Modelo 210: The Spanish Tax Non-Residents Forget

What is Modelo 210?

Modelo 210 is the tax form for Spain's non-resident income tax, the IRNR. If you live outside Spain and own a home on the Costa del Sol, this one form covers the three tax events of ownership: an annual return on imputed income while the home is for your own use, returns on rental income if you let it, and a final return on the capital gain when you sell. It exists alongside the municipal IBI bill, not instead of it; the full cost picture is in our guide to the costs of owning property in Spain. The trap: the Agencia Tributaria never sends a bill or reminder abroad, so many owners discover the obligation years later, with surcharges attached.

Who has to file, and on what

Every non-resident who owns any share of a Spanish property files a Modelo 210, and co-owners file separately, so a couple owning half each files two returns. The imputed income is prorated by days: buy in early July and you owe roughly half a year's tax. Only days the home was at your disposal count; let periods are declared as rental income instead.

The maths: what an empty holiday home pays

The formula is short: cadastral value, times 1.1% or 2%, times your tax rate. The cadastral value is printed on the IBI receipt, an administrative value usually far below the market price. The 1.1% applies where the municipality's cadastral values were revised through a general collective valuation in force within the last ten tax years; everywhere else the base is 2%. The rate is 19% for tax residents of the EU, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, and 24% for everyone else, including UK residents since 2021.

Non-resident imputed income is 1.1% of the cadastral value where a general cadastral revision is in force within the last 10 tax years, otherwise 2%, taxed at 19% for EU, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein residents and 24% for all othersSource: Agencia Tributaria, non-resident taxation manual · September 2026 · View market data →

For scale: the median asking price across the 7,845 active resale listings on the Costa del Sol is €660,000 in September 2026, yet cadastral values on comparable homes are typically a small fraction of that, which is why most annual Modelo 210 bills are hundreds of euros, not thousands. Ask for the IBI receipt before you buy and you know this tax to the euro.

Median asking price across all 7,845 active Costa del Sol resale listings: €660,000, with apartments at €490,000 and penthouses at €698,000Source: Hometailor market data · September 2026 · View market data →

The deadlines changed in June 2026

Orden HAC/623/2026, published in the BOE on 23 June 2026, rewrote the Modelo 210 calendar. Imputed income for 2025 keeps the old window: any day of 2026, direct debit until 23 December. From the 2026 tax year onwards the window runs from 1 April to 31 December of the following year, and rental returns with tax to pay move to the first 20 days of April of the following year. A 2026 imputed return cannot be filed in January 2027: the window only opens on 1 April 2027.

From the 2026 tax year, imputed income is filed from 1 April to 31 December of the following calendar year and rental income with tax to pay in the first 20 days of April; imputed income for 2025 keeps its 1 January to 31 December 2026 windowSource: Agencia Tributaria, note on the Modelo 210 filing deadline changes introduced by Orden HAC/623/2026 · September 2026 · View market data →

If you rent the home out

Rental income goes on the same Modelo 210, and the rules split by residence. EU and EEA residents pay 19% on net income after deducting real costs: community fees, the IBI property tax, insurance, repairs and mortgage interest. Everyone else, including UK and US owners, pays 24% on gross rent with no deductions. Weeks of own use still generate a prorated imputed return. Rental income is now declared annually in one grouped return, and from the 2026 tax year it lands in the new 1 to 20 April window.

What happens if you never file

Coming forward voluntarily is cheap; being found is not. File late before the Agencia Tributaria contacts you and the extra cost is a surcharge under article 27 of Spain's General Tax Law: 1% plus 1% per complete month of delay, rising to 15% plus late-payment interest beyond 12 months, with no penalty on top. If the Tax Agency writes first, penalties replace the surcharges, and it can assess the four years not yet expired. Unfiled years also surface at sale: the buyer must withhold 3% of the price on form Modelo 211, the seller files a final Modelo 210 on the gain within four months of completion, and the missing returns typically come up then.

How to file and pay from abroad

• You need an NIE, the Spanish foreigner identification number, for each owner.
• File online at the Agencia Tributaria with a digital certificate or Cl@ve. Without one, the site generates a pre-declaration you pay through a bank, or a gestor or online filing service can file for you with a simple authorisation.
• Since 1 February 2024 the tax can be paid by direct debit from any bank account in the SEPA zone, which includes the United Kingdom, Norway and Switzerland as well as the EU. A Spanish bank account is no longer needed.
• Keep every filing receipt: a clean run of filed years makes the paperwork at sale far simpler.

The NIE process, with documents and timings, is in our guide to getting an NIE number.

Budget the tax, then find the home

On most Costa del Sol homes the Modelo 210 is a few hundred euros a year. Current asking prices for every town are on our property price pages, and you can browse homes for sale on the Costa del Sol.