19 %, with the deduction intact
| Item | Your position |
|---|---|
| Non-resident income tax rate | 19 % |
| Inside the EU, Iceland, Norway or Liechtenstein? | Yes — Norway is named expressly |
| Costs deductible against rent? | Yes, apportioned to the days actually let |
| Residence certificate | Issued by Skatteetaten |
| Rental return | Annual, 1 to 20 April from the 2026 tax year |
Spanish law gives the favourable treatment to residents of the Union and, by express mention, to residents of Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, because the European Economic Area agreement carries equivalent duties of mutual assistance and information exchange. So you deduct: loan interest, the charges of the owners' association, the Spanish local property tax, insurance, repairs, letting commission, the utilities you bear and a depreciation allowance on the building — all cut back to the proportion of the year the property was genuinely let — and the 19 % applies to what remains.
If a previous adviser has been filing your returns at 24 % on the gross rent, that is worth looking at rather than shrugging off. On a flat producing 16,000 € a year against 9,500 € of costs and let for 130 nights, the difference between the right answer and the wrong one is well over a thousand euros annually, and the years still within time can be corrected.
The two Spanish charges
- Rental income, one return for each property and each owner, gathered annually. The 2024 and 2025 years went in between 1 and 20 January; from the 2026 year the window is 1 to 20 April of the following year, under Order HAC/623/2026.
- Imputed income for the days the property stood at your disposal, at 1.1 % of the rateable value where it was revised in the last ten years and 2 % where it was not, apportioned by share and days, under period code 0A.
Spain has no joint filing. A couple with one apartment files four returns a year. For the very many Norwegian owners who bought a place to winter in and never let it at all, the rental return does not arise but the imputed income return does, every single year, and it is the obligation most often discovered through a letter four years later.
Your Skatteetaten certificate
The 19 % rate and the double taxation convention between Spain and Norway, which dates from the end of the 1990s, both rest on proof of residence issued by Skatteetaten and accepted by Spain for one year from its date. Ask for the calendar year the Spanish return covers and keep the expired ones for later queries.
A word of caution that matters more in Norway than almost anywhere else: if you spend most of the year in Spain, the question of which country you are actually resident in may not have the answer you assume, and it is decided by facts rather than by registration. Getting that wrong in either direction is far more expensive than any rental return. If it is genuinely close, settle it first.
What happens on the Norwegian return
Norway taxes residents on worldwide income and worldwide wealth, so the Spanish property appears at home in two different ways.
Income. The rent is declared in Norway with relief for the Spanish tax on the same income, limited to the Norwegian tax attributable to it. Because the Spanish and Norwegian computations start from different figures, the two returns will not match, and that is normal rather than an error.
Wealth. This is the part that distinguishes Norwegian owners from most other readers of these pages. Norway levies a net wealth tax, and property situated abroad forms part of the base, with its own valuation rules for foreign real estate. A Spanish apartment is therefore not merely an income-producing asset for Norwegian purposes but a taxable one in itself. And Spain, independently, levies its own wealth-type charge on property held here by non-residents, with its own thresholds. Both can be in play at once, and the interaction is a question to put to advisers on both sides rather than to assume away. Our note on the Spanish wealth tax covers the Spanish half.
We are Spanish lawyers. What is written above about Skatteetaten, about Norwegian relief and about the Norwegian wealth tax is orientation so that you know what to ask. Keep your own adviser in Norway; we will give them the Spanish figures, dated and receipted.
What goes wrong with Norway
- Being filed at 24 %. The commonest and costliest error for Norwegian owners.
- Nothing filed because the flat is never let. Imputed income applies to availability, not to letting.
- A full year of costs against a short season. The apportionment is compulsory.
- One return for a couple. Spain files by owner.
- Ignoring the 3 % withheld on a sale. It is a payment on account, and where the gain is modest the surplus is refundable on request.
