Lucía Prados, a teacher in Granada, buys an apartment in Almuñécar in June 2026 from Klaus Becker, a retired engineer who lives in Munich. Klaus bought it in 2018 for 200,000 € and is now selling it for 215,000 €. At the notary's office, Lucía withholds 3 % of the price for Hacienda, as she had been told to. Nobody mentions the plusvalía municipal (the municipal tax on the increase in land value) until, on the way out, the estate agent tells her: "You'll have to file that one yourself, as the seller doesn't live here." Lucía does not understand why she has to pay a tax on a gain that is not hers.
It is not hers, but the law puts her in the seller's place before the town hall. And what she does in the following weeks decides how much is paid and who ends up bearing it.
Taxpayer and substitute are not the same person
Article 106.1.b) of the consolidated text of the Local Finances Act (Ley de Haciendas Locales) says that in a sale the taxpayer is the person transferring the land: Klaus. But paragraph 2 adds that, when the taxpayer is an individual not resident in Spain, the acquirer is the substitute taxpayer. Lucía does not pay as a favour or by agreement: the law obliges her to comply in Klaus's place, with both the return and the payment.
Article 36.3 of the General Tax Act (Ley General Tributaria) closes the circle. The substitute is liable to the Administration, but can claim from the taxpayer what they have paid. Lucía can claim the tax back from Klaus, but claiming from someone who lives in Munich after the signing is slow and expensive. That is why the usual practice is to hold back that amount from the price on the day of the escritura (the notarised deed).
| Obligation arising from the sale | Who fulfils it | Before whom |
|---|---|---|
| 3 % withholding (Modelo 211) | Lucía, the buyer | Agencia Tributaria |
| Plusvalía municipal | Lucía, as substitute | Almuñécar town hall |
| Tax on the gain (Modelo 210) | Klaus, the seller | Agencia Tributaria |
Thirty working days from signing
Article 110.2.a) sets a period of thirty working days from accrual for sales. Accrual is the date of the deed. Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays do not count, so thirty working days usually come to a little over six calendar weeks. They should not be confused with the month for Modelo 211 or with the periods for the seller's 210.
The format depends on the town hall. Under article 110.4, each municipality decides whether it requires a self-assessment, in which Lucía calculates and pays, or whether a declaration is enough and it then notifies the assessment, as paragraph 5 provides. In both cases the deed must be attached, under paragraph 3. The Almuñécar bylaw, not that of Granada or of Munich, says which form to use.
The two ways of calculating, with Klaus's figures
The base can be worked out in two ways, and the law allows the lower one to be kept.
Objective method. Article 107 multiplies the cadastral value of the land at the date of sale by a coefficient according to the years of ownership. Suppose a total valor catastral (the official cadastral value) of 110,000 €, of which 44,000 € is land, and that the bylaw applies the coefficient 0.19 for eight years, which is the maximum currently shown in the consolidated text for that period. The data are only an example; the actual coefficient is set by each bylaw within the legal maximums.
- Cadastral value of the land: 44,000 €.
- Coefficient for eight years: 0.19.
- Taxable base: 44,000 × 0.19 = 8,360 €.
Real method. Article 104.5 compares the value of the land at the sale and at the purchase. When land with a building on it is sold, the land value is calculated by applying to the prices in the deeds the proportion that the cadastral value of the land represents of the total at the date of sale. Here, 44,000 out of 110,000: 40 %. Neither expenses nor taxes are added.
- Land at the sale: 215,000 × 40 % = 86,000 €.
- Land at the purchase: 200,000 × 40 % = 80,000 €.
- Real increase: 6,000 €.
As 6,000 € is less than 8,360 €, article 107.5 allows the real increase to be taken as the base, provided it is requested and proved by the procedure in article 104.5. With an assumed rate of 29 %, within the 30 % maximum in article 108:
| Method | Base | Tax at 29 % |
|---|---|---|
| Objective | 8,360 € | 2,424.40 € |
| Real | 6,000 € | 1,740.00 € |
The choice is not automatic: it has to be claimed by whoever files, and the substitute can do so too. If Lucía simply pays what the municipal online office calculates by the objective method, 684.40 € too much is paid, which Klaus will later dispute with her.
When the value of the land at the sale does not exceed its value at the purchase, article 104.5 declares the transaction not subject to the tax. But for that to be recognised, the transfer has to be declared and the purchase and sale deeds provided. Filing nothing because "there is no gain" is the surest way to receive an assessment with a surcharge.
What to put in writing in the deed
As Lucía answers to the town hall and can only recover the money afterwards, the prudent course is to set out three things in the deed, or earlier in the contrato de arras (the deposit contract):
- That the buyer holds back from the price an amount for the plusvalía, calculated by the higher method in case the real one is not accepted.
- That she will return the difference to Klaus when the town hall issues its assessment or accepts the self-assessment.
- That Klaus will hand over the 2018 purchase deed and whatever details are needed to prove the real increase. Without the old deed, the real method cannot be defended.
If you are the buyer or the seller in a transaction with a non-resident and would like us to prepare the calculation before signing, you can send us both deeds and the IBI receipt (the annual municipal property tax) through the non-residents form.
What the plusvalía means for the seller
For Klaus, the plusvalía is a tax inherent in the sale. Article 35.2 of the IRPF Law (the Spanish personal income tax law), to which article 24.4 of the IRNR Law (the non-residents' income tax law) refers, allows the expenses and taxes paid by the seller to be subtracted from the transfer value. The fact that Lucía pays it as substitute with money held back from the price does not change who bears it.
There is another rule in the same article 35 that is often forgotten: the acquisition value is reduced by depreciation. If Klaus let the flat for several years and, as a European Union resident, deducted depreciation in his 210s, those amounts are subtracted from the purchase price. Assuming 14,000 € of purchase costs, 6,000 € of sale costs and 12,000 € of depreciation:
- Transfer value: 215,000 − 6,000 − 1,740 = 207,260 €.
- Acquisition value: 200,000 + 14,000 − 12,000 = 202,000 €.
- Gain: 5,260 €.
- Tax at 19 %, the rate in article 25.1.f) for all non-residents' gains: 999.40 €.
- 3 % withholding made by Lucía: 6,450 €.
- Refund due to Klaus: 5,450.60 €, which can only be recovered by filing the 210.
If the plusvalía is paid late or by the wrong method, the expense Klaus deducts changes, and his gain with it.
If the deadline has already passed
Filing late without a request from the town hall carries surcharges for late filing, calculated as for state taxes. If the town hall has already issued an assessment, check the appeal period shown on the notification. The details are in the plusvalía deadline and surcharge.
To see the same problem from the seller's side, there is the plusvalía municipal when selling as a non-resident. How the land is separated from the building, in how the land value is calculated. And the state withholding, in I am selling my flat in Spain and do not live here.
The Salama Tax non-residents page coordinates the three taxes in a sale where the seller lives abroad, so that the buyer does not overpay and the seller does not miss out on a refund.