Birgit Lindqvist lives in Uppsala and had owned a flat in Torrevieja since 2016, which she used for holidays. She sold it on 12 February 2026 for 185,000 €. At the notary's office the buyer deducted 5,550 € from the price, the 3 %, and a few days later gave her the copy of Modelo 211 (the form the buyer uses to pay that 3 % to the tax office) with proof of payment. Her real gain is small and the tax works out well below what was withheld. In June she filed her Modelo 210, the non-resident's tax return, asking for a refund. It is now September, she has heard nothing and she asks, quite reasonably, when she is going to see that money.
First, how much is left over
The refund is not the whole 3 %. It is the difference between what the buyer paid in and what Birgit owes on her gain. The figures are these:
- Sale price: 185,000 €.
- Selling costs she paid: the estate agent's commission, 5,550 €, and the plusvalía municipal (the municipal tax on the increase in land value), 900 €.
- Net transfer value: 185,000 − 5,550 − 900 = 178,550 €.
- Acquisition value: 150,000 € of price plus 13,500 € of purchase taxes and costs = 163,500 €.
- Gain: 178,550 − 163,500 = 15,050 €.
- Tax at 19 %: 2,859.50 €.
- Amount withheld and paid in by the buyer: 5,550 €.
- To be refunded: 5,550 − 2,859.50 = 2,690.50 €.
The 19 % rate is the one that article 25.1.f of the IRNR Law (the law on Spanish non-resident income tax) sets for gains on the transfer of assets, and it is the same whether the seller lives in Sweden, in the United States or in any other country. As Birgit never let the flat, there is no depreciation to subtract from the purchase value; had she let it, the figure would change, as explained in depreciation when you sell.
The six months do not start on the day you file
Article 16.2 of the IRNR Regulations refers these refunds to the rules of IRPF (Spanish personal income tax), and article 103.1 of the IRPF Law gives the tax authorities "the six months following the end of the period established for filing the return". The key lies in that last part: the period runs from the end of your deadline to file, not from the day you actually file.
The deadline for the Modelo 210 on a sale is, in turn, three months counted from the end of the month the buyer has to pay in the Modelo 211 (article 14.4 of the Regulations). Applied to Birgit:
| Milestone | Date |
|---|---|
| Deed of sale | 12 February 2026 |
| End of the buyer's deadline for Modelo 211 | 12 March 2026 |
| End of Birgit's deadline for Modelo 210 | 12 June 2026 |
| End of the authorities' six months | 12 December 2026 |
| From the following day, if payment has not been ordered for a reason attributable to Hacienda | late-payment interest runs in her favour |
The fact that Birgit filed on 3 June brings nothing forward in legal terms: the office may decide earlier, and sometimes does, but it is not obliged to. Had the Modelo 210 been filed late, the six months would be counted from the filing date, under the second paragraph of the same article 103.1. The full timetable of the operation is in the deadlines of a non-resident's sale.
Interest: when it is owed and when it is not
Article 31.2 of the Ley General Tributaria, Spain's General Tax Law, provides that once that period has passed without payment being ordered for a reason attributable to the authorities, they will pay late-payment interest "without the taxpayer needing to request it". Interest accrues from the end of the period until the date on which payment is ordered.
The same provision introduces the nuance that causes the most arguments: delays for reasons not attributable to the authorities are not counted. If Hacienda, as the Spanish tax office is commonly called, sends a request for a document and the seller takes forty days to reply, those forty days are taken out of the interest calculation. That is why it matters so much to reply quickly and completely.
The late-payment interest rate is set each year by the Budget Act, and it is worth checking it for the specific period rather than taking it for granted.
Filing a Modelo 210 showing a refund does not mean you have an acknowledged right to that figure. The authorities may check the purchase value, the costs claimed or your residence itself, and reduce or refuse the refund. If a cost cannot be backed by an invoice and proof of payment, the prudent course is to leave it out rather than see it rejected in an assessment.
What the office usually asks for before paying
The refund is handled by the management office of the local branch of the Agencia Tributaria, the Spanish tax agency. When it reviews a sale's Modelo 210 showing a refund, it usually checks three things: that the money came in, that the gain is correctly calculated and that the refund is going to the right person. Hence the documents it asks for most often:
- The deed of sale and the deed of purchase, to compare prices and dates.
- The seller's copy of Modelo 211, with proof of payment. Without it, the office has to trace the payment itself and everything goes more slowly.
- The invoices and proof of payment for each cost added: notary, land registry, purchase tax, the estate agent's commission, plusvalía municipal.
- A tax residence certificate from the country where the seller lives, above all when there is doubt about whether they really are non-resident. How to obtain it is explained in the certificate for Modelo 210.
- Proof that the bank account given belongs to the seller.
If you have already filed and would like us to check whether the file has any weak point before Hacienda spots it, you can send us the paperwork through the property sale form.
The bank account, the most frequent bottleneck
In practice, many refunds are held up by the account, not the calculation. The seller closes their Spanish account after the sale and the refund has nowhere to go. The Agencia Tributaria accepts foreign accounts under certain conditions, but it requires ownership to be proved and the format to be correct; a mistake in that detail can send the transfer back and restart the process. If the account is in two names, the seller should appear as an account holder, not merely as an authorised user.
In Birgit's case the account is Swedish and in her name. If by December she has not been paid and has received no request, the sensible thing is to check the status of the file on the tax agency's online portal and, if nothing is moving, to contact the managing office before thinking about formal complaints.
When the months go by with no answer
There are three different situations that should not be mixed up:
- Silence with no request. The office has asked for nothing and does not pay. Once the six months are over, interest runs in your favour. The useful step is to check on the portal that the Modelo 210 is recorded as filed with the correct account and, if all is in order, to write to the office urging a decision.
- A request awaiting a reply. As long as you do not answer, the delay is yours for interest purposes. Reply with everything requested, and in a single submission whenever possible.
- A provisional assessment that reduces the refund. This is an administrative act with a deadline for appeal. If you disagree, you have to challenge it within that period; letting it pass makes it final.
As for the right to claim the refund itself, article 66 of the General Tax Law sets a limitation period of four years. Someone who did not file on time may still be in time to recover the 3 %, with the consequences explained in I sold two years ago and filed nothing.
Cases in which there is nothing to refund
The 3 % is not always an excess. Divide 3 by 19 and you get the ratio of gain to price above which the withholding falls short: around 15.8 %. If your gain exceeds that share of the price, you pay the difference instead of receiving it. And if the buyer never paid in the withholding, there is nothing to refund even if the gain is zero: this is explained in the buyer did not pay in the 3 %.
The guide how to recover the 3 % withheld goes through the whole procedure from the seller's side.
If the sale was at a loss
When there is no gain, the tax is zero and the refund is the full 3 %. The procedure is the same and so is the authorities' deadline, but the check tends to focus more on the purchase and sale values, because a loss is exactly what someone would claim in order to recover everything withheld. We deal with it in selling at a loss: do I still have to file?.
Calculating the gain, filing the Modelo 210 and following the refund through until it is paid are part of the Salama Tax service for non-residents selling a property, which sets out the paperwork needed at each stage.