Non resident property owners should submit Spanish tax form 210

2009 taxes must be declared and paid before the end of 2010. A rather irritating quirk of Spanish tax law means that non resident owners of property in Spain have to pay Spanish income tax even if they in fact have no Spanish earnings such as rental income. Here we offer our services and offer some guidance for anyone trying to sort out their tax forms themselves. Tax advice and services for residents are here.

ADVOCO will calculate, declare and pay your 2008 tax for 30€ **

** plus VAT. 10€ extra for each additional return on the same property. You can pay us in either Spain or the UK, in € or £.

How does the service work?

1. Send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it asking us to do your tax or asking for more information

2. We will exchange emails with you to get the information we need to complete the forms

3. You pay our fee and we file the declaration on your behalf

Questions and Answers

I think I may have paid this.  How can I tell?

This non resident tax issue can be confusing.  Why should owning a holiday home entail paying income tax?  There is no equivalent in the UK, and no one from the government informs non residents of their obligation to pay the tax and submit the form.  In fact a lot of holiday home owners are oblivious to the requirement or think they already paid.

This is because they have paid local property taxes: Impuestos sobre Bienes Inmeubles ("IBI").  But this is a second tax that has to be paid apart from the Form 210 income tax.  It is paid by all property owners, residents and non residents alike, and it is set and collected by the town hall, very like council tax in the UK.  It is usually collected every Autumn and you get the amount on an IBI statement through the post

So if you are a typical holiday home owner, the question to ask yourself is have I paid both my local (IBI) taxes to the town hall and my income tax to the national government (Form 214)?

What if I don't submit a form and pay the tax?

The government doesn't force payment of the income tax element and may people don't hear about it and fulfil their obligation to declare and pay it.  Initially there may be no adverse consequences but the local tax office (the Agencia Tributaria for your are) know the status of all properties from the IBI and other records and know whether they are owned and occupied.  It is a simple task for them to identify which property owners are (a) non resident and (b) not declaring their taxes.

That said many people go years without being caught up in tax office investigations.  The problem often only rises to the surface when non residents come to sell their properties.  In this case the seller is obliged to pay 3% of the sale price to the tax office which is only recoverable by the non resident seller when they are up to date on taxes including capital gains tax on the sale and, increasingly, the form 210 tax.  This may then require multiple form 210s to be submitted going back several years with fines and penalties.

What if I have to catch up back year taxes?

You can easily catch up on old years with unpaid taxes on but there are interest costs and penalties (see our report Spanish late reporting fines).  Before 2008 the tax was higher as well because Spain had not yet abolished their "wealth tax".  On the plus side there is a statute of limitations that applies to unpaid Spanish tax which means that tax is not collectable after four years.  If you want advice on the costs and implications of unpaid taxes including back years, send us an email.  It may not be as painful as you think.

How does the tax get paid?

Assuming you have a Spanish bank account with sufficient funds to pay the tax, we will include your bank details on the form so the authorities can deduct the payment automatically.

If you do not have a Spanish bank account you can pay us the money necessary to settle the tax when you pay our fee and we will pay the tax for you. You can even pay us in sterling from your UK account to our UK account. We charge 5€ extra for this service.

Can I do it myself?

Probably. The calculation of the tax is very simple (see below). Payment is quite easy too as you can either set up a direct debit or take your completed form 210 into the bank and pay it there. You can get the form off the Tax Office website here:

Spanish tax form 210 download

With a reasonable level of Spanish you will be able to work through it (there are instructions on the link).

How much is the tax?

The tax is calculated as 24% of the “income” the Spanish authorities deem you could make renting out the property. This is calculated as 2% of the rateable value (reduced to 1,1% for areas re-rated after 1994). If you only owned the house for part of the year the tax is pro-rated down to the period of ownership. If there are multiple owners (e.g. husband and wife) they pay an equal share of the total tax but must each submit a return. The rateable value is the “valor catastral” found on the IBI (rates) bill you get every autumn.

When is it payable?

You must make your return for a given year by the end of the following year, so for the 2009 tax year, you should declare and pay before 31/12/2010.

My lawyer takes care of this. Is that OK?

Most law firms offering conveyancing services to foreign property buyers will then offer to become a “fiscal representative” taking care of all related tax affairs. That is fine except that having a fiscal representative is not really necessary if you have simple tax affairs and can be expensive. Advoco offers a representative service for those who need it for 80€ but many firms charge double this or more. Most people would be better off paying just for the forms to be filed and not have a representative.

What should I do?

If your situation is simple i.e. you own one property which you do not rent out and have no other complications, then you might want to consider doing the tax return yourself or using Advoco’s 30€ offer.

Stick with your fiscal representative if you think they are worth the annual fee e.g. because they offer valuable advice as well as filing the return or because your affairs are more complicated than the standard holiday property owner. An example of this might be if you rent out your property for part of the year which involves a lot more in the way of reporting (see below). Note that residents of countries without a Spanish tax treaty must have a fiscal representative if they own property in Spain. Most countries, like the UK, have treaties with Spain but tax havens like Gibraltar and some other territories do not.

Am I resident or non resident?

A pretty easy question to answer for most of us: if you have a holiday home in Spain which you use periodically but actually live in your home country and pay taxes there you are non resident for this purpose. If you live in Spain and only occasionally return to your home country where you have cut most ties then you are more than likely tax resident in Spain and should register as such. Note that failing to register as tax resident does not stop you becoming liable for Spanish resident taxes!

Of course there may situations which are not so clear cut e.g. during a transitional year when you are settling in Spain. The rule of thumb is that spending over half the year in one country makes you tax resident but there are a lot of subtleties and variations. Where your family or business is based can be a factor. If you require clarification contact Advoco.

What if I do rent the house out?

The Advoco offer only applies to the simplest of returns where the only income is imputed rent, not actual rental income. Non residents who rent out their property should declare the income filing a Form 210 and paying 24% tax without deductions within a month of receiving each payment or when a payment falls due, whichever is earlier. In practice most non resident property owners take advantage of the quarterly reporting option using Form 215. Advoco’s fiscal representative service covers this reporting.

If you have any further questions, require clarification on any point or you would like to discuss our services, please contact James Baker. He is a UK chartered accountant now registered and working in Spain. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it