Graham lives in Manchester and has a house in Jávea in his name. In 2025 he did not let it for a single day; he went in August and at Christmas, and the rest of the year it was shut. He closed his account with a Spanish bank in 2024, tired of the fees, and now pays the IBI (the annual municipal property tax) and the community of owners' fees from the United Kingdom. When we explained that his imputed income for 2025 came to 681.60 € and had to be paid before 31 December 2026, his question was very specific: how do I pay a Spanish tax without a Spanish account?
It is the most practical question about imputed income, and the one that leaves the most returns filed and unpaid.
Where the 681.60 euros come from
The IBI bill for the Jávea house shows a cadastral value (valor catastral, the official value the land registry gives the property) of 142,000 €. The municipality's last cadastral revision affecting that property predates the ten-year window, so the applicable percentage is 2 %, not 1.1 %. Graham is the sole owner and the house was at his disposal all 365 days:
- Taxable base: 142,000 × 2 % = 2,840 €.
- Rate: as a resident of the United Kingdom, outside the European Union and the European Economic Area, he is taxed at 24 %.
- Tax: 2,840 × 24 % = 681.60 €.
That amount is declared on the Modelo 210 for imputed income and paid when it is filed. With imputed income there are no expenses to deduct: not the IBI, not the community fees, not the insurance. The calculation is on the cadastral value and nothing else, as we explain in the guide to imputed income.
Ways to pay, depending on whether you have an account here
| Route | What it needs | Until when | Who it makes sense for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct debit | An account at a collaborating bank (entidad colaboradora) in Spain, in the owner's name | 23 December | Those who keep an account here |
| NRC or account charge from the online tax office | An account at a collaborating bank in Spain | 31 December | Those with an account who leave it to the end |
| Transfer from abroad | Following the procedure the Agencia Tributaria provides for non-residents without an account in Spain | Start it with weeks to spare | Those who, like Graham, have no account here |
| Payment by a representative or a third party | Someone who obtains the NRC (the payment reference code) with their Spanish account for Graham's return | 31 December | Those with a representative or a relative here |
The dates in the table are those set by the current order governing Modelo 210 for imputed income: from 1 April to 31 December of the following year, and up to 23 December if paid by direct debit. It is worth checking them every year on the tax agency's online office (sede electrónica), because the order for this Modelo has been amended several times.
A transfer from abroad, without surprises
For non-residents without an account in Spain, the Agencia Tributaria has set up a procedure for payment by transfer from a foreign account. The specific steps and the transfer details are obtained on the online office itself, and they are not instant: you have to request it, receive the instructions and make the transfer with the exact reference given. That is why it is the route that can least be left to the last week of December.
And there is a detail almost nobody notices until it happens to them: the charges. An international transfer with shared charges arrives with less money than was sent, because the intermediary banks take their cut. If Graham sends 681.60 € with shared charges and 666.60 € arrives, the return is left with 15 € unpaid, and those 15 € head towards the enforcement period like any other debt. The transfer has to be sent with all charges paid by the sender and in euros, not in pounds converted along the way.
Someone else paying
Anyone can pay another person's tax debt, although that does not make them liable or give them any rights against Hacienda (the Spanish tax authority). Many owners solve the payment this way: a relative or their representative in Spain obtains the NRC from their online banking, with Graham's tax number (NIF) and the exact Modelo, year and amount, and adds it to the return. If you would rather we handled it that way, with the return prepared and the payment coordinated, leave your details in the non-residents form.
If the direct debit bounces or the transfer does not arrive
When payment fails after filing, the return is still filed and what remains is an unpaid debt. When the period ends it moves into the enforcement period (periodo ejecutivo) with a 5 % surcharge if it is paid before the enforcement order (providencia de apremio) arrives. For Graham that would be 34.08 €. The difficulty for a non-resident is finding out: letters go to the address in the census (the tax register), and if that address is old or incomplete, the enforcement order can be served by publication without them ever seeing it. That is why, after any payment from abroad, it is worth checking on the online office, a few weeks later, that the return shows as paid and not just as filed.
Unlike withholding, the tax on imputed income can be deferred. Applications of up to 50,000 € have been exempt from providing a guarantee since April 2023, so technically Graham could apply to pay in instalments. In practice, for 681.60 € it almost never pays off: the deferral accrues late-payment interest and each instalment has to be met from an account, which is exactly what Graham does not have. What is worth knowing is that the return is filed on time anyway even if the payment fails, so as not to add an offence. How a deferral works when it does make sense is in deferring within the voluntary period.
Each imputed income 210 that is paid leaves a receipt with its reference number. Keep them all, year by year and owner by owner. On the day you sell the house, the buyer will withhold 3 % and you will claim back whatever is left over; having to hand the proof of each imputation paid is what stops that refund being held up by a debt that had in fact been paid.
What almost nobody tells you about paying imputed income
That each owner pays their own. For a married couple with the house half each, there is no joint return and no single payment: there are two 210s with two amounts and two payments, each with its owner's NIF. A single payment for the total, with one of their NIFs, leaves the other with their return unpaid and the first with an overpayment that then has to be claimed back.
That the amount is not fixed from one year to the next. The cadastral value can change with the updating coefficients approved by law for the municipalities that ask for them, and the percentage can go from 1.1 % to 2 % when the last revision drops out of the ten-year window. Paying this year the same as last year, without recalculating, is the most common way of leaving a small balance outstanding without knowing it.
And that the realistic date is not 31 December. Between the holidays, foreign banks and transfers that take several days, the last sensible moment for someone paying from abroad is the first half of December. Graham sent his on 1 December, with the charges paid by him, and the receipt was in his inbox before Christmas.