Elena Sanz sold a flat in Alcalá de Henares on 25 January 2024 that she had bought in 2016. She did everything properly, or so she thought: the estate agency took care of filing the self-assessment for the plusvalía municipal (the local tax on the increase in value of urban land) and Elena paid 4,100 € on 14 February. Two and a half years later, while preparing the sale of another property, someone explains to her that the tax can be calculated on the actual increase and that in her case it would have come out quite a lot lower. She wants to know whether she is still in time and how much she can recover.
First things first: how you paid
Whether you can recover anything depends above all on the way the debt was determined.
| How it was paid | Route to recover it | Deadline | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Self-assessment | Request for correction | Four years | Arts. 66, 67, 120.3 and 221.4 of the General Tax Act |
| Assessment appealed in time | The appeal itself and, if it is upheld, a refund | The appeal's | Art. 14.2 TRLRHL |
| Assessment not appealed | Only special review procedures | Depending on the procedure | Art. 221.3 of the General Tax Act |
| Payment made twice, or more than the amount assessed | Refund of undue payments | Four years | Art. 221.1 of the General Tax Act |
| Contract annulled or rescinded | Refund under art. 109.2 | Five years from when the decision becomes final | Art. 109.2 TRLRHL |
TRLRHL is the consolidated text of the Local Government Finance Act; the General Tax Act is the Ley General Tributaria. Elena self-assessed. She is in the first row, the most favourable one.
Elena's deadline
Article 66.c) of the General Tax Act sets at four years the limitation period for the right to ask for a refund of undue payments. Article 67.1 says when it starts: if the payment was made within the filing period, the count begins on the day after that period ends.
- Sale and date the tax fell due: 25 January 2024.
- End of the thirty-working-day period to self-assess: 7 March 2024, without counting local public holidays.
- The payment on 14 February was made within the period.
- Start of the four-year count: 8 March 2024.
- Deadline to ask for the correction: around 8 March 2028.
Elena has time. But it is best not to cut it fine: if a local holiday moves the end of the filing period, the exact date changes by a few days, and it is better to file with room to spare.
How much she can recover, step by step
The self-assessment used the objective method. The 2024 bill for the IBI (the annual council property tax) gave a cadastral value of the land (the official value set by the Cadastre, Spain's property register for tax purposes) of 71,000 € and 52 % land out of the total. Elena bought for 221,000 € and sold for 233,000 €, eight years later.
- Objective base in the self-assessment: 15,600 €. Tax paid: 4,100 €.
- Actual increase in the land: (233,000 − 221,000) × 0.52 = 6,240 €.
- The actual base is lower than the objective one, so article 107.5 allows it to be used.
- Tax on the actual base, at the same rate: 4,100 × 6,240 / 15,600 = 1,640 €.
- Amount to be refunded: 4,100 − 1,640 = 2,460 €.
- Plus late-payment interest from 14 February 2024, which article 32.2 of the General Tax Act grants without the need to ask for it.
If instead of gaining 12,000 € she had sold for less than she paid, there would have been no increase and the refund would be in full, because the sale would not be liable under article 104.5. We develop that situation in I sold at a loss.
None of this is automatic. The council can check the values declared, and it can dispute the land proportion or the deeds. We cannot guarantee that the refund will be granted, or in what amount.
What to ask for and with which documents
The correction is requested from the council that received the payment. The written request has to identify the self-assessment, explain why it harms the taxpayer's interests and set out the alternative calculation. In Elena's case:
- the 2016 purchase deed and the 2024 sale deed;
- the 2024 IBI bill or a certificate from the Cadastre with the breakdown of the value;
- proof of the self-assessment and of the payment;
- a bank account for the refund.
You can send us those documents with the plusvalía form so that we can review the figures before filing.
The plusvalía paid on a sale is a tax inherent in the transfer, which article 35.2 of the IRPF Law (the Spanish personal income tax) allows to be subtracted from the sale value. Elena subtracted 4,100 € in her 2024 return. If she is refunded 2,460 €, her real cost was 1,640 €, and her 2024 gain was understated by the difference. How to regularise it needs to be considered when the refund is received; it is not advisable to ignore it.
What the Constitutional Court's judgments said, and who they help
Many people ask whether they can recover old plusvalías because of the judgments of the Constitutional Court. The answer depends on the judgment and on what each person did at the time.
- Judgment 59/2017, of 11 May. It declared unconstitutional the taxing of situations where there was no increase. It opened the door to claims by those who had sold at a loss, within the ordinary deadlines of each route.
- Judgment 126/2019, of 31 October. It added that the tax cannot demand an amount higher than the increase actually obtained.
- Judgment 182/2021, of 26 October. It struck down the whole method of calculation. But its sixth legal ground limited its effects: it cannot be used to review assessments that had not been challenged by the date of the judgment, nor self-assessments whose correction had not been requested by that date.
Someone who paid a plusvalía before 26 October 2021 and had not appealed it or asked for its correction by that date cannot rely on that last judgment. They can try on other grounds, such as the absence of an increase, if they are still within the four-year period, something that is already difficult for sales from that time.
If you paid an assessment and did not appeal
Once the month for the appeal for reconsideration has passed, the assessment is final. Article 221.3 of the General Tax Act only allows a refund to be requested by seeking a review of the act on the grounds that it is null and void, by revocation or correction of errors, or by the extraordinary appeal for review. They are not a second chance to argue about the method of calculation. That is why, when an assessment arrives, it should be reviewed within the month: see the council has sent me an assessment.
When the sale is undone
Article 109.2 provides for a refund when a court or the authorities declare, in a final decision, that the contract is null, rescinded or terminated, provided that it has not produced any gain and the refund is claimed within five years of the decision becoming final. There is no refund if the termination is due to a breach by the taxpayer himself. And if the parties undo the sale by mutual agreement, article 109.3 treats it as a new act that is taxed again.
The guide on claiming back plusvalía paid in excess develops each route with its procedure, and the one on the two methods of calculation explains the calculation behind a correction such as Elena's.
The Salama Tax page on the municipal plusvalía brings together the calculation, the deadlines and the ways of having the tax reviewed.