate | Combined rate | Cumulative tax at the top of the band (EUR) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 to 6,000 | 9.5% | 9.5% | 19% | 1,140 |
| 6,000 to 50,000 | 10.5% | 10.5% | 21% | 10,380 |
| 50,000 to 200,000 | 11.5% | 11.5% | 23% | 44,880 |
| 200,000 to 300,000 | 13.5% | 13.5% | 27% | 71,880 |
| Above 300,000 | 15% | 15% | 30% | N/A |
On a large gain, EUR 300,000 of savings base carries EUR 71,880 of tax, and only the part above bears 30%. According to the consolidated law published by the Boletín Oficial del Estado (2026), that band applies since 1 January 2025 (Ley 7/2024). According to the OECD (2025), Spain was in 2023 among the countries taxing gains on listed shares under separate progressive rates. No official manual exists yet for tax year 2026, so the scale needs re-checking before filing.
The 28% still quoted in many places was the top rate of 2023 and 2024, not the rate of a gain realised since.
For a Spanish resident, gains on transfers go into the savings base, where dividends and interest share the scale. The State scale and the regional scale add up, band by band.
On a sale gain, yes. According to the Agencia Tributaria (Non-Resident Taxation Manual, October 2026), the gain on a Spanish property sold by a non-resident is taxed at 19%, whatever the seller's State of residence. The 24% that circulates is the general rate on other income, rent for example, cut to 19% for residents of the EU and of EEA States exchanging tax information.
| Type of income | EU and EEA resident | Other non-resident |
|---|---|---|
| Gain on a sale of assets | 19% | 19% |
| Other gains, not arising from a transfer | 19% | 24% |
| Securities | Exempt, except entities holding mainly Spanish real estate and some substantial holdings | Exempt on official Spanish markets, where a treaty has an exchange of information clause |
Neither exemption applies through a tax haven. A 50% exemption also remains for urban property acquired from 12 May 2012 to 31 December 2012.
Take a seller who lives in Dubai. A UAE resident pays the same 19% on a Spanish property gain as any other non-resident. Where the seller's State of residence does not itself tax the gain, the Spanish 19% is the whole of the tax on it. The Spain to UAE convention of 5 March 2006 leaves Spain the right to tax a gain on Spanish real estate (Article 13(1)), a clause easier to place once you know what a double taxation agreement covers.
The general logic is widely shared. A gain is taxed when realised, not while it builds up on paper. It is measured as proceeds less cost, and each country sets its own reliefs.
Your Spanish gain is the transfer value less the acquisition value.
No inflation adjustment applies to transfers since 1 January 2015, and a transitional relief survives only for assets acquired before 31 December 1994. An asset received by gift or inheritance takes the value resulting from the inheritance and gift tax rules, capped at market value. That tax is a separate subject, and the deceased realises no gain on death. A non-resident's base follows the same rules.
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Begin Your Journey With UsThe retention is neither the tax nor a discount. The buyer, resident or not, must withhold 3% of the agreed price and pay it to the Spanish Treasury, as a payment on account of your tax (Agencia Tributaria, 2026). Its base is the price, not the gain.
An illustration built for this guide, not an official example: an individual living outside Spain sells in 2026 a flat bought in 2016 and never let. The mirror case shrinks the gain.
| Line | Main case (EUR) | Mirror (EUR) |
|---|---|---|
| Acquisition value | 385,000 (price 350,000 plus taxes and costs 35,000) | 495,000 |
| Transfer value | 545,000 (price 560,000 less selling costs 15,000) | 545,000 |
| Gain | 160,000 | 50,000 |
| Retention by the buyer (3% of the price) | 16,800 | 16,800 |
| Received at completion | 543,200 | 543,200 |
| Tax at 19% of the gain | 30,400 | 9,500 |
| Result on form 210 | 13,600 to pay | 7,300 excess to claim |
The retention equals the tax when the gain is 3/19 of the price, about 15.8% (about EUR 88,421 on a price of EUR 560,000). Above it a balance is due; below it an excess can be claimed.
The municipal plusvalía comes on top, as a separate bill. The buyer carries a risk too: if the retention is unpaid, the property itself answers for the lower of the retention and the tax due. No retention applies where a tax administration certificate shows the seller is subject to Spanish income or corporation tax, or where the property is contributed to a Spanish resident company.
