Restrictions by neighbourhood: the mechanism, with no invented dates
The formula that has been spreading consists of suspending or limiting new viviendas de uso turístico in certain areas, normally the ones with the highest concentration, and of requiring that the use be recorded as compatible with the planning instrument. There are amendments, precautionary suspensions and appeals, and the position in one neighbourhood may not be the position in the next one along.
That is why you will not find a list of neighbourhoods or a moratorium date on this page: we check them case by case against the by-law and the planning in force, because it is the only way for the answer to be the right one on the day you need it.
One explanation for readers coming to this from outside Spain. The register that matters for a tourist dwelling in Andalusia is the regional one, kept by the Junta de Andalucía, the regional government, and a property enters it through a declaración responsable: a statement in which the owner certifies that the requirements are met and begins at once. It is not a permission granted after examination, which is precisely why a municipal planning file can arrive later and unsettle something the owner believed was closed.
The waste charge at the commercial tariff
This is one of the most repeated questions in the province. Many municipal by-laws classify a tourist dwelling under a commercial-premises tariff rather than the domestic one, and the bill multiplies. It is a local charge, not a state tax, and it is argued at the city council: against the by-law itself in its day, or against the individual assessment when it arrives.
Before appealing we look at two things: which activity is on record in your name and which IAE heading has been attributed to you. The IAE is the register of economic activities, and the heading under which you appear frequently drives the bill, which means the mistake sits further upstream than the demand itself. We deal with it alongside the IAE headings.
Owners who do not live here
If the owner is resident outside Spain there is no IRPF, the income tax paid by residents: there is IRNR, non-resident income tax, and the whole mechanism changes. One Modelo 210 is filed per property and per owner, the rate is the one in article 25 of the non-resident income tax act — 19 % for residents of the European Union, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, 24 % for everyone else — and the ability to deduct the costs listed in article 24 is not the same in the two cases.
Add a piece that is always forgotten: the certificate of tax residence issued by the other country expires after a year. Without it, the usual outcome is being taxed at the higher rate even where the lower one was yours. It is in non-residents and in the certificate of tax residence.
Who writes to us from Málaga
| Who | What they usually face |
|---|---|
| Owner of two or three tourist flats in the city | VAT where there are services, apportionment of costs and the waste bill at the commercial tariff |
| British or Nordic buyer of a second home | Modelo 210, an annual residence certificate and imputed income for the empty months |
| Seller who is not resident in Spain | The 3 % withheld on Modelo 211 and the Modelo 210 on the gain within the following three months |
| Employee at a tech company in the PTA science park | The article 93 regime of the Spanish income tax act and the shares or restricted units of the parent |
| Community of heirs with an undivided flat | Attribution of income among the co-owners and who declares what |
Our way of working in Málaga
A good part of what we carry in Málaga is written in English, so we take that as read: we explain the matter in your language and file in ours. With a power of attorney from you we file on your behalf, without your needing a Spanish digital certificate of your own or travelling anywhere.
And we give one warning in the very first email: the moment the flat is sold is the moment everything that was not declared before comes to the surface, with four years of limitation counting backwards. If you have loose years behind you, it is better to say so now than to find out at the notary's office. We take that on in filing late.
We keep the two clocks separate and visible. The tax calendar is ours to run; a municipal file has its own dates and its own arguments, and we say which of the two a given letter belongs to before anything is answered. On neither of them do we promise an outcome: we tell you what we think is defensible, what is arguable and what is not worth arguing.
A Swedish couple with a tourist flat in Málaga's Soho: two Modelos 210, at 19 %
The couple live in Stockholm, own the flat 50/50 and let it by the night during the year with no hotel-type services. In 2026 guests occupy it for 120 nights and the rest of the time it is at their disposal, including the two weeks they spend there themselves. Being resident in the European Union, each of them is taxed at 19 % and may deduct the costs of the letting, always with an invoice and with their Swedish certificate of residence for the year.
| Item | Whole flat | Per owner |
|---|---|---|
| Income from 120 nights | 18,000 € | 9,000 € |
| Annual general costs (IBI, community fees, insurance, utilities: 3,660 €; depreciation at 3 % on 150,000 € of building value: 4,500 €) × 120/365 | 2,682.74 € | 1,341.37 € |
| Costs belonging only to the letting: commissions 2,700 € and cleaning 1,800 € | 4,500 € | 2,250 € |
| Net rental income | 10,817.26 € | 5,408.63 € |
| Tax on the rental Modelo 210, at 19 % | — | 1,027.64 € |
| Imputed income for the remaining 245 days: 120,000 € cadastral value × 1.1 % × 245/365 | 886.03 € | 443.01 € |
| Tax on the imputed-income Modelo 210, at 19 % | — | 84.17 € |
If that same couple lived in Manchester, they could not deduct costs: they would pay 24 % on their 9,000 € of income, 2,160 € each, more than double. The reason is in the Modelo 210 on rental income.
Two points in the table that are often argued over: depreciation is calculated on the value of the building, never on the land, and only for the share of days let; and the days the couple use the flat do not deduct costs, but they do add to the imputed income. There is no way for your own use to come out free in the return.
The dates for a non-resident owner in Málaga for the 2026 tax year
| When | What |
|---|---|
| During 2026 | Ask the Swedish tax administration for the certificate of tax residence for the year |
| 1 to 20 April 2027 (until the 15th if paid by direct debit) | Modelo 210 for the 2026 letting, grouped, one per owner |
| 1 April to 31 December 2027 (23 December if paid by direct debit) | Modelo 210 for 2026 imputed income, one per owner |
| According to the municipal calendar | IBI and the waste charge, which are sent to the flat and not to Sweden |
For us to handle each owner's two Modelos 210 under a power of representation, the form is the one for non-residents, and how the empty days work is in imputed income.
It happens more than you would think: one spouse retires to Málaga and stays, the other goes back to Sweden or moves to London for work. From that moment the two Modelos 210 stop being twins. The one living in the United Kingdom is taxed at 24 % with no costs; the one still in the European Union, at 19 % with costs; and the one who stays in Málaga for more than 183 days stops filing the 210 and declares their half in the Spanish resident income tax return, together with everything they have abroad. Each owner is taxed according to their own residence and their own certificate, not the couple's, and copying the other's return is a mistake that costs money in both directions.