Ingrid Solberg lives in Bergen and since 2018 has owned a three-bedroom flat in the Ruzafa district of Valencia. In January 2026 she let it to a Valencian engineering company that uses it to house a director transferred from Bilbao. The agreed rent is 1,500 € a month, but each month she receives 1,215 €. The company explains that the remaining 285 € is tax withheld on account of her Spanish tax. Ingrid wants to know whether that is right, whether that deduction means she has met her obligations, and whether she can get anything back, because as a resident of Norway she is allowed to deduct the flat's expenses.
Who has to withhold and who does not
The obligation does not depend on the contract but on who pays. Article 31.1 of the Non-Resident Income Tax Law, IRNR in Spanish (the consolidated text approved by Royal Legislative Decree 5/2004), requires withholding from entities resident in Spain and from resident individuals who pay the income in the course of their business activity. A company housing one of its managers, or a self-employed person renting an office, falls into that group.
A family that rents your flat to live in does not withhold: it pays the full rent and you are the one who declares all of it in your Modelo 210, the non-resident tax return. That general case is covered in the guide to the Modelo 210 for rental income.
Anyone familiar with the 19 % withholding that companies apply to resident landlords usually also remembers its exceptions. The IRNR Regulations (Royal Decree 1776/2004) have their own list in article 10 and do not reproduce the IRPF (Spanish personal income tax) exceptions for rents. Before assuming that a small contract, or a particular type of contract, goes without withholding, check it against the text of the IRNR, not that of the IRPF.
Withholding ignores your expenses
This is the point that almost nobody explains to the non-resident landlord. Article 31.2 of the Law says that the withholder must apply the rules of the tax "without taking into consideration the provisions of articles 24.2, 24.6, 26 and 44". Article 24.6 is precisely the one that allows residents of the European Union, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein to deduct the flat's expenses. The company therefore always withholds on the gross rent, even if you are entitled to be taxed only on the net amount.
The rate, on the other hand, does depend on where you live. Article 25.1.a sets 24 % as the general rate and 19 % for residents of another European Union or European Economic Area state with an effective exchange of tax information. For the company to apply 19 %, you must prove your residence; without that paper, it will normally withhold at 24 %. The guide to the residence certificate for Modelo 210 explains how to obtain it.
Ingrid's figures at the end of the year
Norway is part of the European Economic Area, so Ingrid is taxed at 19 % and can deduct the expenses directly related to the letting. These are her figures for 2026, with round example amounts:
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Annual rent (1,500 € × 12) | 18,000 € |
| Company's withholding (19 % of 18,000 €) | 3,420 € |
| IBI (the annual local property tax) | 620 € |
| Service charge of the comunidad de propietarios (the owners' association) | 1,080 € |
| Home insurance | 310 € |
| Water heater repair | 900 € |
| Depreciation (3 % of 150,000 € of building value) | 4,500 € |
| Total expenses | 7,410 € |
With those figures, the real tax works out like this:
- Gross income: 18,000 €.
- Less deductible expenses: 18,000 − 7,410 = 10,590 €.
- Tax at 19 %: 10,590 × 0.19 = 2,012.10 €.
- Less the tax already withheld: 2,012.10 − 3,420 = −1,407.90 €.
- Result: Ingrid has paid 1,407.90 € too much and only gets it back if she files her own Modelo 210 claiming the refund.
Depreciation is calculated at 3 % of the higher of the acquisition cost and the valor catastral (the official cadastral value), excluding the land, as article 23.1.b of the IRPF Law and article 14 of its Regulations provide. To separate land from building you need the escritura (the notarial deed of purchase) and the IBI bill.
When withholding covers the whole tax
Liam Doyle lives in Toronto and lets an identical flat, in the same street, to another company for the same rent. Canada is neither in the European Union nor in the European Economic Area, so his tax is 24 % of the gross income, with no expenses: 4,320 € a year. The company withholds exactly that, because the withholding is calculated under the same rules.
For Liam, article 28.3 of the Law has a practical consequence: no return is required for income that has already been subject to withholding. If the company withheld correctly, Liam does not have to file a 210 for that letting. It will only be worth his while to do so if he decides to challenge the exclusion of expenses for residents outside the Union, a matter pending before the Supreme Court that we deal with in can I deduct expenses if I live outside the EU?.
| Ingrid (Norway) | Liam (Canada) | |
|---|---|---|
| Applicable rate | 19 % | 24 % |
| Withholding base | 18,000 € gross | 18,000 € gross |
| Annual withholding | 3,420 € | 4,320 € |
| Final tax | 2,012.10 € | 4,320 € |
| Worth filing a 210? | Yes, to recover 1,407.90 € | Not compulsory if the withholding is correct |
If you are in a situation like Ingrid's and do not know whether your expenses justify filing the 210, you can send us the contract, the company's certificates and your invoices through the non-resident form.
What the company does on its side
The withholding tenant has its own obligations, and it is worth knowing them because whether your refund arrives without problems depends on them. Under article 15 of the IRNR Regulations:
- It declares and pays in the amount withheld with Modelo 216 in the first twenty calendar days of April, July, October and January, for the previous quarter. Large companies do it every month.
- In January it files an annual summary (Modelo 296) listing by name the people it has paid.
- It issues you a certificate showing the rent paid and the tax withheld.
That certificate is your proof. Before asking for a refund, check that the NIE (the foreigner's tax identification number), the period and the amounts on the certificate match the contract and what you have actually received.
Article 31.3 establishes that the withholder is answerable for paying the money to the Treasury even if it has not done so. That does not protect you from a review: if you ask for a refund of withholding that does not appear in the company's returns, the likely outcome is that the tax authorities will hold it up until the matter is cleared up. Keep the bank statements, the contract and the certificate, and ask the company to regularise its position as soon as possible. We cannot assure you how long it will take to resolve.
Paying first yourself to avoid withholding
There is a little-known alternative. Article 31.4.c exempts the payer from withholding when it is shown that the tax has already been paid, and article 10.2.a of the Regulations says that this is shown with the return filed by the taxpayer. In theory, if Ingrid files and pays her 210 before each payment of rent, the company could pay her the rent in full.
In practice, few companies accept this. The same article 10.2 warns that if it later turns out that the payment did not exist, the withholder is answerable for the withholding it did not make. With that threat hanging over it, the finance department prefers to withhold. If you want to try, raise it before signing the contract.
The refund 210 and the new calendar
From rental income accruing in 2026, Order HAC/623/2026 allows an annual 210 with a filing period from 1 to 20 April of the following year when there is tax to pay (until the 15th if paid by direct debit). That period is designed for returns with a payment; those showing a refund, like Ingrid's, have their own calendar, which you should check in the order governing the form before filing. If you share the flat with another person, each owner claims their share of the refund with their percentage and their share of the withholding; we explain the split in how many Modelo 210 returns have to be filed.
The refund may be preceded by a request for invoices and a residence certificate; have them to hand before filing. As for how Norway, Canada or any other country treats the rent from the flat and the tax paid here, that is decided by its own legislation and must be confirmed by your adviser in that country. In Spain the rent is always taxed because the property is here, as explained in does my country's tax treaty spare me from paying in Spain?. If the tenant is a private individual or you do not know whether they withhold, start with does my tenant have to withhold tax?.
When the company's withholding, your expenses and the 210 calendar cross paths every year, at Salama Tax we prepare those returns and reconcile the tenant's certificates with what you have actually received.