Siobhan Kelly is a nurse in Cork and since 2016 has owned an apartment in Torrevieja that she uses in summer. Nobody told her that a flat that is not let generates an annual tax for someone who lives abroad, and she has never filed a Modelo 210. In September 2026 she decides to sell it. At the preliminary meeting with the estate agency someone mentions that "if Hacienda comes after you, it will seize the flat". Siobhan wants to know three things: how much she may owe, whether they can take the apartment from her, and whether she is better off filing now or waiting until the sale has gone through.
What she owes, year by year
The income Siobhan has not declared is the imputed income under article 85 of the IRPF Law (the Spanish personal income tax law), which article 24.5 of the IRNR Law (the non-residents' income tax law) applies to non-residents. Suppose a valor catastral (the official cadastral value) of 80,000 € and that 1.1 % applies in her municipality. As she lives in Ireland, a European Union country, her rate is 19 %.
- Annual imputed income: 80,000 × 1.1 % = 880 €.
- Annual tax: 880 × 19 % = 167.20 €.
- For four years not yet time-barred: 668.80 € of tax.
That is not a figure that justifies seizing a property. But a tax debt does not stop at the tax itself: depending on how it is regularised, surcharges, interest or penalties are added, and that is what decides the final bill.
How many years can be claimed
Article 66 of the General Tax Act (Ley General Tributaria) sets a four-year limitation period for the Administration's right to assess. Article 67 says when it starts to run: from the day after the period for filing that year's self-assessment ends, not from 31 December of the year the income relates to. If the period for a given year ended on 31 December 2022, the right to assess it becomes time-barred, with no interruptions, four years later, at the start of 2027.
The interruptions are the trap. Article 68 lists those that count: any action by the Administration, formally brought to the taxpayer's knowledge, aimed at regularising; appeals; and any action by the taxpayer that leads to the debt being settled. A letter from the Agencia that Siobhan did not read in 2024 may have restarted the clock. That is why the first step is not to file, but to find out which notifications are on record in her name.
A year that is already time-barred and is filed voluntarily is paid all the same. Before regularising, check for each tax year when its filing period ended, whether any action interrupted the limitation period and what share of ownership you had that year.
Filing before or after the letter arrives
This is the most important practical difference. If Siobhan files without a prior formal request, article 27 applies a surcharge instead of a penalty: 1 % plus one point for each full month of delay and, after twelve months, 15 % plus late-payment interest from that twelfth month. The surcharge is reduced by 25 % if she pays on time.
If she waits for the Agencia to require it of her, article 191 classifies failing to pay in the debt from a self-assessment as an offence. With a penalty base of no more than 3,000 €, the offence is minor, with a fine of 50 %. Article 188 provides for reductions: 30 % for agreeing to the assessment and, on what remains, 40 % if it is paid on time and not appealed.
For one of the years that are more than twelve months late:
| Item | She files first | She waits for the formal request |
|---|---|---|
| Tax | 167.20 € | 167.20 € |
| 15 % surcharge | 25.08 € | — |
| With the 25 % reduction | 18.81 € | — |
| 50 % penalty | — | 83.60 € |
| After agreement (−30 %) and payment on time (−40 %) | — | 35.11 € |
| Late-payment interest | From the twelfth month | For the whole period |
The difference per year is modest in euros. What changes is its nature: the surcharge is not a penalty and does not open penalty proceedings. And with more valuable properties, or with undeclared rentals, the figures grow quickly.
The road to a seizure
Seizure is not the first step. First there has to be an assessed or self-assessed debt that was not paid in the voluntary period. Then the enforcement period begins and, with it, the surcharges in article 28: 5 % if everything is paid before the providencia de apremio (the enforcement order), 10 % if it is paid within the period that order opens, and 20 % in all other cases, the last one with interest.
The enforcement order, says article 167.2, has the same enforceability as a court judgment. From then on the Administration can seize assets. Article 169.1 requires proportionality: enough is seized to cover the debt, interest, surcharges and costs, and no more. And paragraph 2 sets an order for cases where the criteria of ease of sale and least burden are not applied:
- Cash, or money in accounts.
- Credits and rights that can be realised in the short term.
- Wages, salaries and pensions.
- Real estate.
For a debt of a few hundred euros, the Agencia will normally look first for an account or a pending refund. Article 169.5 also prevents the seizure of assets whose cost of realisation may exceed what would be obtained by selling them. But if Siobhan has no accounts in Spain and the debt grows, the apartment is the asset the Agencia knows about.
What an entry in the Land Registry means
If the property is seized, article 170.2 allows a preventive entry of the seizure to be requested in the Land Registry, with the force of a court order. It does not take ownership away, but it makes the seizure public. Any buyer who asks for a nota simple (a land registry extract) will see it, and no bank will finance the purchase unless it is cancelled.
Paying is not enough to lift it. The full debt has to be paid with its surcharges, interest and costs, the decision to lift it has to be requested, and you have to check that it reaches the Registry. If the sale is already under way, part of the price can be set aside to cancel the charge, but the exact, updated figure must be requested from the Agencia before signing.
If you would like us to review which years you have open and how much it would cost to regularise them before selling, you can send us the escritura (the title deed), the IBI receipts (the annual municipal property tax) and any letter you have received through the non-residents form.
Why the sale brings everything to light
When Siobhan sells, the buyer will have to withhold 3 % of the price and pay it in with Modelo 211, under article 25.2 of the IRNR Law. If the buyer failed to do so, the same article leaves the property charged with the payment. She, for her part, will file a 210 for the gain and deduct that withholding.
If the withholding exceeds the tax on the gain, Siobhan will ask for a refund. And this is where the circle closes: article 73 requires the Agencia to offset automatically any debts that are in the enforcement period. If by then there are assessments of imputed income left unpaid, the refund from the sale may be used to collect them. Regularising before signing stops the sale from being the moment when everything is discovered and collected at once, and with higher surcharges.
If the problem is no longer yours but the flat's
There is one last scenario worth knowing about. Article 79 of the General Tax Act allows the Administration to pursue anyone who acquires an asset charged by law with the payment of a debt, up to that same asset. Siobhan's personal debts for imputed income do not follow the flat on their own, but the buyer will certainly want guarantees that there are no registered charges or outstanding withholdings. A sale with the years regularised is easier to negotiate.
If you want to know the surcharges in more detail, see how much the surcharge for filing late is. On the years that can be reviewed, how many years back they can claim. And to calculate the income of an empty flat, what imputed income is.
The Salama Tax non-residents page explains how a regularisation covering several years is put in order before the flat goes on sale.