Years already filed at the wrong rate
If the paragraphs above have made you suspect your returns have been going in at 24 %, the position is not necessarily lost. Spanish law lets a taxpayer ask for a self-assessment to be rectified where the figure declared was wrong to their own disadvantage, and the request may be made within the general four-year limitation period. An owner filed at 24 % on the gross rent, when the correct treatment was 19 % on the rent less apportioned costs, has been overtaxed twice over, and the years still inside that window can be corrected.
The claim runs on evidence rather than argument: the Skatteetaten certificate for each year in question, the returns as filed, proof of what was paid, the invoices for the costs and a credible record of the nights let. Where the invoices were never kept the costs side is weak, but the rate point stands on the certificate by itself and is usually the larger half of the money. Send us the returns and we will tell you plainly which years are worth pursuing.
Our method with Norway
We register the properties and the owners, take the rateable values, count the nights let where there are any, prepare every return at the rate you are entitled to, and send you the figures before filing. If earlier years were filed at 24 % we will tell you whether they can still be put right. We write in English or Spanish, the fee is fixed and published on the pricing page, and you can simply tell us about the property. The general rules are in our guides to non-resident property tax, form 210 and imputed income.
A large community and a stubborn misunderstanding
The typical Norwegian owner has known Spain for decades. Many are retirees who spend winter and spring here; others are families who use the house at Easter and in summer and let it through a local manager the rest of the year. There are Norwegian clubs, churches, schools and even doctors in the Marina Baixa, and recommendations about tax advisers travel by word of mouth. That is where the problem starts: when the sum is done on the reasoning «not EU, so 24 %», the owner ends up paying on the gross.
Kari's house in 2026, done right and done wrong
Kari owns a terraced house near Altea in her own name. In 2026 the manager lets it for 120 nights and collects 14,600 €, keeping 20 %, 2,920 €. The year's costs are 1,100 € of community charges, 540 € of IBI, 330 € of insurance, 1,450 € of utilities and 3,000 € of depreciation: 6,420 € in total. The rateable value is 110,000 €, with a revised valuation, and the rest of the year the house is at her disposal.
Costs in proportion to the nights let: 6,420 × 120 / 365 = 2,110.68 €. Net rent: 14,600 − 2,920 − 2,110.68 = 9,569.32 €; at 19 %, 1,818.17 €. Imputed income for 245 days: 110,000 × 1.1 % = 1,210 €, apportioned to 812.19 €; at 19 %, 154.32 €.
| Kari, 2026 | Correct (19 %, costs deducted) | Treated as «non-EU» (24 %, no costs) |
|---|---|---|
| Rental return | 1,818.17 € | 3,504.00 € |
| Imputed income return | 154.32 € | 194.93 € |
| Total for the year | 1,972.49 € | 3,698.93 € |
A difference of 1,726.44 € in a single year. Multiplied over several years, it stops being a detail. Claiming it back needs three things for each open year: the Skatteetaten certificate, the invoices in your name and a count of nights that agrees with the manager's or the platform's statements.
The manager who «takes care of the taxes»
Many Norwegian owners leave the house with a local firm that lets it and also says it deals with the tax. Ask every year for a copy of each Modelo 210 filed and its proof of payment, and check three things: that the rate shown is 19 % and not 24 %, that costs have been deducted, and that there is a second return for the days the house was not let. Check a fourth as well: that the returns are in your name and with your NIE, not grouped under the manager's name or under one spouse when the house belongs to both.
Two properties, two sets of returns
Plenty of Norwegians own more than one thing in Spain: the house where they winter and a small flat bought to let, or a garage space with its own cadastral reference. Each property is a separate account. The rental return is filed per property and per owner, imputed income is worked out for each with its own rateable value and days, and costs do not mix: the flat's community charges do not go in the house's return. If you have been filing a single return for everything, one may be missing. Papers in Norwegian are no obstacle; the certificate is understood without translation and we go through the rest with you.