It takes only one element outside Spain (the deceased, the heir, an account, an apartment) for the file to change its nature. The office changes, the real deadlines change, documents appear that need an apostille and a translation, and the following year brings reporting duties nobody expected. This guide puts that map in order.
First question: personal or territorial
| Who acquires | Basis of liability | What is taxed in Spain |
|---|---|---|
| Tax resident in Spain | Personal liability | Everything received, wherever the assets are |
| Non-resident | Territorial liability | Only the assets and rights located, exercisable or to be performed in Spanish territory |
The Impuesto sobre Sucesiones y Donaciones, Spain's inheritance and gift tax, falls on the person who receives, not on the person who gives. That is why the residence of the heir or recipient is the fact that sets its reach: a son resident in Spain who inherits from a German father with all his wealth in Germany is taxed here on the whole inheritance. And a son resident in Germany who inherits from a Spanish father is taxed in Spain only on what is here.
Someone under the special regime for workers posted to Spain (the Beckham regime) is taxed in the IRPF, Spanish income tax, on a territorial basis, but that does not make them non-resident for inheritance and gift tax: liability is decided by that tax's own law. It is a check we always carry out in writing before assessing the tax, because the difference between one basis and the other can be the entire estate.
Who manages it, and under which rules
When there are non-residents or assets abroad, jurisdiction lies with the central state, through the Oficina Nacional de Gestión Tributaria (the national tax management office), and filing is done electronically on the state forms. But the rules applied may be regional: the second additional provision of Ley 29/1987, the Inheritance and Gift Tax Act, allows the rules of the relevant autonomous community (region) to be applied according to where the assets are or where the people live, and that possibility also reaches residents of countries outside the European Union and the European Economic Area. The full table, row by row, is in the jurisdiction table.
It sounds contradictory and it is not: the money goes to the state treasury, the file is handled by the Oficina Nacional de Gestión Tributaria, and the reductions and reliefs applied are those of the region identified by the second additional provision. Assessing under state rules when the regional rules applied is a mistake that costs money, and it can be corrected by asking for the self-assessment to be rectified, within the limitation period.
The law governing the succession is not the tax law
Regulation (EU) 650/2012 decides which civil law governs a succession with cross-border effects: as a general rule, the law of the state where the deceased had their habitual residence at the time of death, unless they chose the law of their nationality in their will. That law decides who the heirs are, whether there are forced heirship shares (legítimas) and how the estate is divided. Spanish tax law decides who pays here and how much, and it follows its own connecting factors.
The two meet in practice: a succession governed by a law that has no forced heirship can leave a child with nothing, and that child will pay nothing here because he or she acquires nothing. The European Certificate of Succession serves to prove heir status in another member state without repeating procedures. Outside the European Union there is no equivalent, and it has to be done document by document.
The deduction for international double taxation
When what was received has also been taxed abroad, article 23 of Ley 29/1987 allows the lower of these two amounts to be deducted from the Spanish tax:
- The actual amount paid abroad under a similar tax on the increase in wealth that is taxed in Spain.
- The result of applying the average effective rate of the Spanish tax to the increase in wealth relating to assets located, or rights exercisable, outside Spain, where they were taxed abroad under a similar tax.
| Figure | Amount |
|---|---|
| Similar tax paid abroad | 19,000 |
| Increase in wealth relating to the assets abroad | 140,000 |
| Average effective rate of the Spanish tax | 11 % |
| Second limb (140,000 × 11 %) | 15,400 |
| Deduction available | 15,400 |
Two warnings. First, it has to be a similar tax, which excludes levies that in reality tax the recipient's income, and transfer duties. Second, Spain has very few treaties specifically on inheritance, so in most cases the only tool is this unilateral deduction, which does not always remove the double taxation: it only softens it, up to the limit of the second limb.
Foreign structures that do not exist here
Trusts, private-interest foundations, common-law testamentary arrangements with an executor: Spanish law does not recognise the trust, and the tax authorities tend to look through the structure to identify who really transfers and who really acquires, and at what moment. That gives rise to questions that have to be answered with the founding document in hand: whether the trust is revocable or irrevocable, whether the beneficiary has a present right or a mere expectation, what powers the settlor keeps and when the transfer of wealth actually takes place.
We analyse the consequences in Spain. When a case needs an opinion on the validity or effects of the structure in its country of origin, the client appoints an adviser there and we coordinate with them: we check that their characterisation fits what is going to be declared here and that the documents will work as evidence. We do not promise a network of professionals in every country, and we do not give opinions on law that is not ours.
A full example, to see the order
A person resident in Valencia inherits from her father, resident in Belgium, an apartment in Brussels and an account at a Belgian bank. Succession duties have been paid in Belgium. The order of analysis is this: the heir is tax resident in Spain, so she is taxed here on everything received, wherever it is. The deceased was not resident in Spain and had no assets here, so jurisdiction is with the state and the regional rules that apply are those of the region where the heir lives. From the resulting tax, what was paid in Belgium is deducted, subject to the second-limb limit in article 23. And in the first quarter of the following year Modelo 720 will have to be considered for the property and for the account, each block with its own threshold.
Change a single fact, that the heir lives in Brussels, and the result flips: there would be nothing to declare in Spain, because there are no assets here and no resident acquirer. That is why the first question in an international file is never how much is paid, but who lives where.
The paperwork: apostille, translation and NIF
- Hague apostille on foreign public documents, or consular legalisation if the country is not a party to the convention.
- Sworn translation into Spanish of everything that is filed.
- A Spanish NIF (tax identification number) for every non-resident involved, before filing: without a tax number the tax can be neither assessed nor registered.
- Tax residence certificates from the relevant country, which prove the basis of liability. The page on the tax residence certificate explains which one to request.
Getting all this takes weeks, sometimes months, and the six-month deadline of an inheritance does not stop in the meantime. That is why in international files the extension is almost always requested: it is explained in the guide to deadlines and the extension.
What arrives the following year
Inheriting abroad does not end with inheritance tax. In the following year new obligations appear for an heir resident in Spain:
| Obligation | When it arises |
|---|---|
| Modelo 720 | If the assets inherited abroad exceed the threshold for their block |
| Modelo 721 | If the inheritance includes crypto-assets held abroad |
| IRPF | On the income those assets produce from the date of acquisition: rents, dividends, interest |
| Wealth tax (Impuesto sobre Patrimonio) | On a personal basis, with the assets abroad included |
Modelo 720 is the one that causes most grief, because its deadline is the first quarter of the following year and nobody connects a September inheritance with an information return due in March. Everything you need to know is on the Modelo 720 page.
When the foreign tax is paid later
The calendars of the two countries rarely match. If the foreign tax has not yet been assessed when the Spanish deadline arrives, the double taxation deduction cannot be supported with a certificate that does not exist yet. The route is to file on time with whatever you have and, once the tax has been paid abroad, ask for the self-assessment to be corrected, attaching the proof of payment. This works as long as the right to claim the refund has not become time-barred, and that period runs on its own clock.
Where to start
If your case has one foot abroad, write to us through the inheritance and gift form with three pieces of information: where each person lived, where each asset is, and whether anything has already been paid in the other country. With that, the basis of liability, the competent office and the applicable rules can be fixed, and those are the skeleton of the file. We warn you of the risks we see, including those that depend on how the other administration characterises the transaction, and we do not guarantee results that are not in our hands.