Daniel Weiss lived in Zurich for twelve years. In 2021 he bought a flat in San Juan de Alicante and since 2024 has let it to a family, for 1,100 € a month, under a long-term residential tenancy. As a resident of Switzerland he filed his Modelo 210 (the non-resident tax return) every quarter and paid 24 % of the gross rent. In February 2026 he accepted a job in Barcelona and on 1 March moved there with his partner. He also has a small apartment in Jaca that he uses in winter and never lets. Now he has to decide what to do about the Alicante flat in 2026: the 210 again, or something different?
The year is decided in December, not in March
Article 12 of the IRPF Law (Spanish personal income tax) sets the calendar year as the tax period, with accrual on 31 December. Article 9 treats as resident anyone who stays in Spain for more than 183 days in the year or has the main centre of their economic interests here. Daniel will spend ten of the twelve months of 2026 in Spain and works for a Barcelona company: everything points to his being tax resident for the whole of 2026, January and February included.
That being so, the Alicante flat stops being a matter for the Non-Resident Income Tax (IRNR) for that year. His 2026 rents are declared in his 2026 IRPF return, in the filing campaign in spring 2027, together with his salary. If Switzerland also regarded him as resident in 2026, the tax treaty between the two countries would decide; that analysis is in the guide on dual residence conflicts, and how Switzerland treats his departure is for his adviser there to confirm.
The 2026 calendar works in his favour
Until 2025, a non-resident's rent was declared quarter by quarter. For rental income accruing from 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). And the imputed income for 2026 is declared from 1 April to 31 December 2027 (until 23 December if paid by direct debit).
For Daniel this means that, given the new calendar, he would have no 2026 Modelo 210 filed when the time comes to prepare his first return as a resident. There is nothing to correct: he simply does not file any 210 for 2026 and declares the flat in his IRPF return. The 2025 returns are another matter: they are still his as a non-resident and must be filed within their deadlines.
If someone, out of habit or on the advice of the property manager, did file and pay a 210 for the year in which they became resident, the right course is to ask for it to be corrected and for the payment to be refunded. Keeping it and also declaring the rent in the IRPF return would mean paying twice on the same income. The question I move to Spain mid-year: 210 or IRPF? explains how the year of arrival is analysed as a whole.
The Alicante rent under resident rules
This is the change most noticeable in the pocket. As a non-resident living in Switzerland, Daniel could not deduct anything: article 24.1 of the IRNR Law taxes the gross amount and expressly excludes reductions. As a resident, article 23 of the IRPF Law lets him subtract expenses and, since this is a residential letting, apply the reduction in paragraph 2.
With example figures for 2026:
| Item | As a non-resident (IRNR) | As a resident (IRPF) |
|---|---|---|
| Rent for the year (1,100 € × 12) | 13,200 € | 13,200 € |
| IBI (the annual local property tax) | not deductible | −540 € |
| Service charge of the owners' association | not deductible | −960 € |
| Insurance | not deductible | −280 € |
| Depreciation (3 % of 90,000 € of building value) | not deductible | −2,700 € |
| Net income | 13,200 € | 8,720 € |
| Residential reduction under art. 23.2 | not applicable | −4,360 € (50 %) |
| Amount taxed | 13,200 € at 24 % | 4,360 € in the general tax base |
Step by step, the resident column:
- Gross rent: 13,200 €.
- Expenses: 540 + 960 + 280 + 2,700 = 4,480 €.
- Net income: 13,200 − 4,480 = 8,720 €.
- Reduction: the contract was signed in 2024 and meets none of the special cases, so the general percentage of 50 % applies: 8,720 × 50 % = 4,360 €.
- Reduced net income: 4,360 €, which is added to his salary in the general tax base.
Those 4,360 € are taxed on the IRPF scale, which has a state band and a regional band. The final rate depends on the rest of his income and on his autonomous community (region) of residence, so we do not give a figure; as a reference, the previous year he paid 3,168 € (13,200 × 24 %) on the same flat without deducting anything.
Article 23.2 only allows the reduction on income declared in a return filed before a review of that income begins. If Daniel kept filing 210 returns out of inertia and the Agencia Tributaria, the Spanish tax agency, later regularised the rent in his IRPF return, the reduction would not apply to the amount regularised. Moreover, the current percentages in article 23.2 apply to contracts concluded since Law 12/2023 came into force; for earlier contracts you have to check which regime applies to them.
The Jaca apartment and imputed income
The flat kept for his own use still generates imputed income, but at a different counter. Instead of an imputation 210, Daniel will include it in his IRPF return by direct application of article 85 of the IRPF Law: 1.1 % or 2 % of the valor catastral (the official cadastral value), depending on whether the municipality has had its values revised in the previous ten periods, apportioned by the days of the year. Since he is resident for the whole of 2026, the apportionment covers the full year during which the apartment was at his disposal. His main home in Barcelona, which he rents, plays no part.
If at some point Daniel moved into the Alicante flat, he would stop letting it and it would become his main home, which article 85 excludes from imputation. It is a change of use that should be properly dated, because it changes the rent, the imputation and the future sale all at once.
If you are in a similar year of change and want to sort out what goes into the IRPF return and what does not, you can tell us about it through the non-resident form.
What appears for the first time
Being resident brings obligations the non-resident did not have:
- IRPF taxes worldwide income for the whole year: the Swiss salary for January and February, the interest on his accounts and whatever his portfolio produces. To avoid paying twice, there is the deduction explained in the guide on international double taxation. There is one caveat to check in each case: some tax treaties split the year of the move between the two states, and if the treaty with Switzerland does so, those two months would be treated differently. We check it against the treaty text published in the BOE, Spain's official gazette, and with his adviser in Switzerland.
- If his accounts, securities or property outside Spain exceed 50,000 € in any of the blocks, he will have to file his first Modelo 720 (the return declaring assets held abroad) by 31 March 2027. The blocks are explained in the three blocks of Modelo 720.
- His tax address changes. Keeping the Zurich address on file with the Agencia Tributaria is a source of missed notifications; the guide to fixing your tax address explains how to do it.
Since Daniel is moving because of an employment contract, he can consider the special regime in article 93 (commonly called the Beckham regime), which would allow him to keep being taxed under IRNR rules for several years. It has a short deadline and conditions of its own, which the guide to Modelo 149 sets out. If he opted for it, the treatment of the Alicante flat would change again compared with what is described here, and the decision should be taken with the figures for both scenarios in front of him.
Which papers to keep from the year of change
To defend his residence for the whole year and the flat's figures, Daniel should keep the employment contract and the date of his Social Security registration, the rental contract for Barcelona, the receipts for the Alicante rent, the escritura (the notarial deed of purchase) to separate land from building, and the IBI and service charge receipts. If the Spanish or Swiss tax authorities ever dispute where he was resident in 2026, that folder is the first thing they will ask for. Nobody can guarantee that the year will close without questions, but with it the answers are quick.
The move from non-resident to resident is settled once, but it shapes several years of returns; at Salama Tax we help with that first year and the ones that follow.