Selling a property in Spain as a non-resident, step by step

Selling a flat in Spain when you are not tax resident here is not one transaction but three: the signing, the 3 % the buyer withholds and pays in, and your own return, which comes months later. Each has its deadline and its form, and the three are chained together: if the second goes wrong, the third gets complicated. This guide walks through the whole timetable and warns you about what tends to surface from the past once the rug of the escritura, the notarial deed of sale, is lifted.

The timetable at a glance

Moment	Who acts	What they do
Before signing	Seller	Gathers the purchase deed, costs, the certificate of debts to the comunidad de propietarios (the owners' association), the latest IBI property tax bill and the certificate of tax residence
Day of signing	Buyer	Withholds 3 % of the price and gives the seller proof that it will be paid in
One month from signing	Buyer	Pays the 3 % in on Modelo 211
Three months more	Seller	Files their Modelo 210 declaring the gain and subtracting the 3 % already paid in
In parallel	Depends on the case	The municipal plusvalía tax at the town hall

Four months from signing to the seller's 210: one month for the buyer and three for you from the end of that first month. It is a comfortable deadline if you start in time, and a very short one if you find out in the third month that half the paperwork for a purchase twenty years ago is missing.

Step 1: the 3 % the buyer withholds

Article 25.2 of the consolidated text of the Non-Resident Income Tax Act (the TRLIRNR, which governs the IRNR) requires the buyer to withhold and pay in 3 % of the agreed price when the seller is a non-resident without a permanent establishment. It is not a tax: it is a payment on account of the seller's tax.

• The buyer does it, and is liable if they do not: the property remains charged with payment of the debt.
• It is paid in on Modelo 211 within one month of the sale.
• The seller needs the copy of the 211 to subtract it on their 210. Without that paper, the deduction cannot be claimed easily.

Step 2: the gain, which is hardly ever what you think

The gain is calculated under the rules of Spanish personal income tax (the IRPF): transfer value minus acquisition value. The transfer value is the price less the expenses and taxes inherent in the sale borne by the seller. The acquisition value is the price paid at the time plus the costs and taxes of that purchase, plus improvements, and minus depreciation if the property was let.

Item	Adds or subtracts
Sale price	Starting point
Agency commission, municipal plusvalía paid by the seller, certificates	Subtracted from the transfer value
Purchase price	Base of the acquisition value
ITP transfer tax or non-deductible VAT, notary, registry and gestoría on the purchase	Added
Documented improvement works	Added; repairs are not
Depreciation for the years of letting	Subtracted, and the minimum is counted even if it was not deducted

The two items that cause the most arguments have their own guides: improvement or repair and the depreciation that is subtracted even if you never deducted it. The full calculation, with examples, is in how the gain is really calculated.

Step 3: your Modelo 210

The capital gain of a non-resident without a permanent establishment is declared on Modelo 210, at the rate set by article 25 of the consolidated text (currently 19 % for gains from the sale of assets) and subtracting the 3 % already paid in by the buyer. Three possible results follow.

Result	What it means	What has to be done
Payable	The 3 % fell short of the tax due	Pay the difference on time
Refundable	The 3 % exceeded the tax due, or there was a loss	Claim the refund, giving a bank account. It is the most common result in sales with a small gain
Zero	No gain and no withholding to recover	Declare it anyway

A refund is the typical case of someone who bought at a high price and sold without much of a gain: the 3 % is calculated on the price, not on the gain, so it can comfortably exceed the tax owed. How it is claimed and how long it takes is in how to recover the 3 % withheld, and the full timetable, with its nuances, in the complete timetable of a sale.

The municipal plusvalía, and who pays it

The tax on the increase in value of urban land (the plusvalía municipal) is, by law, the seller's. But when the seller is a non-resident, the local finance legislation makes the buyer a substitute for the taxpayer: the buyer is the one liable to the town hall, although they may pass the cost on to the seller. It is worth making this clear in the contract, because in practice it is deducted from the price, sometimes by an estimated amount that then turns out not to match.

The two methods of calculation and the cases in which nothing has to be paid are in the two methods, compared with an example and when there is no increase in value. It is a figure that can move several thousand euros and that is almost never calculated before signing.

What surfaces from the past

This is the part nobody expects. A sale opens the door to a review of earlier years, because the tax authorities suddenly see how long you have owned the property and what you have declared in that time.

Previous situation	What the obligation was	What to do
The flat stood empty or at your disposal	Annual Modelo 210 for imputed income from property	Review the years not yet time-barred: see imputed income
The flat was let	Modelo 210 for the rental income, at the frequency that applies	See the rental Modelo 210 and check what is missing
Nothing was ever declared	Both, depending on the use	Put it right before the sale, not afterwards

The order matters a great deal: correcting voluntarily, before any request, falls within the surcharge regime; doing it after the letter arrives falls within the penalty regime. The difference is explained in surcharge, interest and penalty, and how far back it goes in the four-year limitation period.

Two situations with their own rule

• Residents of the European Union, Iceland, Norway or Liechtenstein selling what was their main home in Spain. The seventh additional provision of the consolidated text allows the gain to be taken out of tax when it is reinvested in another main home, by reference to the IRPF conditions. It is a real and little-known route, and its conditions are the ones we explain in the four conditions.
• People over 65. The IRPF exemption on the sale of a main home is designed for taxpayers of that tax and does not simply carry over to non-resident income tax. It is a point to be analysed case by case, and we are not going to state here that it applies, because it depends on the particular situation.

The certificate of tax residence

It is the document that holds everything else up: it shows the Spanish tax authorities that you are tax resident in another state and, when it is issued for treaty purposes, allows the double tax treaty's rules to be applied. It is valid for a limited time and it is worth requesting in advance, because some foreign tax administrations take weeks. The two kinds of certificate and what each one is for are in the ordinary certificate and the treaty certificate.

The checklist for the week before signing

1. Purchase deed and invoices for the costs at the time.
2. Evidence of the improvement works, with invoice and bank payment.
3. History of lettings and of the 210s filed, if there were any.
4. A current certificate of tax residence.
5. A written agreement with the buyer about the 211 and about the municipal plusvalía.
6. A bank account for any refund, with its ownership clear.

We are tax lawyers and we handle non-resident sales from start to finish: the calculation beforehand, the 210, checking that the 211 was paid in, and correcting whatever comes up from the past if needed. We do not guarantee the outcome of a review or how long the tax authorities take to refund, because that is not in our hands. Tell us about the transaction in the non-resident form, or first read the page on non-resident property tax and the one on having sold a property.