An excess is claimed through form 210 and paid to the taxpayer's account, in Spain or abroad; the regulation refers to the income tax refund rules, and no actual delay can be stated. With little or no gain, the retention is still taken on the price, so the return is, in principle, the route to recover it.
Where your home country also taxes the gain, relief there generally rests on the final Spanish tax and not on the 3% retention as such, the starting point of how to claim a foreign tax credit.
No. It is a separate tax on the increase in value of urban land (Impuesto sobre el Incremento de Valor de los Terrenos de Naturaleza Urbana), charged by the town hall on top of the national tax. Rural land is outside it.
| Point | National tax on the gain | Municipal plusvalía |
|---|---|---|
| What it taxes | The gain on the asset | The increase in value of urban land |
| Who is liable (non-resident individual seller) | The seller, with 3% withheld by the buyer | The buyer, as substitute taxpayer |
| Rate | 19% for a non-resident (2026) | Set by each municipality, capped at 30% |
On a sale the transferor pays, within thirty working days; on a gift or inheritance the acquirer does, with six months on death, extendable to one year. Where the seller is a non-resident individual, the law makes the buyer the substitute taxpayer, which is why the amount is usually dealt with at completion.
Since the 2021 reform, the base is the land's cadastral value at the transfer date, multiplied by a coefficient the municipality sets within legal maximums according to the years of holding, twenty at most. If you show a lower real increase, it is used instead; if you show no increase, no tax is due. Constitutional Court judgment 182/2021 of 26 October 2021 had struck down the base rules, rewritten by Real Decreto-ley 26/2021 of 8 November 2021.
The legal maximums have been revised repeatedly, and a further change was awaiting a vote in the Spanish parliament in October 2026. The figure that counts is the one your town hall applies on the sale date.
Plusvalía municipal is a separate tax on the increase in value of urban land, charged by the town hall on top of the national tax. Rural land is outside it.
Each relief has legal conditions. Residence comes first.
| Relief | Spanish resident | EU or EEA non-resident | Other non-resident (United Kingdom, UAE) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reinvestment in a new habitual residence | Yes: total amount reinvested (proportional if partial) within two years of the sale, or in the two years before; no ceiling in euros | Yes, for what was the habitual residence in Spain; the 3% retention and form 210 remain due | The law limits the relief to EU and EEA residents |
| Seller over 65, habitual residence | Exempt, with no reinvestment condition and no ceiling | Not established in the texts read | Not established |
| Seller over 65, any other asset | Excluded if the total amount obtained funds a life annuity within six months, up to EUR 240,000 | Not established | Not established |
| Fund to fund deferral | Yes | No | No |
Habitual residence means at least three continuous years, with stated exceptions. Failing a reinvestment condition brings the gain back into charge for the year of the sale, with late-payment interest.
| Who | What | Form | Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resident | Gains of the year, in the annual return | Form 100 | Tax year 2025: 8 April to 30 June 2026. Dates for tax year 2026 not yet published |
| Buyer of a property sold by a non-resident | 3% of the price | Form 211 | One month from the sale |
| Non-resident seller of a property | Gain at 19%, retention deducted | Form 210 | The three months that follow the buyer's month, whatever the result |
| Non-resident, other taxable gains | Gain at 19% | Form 210 | First twenty calendar days of April, July, October and January for the previous quarter |
| Seller, or the buyer as substitute for a non-resident individual | Municipal plusvalía | Municipal return | Thirty working days from the sale |
A claim based on residence needs a certificate of tax residence from your home tax authority, valid for one year.
For a non-resident property seller, the 19% rate, the 3% retention and the form 210 return apply whatever the outcome.
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By residence (law read in October 2026):
| Seller | Rate |
|---|---|
| Spanish resident | 19% to 30% on the savings scale (2025) |
| Non-resident | 19% on a sale gain |
You pay 19% of the gain after costs. Your buyer has already withheld 3% of the price as a payment on account. Form 210 settles the difference: a balance to pay, or an excess to claim.
A resident can: losses are netted against gains of the year, a net loss offsets up to 25% of net investment income, and the balance is carried forward four years.
A non-resident cannot: each transaction is taxed separately.
This guide is provided for general information purposes only and does not constitute tax or financial advice. Rules and rates were read on official sources on 8 October 2026 and may change; the worked sale is an illustration. Outcomes depend on individual circumstances.
