Tomasz signed the purchase of a studio flat in Torrevieja on 30 July 2026 for €118,000. The seller is resident in Norway, so it falls to Tomasz to pay in 3 %, €3,540, with Modelo 211. The gestoría (the administrative agency that files forms for clients) recommended by the notary's office closed on 1 August for the holidays, and the question he put to us was very specific: how is this paid, can it be paid by direct debit, and can he spread it over a few months. It is paid with an NRC or by a charge to an account when filing; the direct debit used for quarterly returns is not the usual route; and spreading it is not possible: it is a withholding.
The 3 % comes out of the price, not from a separate account
The base is the agreed consideration in the escritura, the public deed of sale: the €118,000 that Tomasz agreed with the seller. It is not the cadastral value, nor the reference value used for the Impuesto sobre Transmisiones Patrimoniales (the transfer tax the buyer pays), nor the price net of commissions. Article 25.2 of the Non-Residents Income Tax Act requires the acquirer to withhold and pay in that 3 % on account of the seller's tax, and the natural way of doing it is for 97 % to be paid to the seller at signing and for 3 % to stay in the buyer's hands, or in a cheque in the buyer's name, to be paid in. The whole framework is on the page on Modelo 211.
Tomasz did it right: he paid €114,460 to the seller and kept €3,540. Now he only has to take it to Hacienda, the tax authorities, on time.
The payment routes Modelo 211 accepts
| Route | What you need | When it makes sense |
|---|---|---|
| NRC obtained from your bank | An account with a collaborating bank and online banking that offers tax payments | When you are filing yourself, or someone holding your authorisation is, and you want to pay and file on the same day |
| Charge to an account when filing at the online office | An electronic signature or a representative, and the IBAN of an account with a collaborating bank | It is the most direct way: the online office requests the charge and generates the NRC by itself |
| Filing through a colaborador social | That the gestoría or law firm has an agreement with the AEAT (the tax agency) and your authorisation | If you have neither a digital certificate nor Cl@ve, the government login system, something common among foreign buyers |
| Deferral or payment in instalments | Not accepted | Never: the withholder's debts are excluded by article 65.2 of the Ley General Tributaria, Spain's General Tax Act |
The NRC, Número de Referencia Completo, is the code the bank issues when it collects the amount, and it proves that the money has reached the Treasury. Without a valid NRC a Modelo 211 with payment cannot be filed. The deferred direct debit that many people know from Modelo 303 or Modelo 130 works with cut-off dates specific to each campaign; if in your case the online office offers it, check its deadline before relying on it. With a one-month period, the sensible thing is to pay and file in the same act.
If the buyer does not have an account with a Spanish bank, it is best to sort that out before signing. The AEAT has channels for non-residents that can be checked on its online office, but the practical solution is for the payment to be made by a representative with an account here.
A deadline that ends on a Sunday
One month from 30 July takes you to 30 August. In 2026, 30 August is a Sunday, so the last working day to file and pay is Monday 31 August. This is the kind of detail you have to check on the calendar, because in August, with the gestoría closed and the bank on summer hours, one day makes the difference between the deadline and the surcharge.
Had Tomasz lost track and filed on 5 October, the delay would include one full month (from 1 to 30 September, counting from the day after the end of the period), and the recargo of article 27, the surcharge for filing late unprompted, would be 2 %: €70.80, which comes down to €53.10 with the 25 % reduction for paying the assessment on time. Nothing dramatic, but avoidable. The full course of a delay is in the guide on Modelo 211 filed late.
Why no deferral is possible
Article 65.2.b) of the Ley General Tributaria says that debts corresponding to obligations the withholder must meet cannot be deferred or split into instalments. In Modelo 211, the buyer acts as the withholder. And the consequence is not that the application is refused: it is declared inadmissible and treated as never filed, so it does not stop the move to enforced collection. You have this developed in the debts that cannot be deferred.
The logic is the usual one with withholdings: that money is not the buyer's, it belongs to the seller's tax. That is why the only sensible way to "finance" it is not to pay it to the seller at signing.
If you paid the whole price to the seller
It happens more than you might think: the escritura is signed in a hurry, nobody deducts anything, and the seller walks off with the €118,000. The obligation to pay in the 3 % is still the buyer's. The €3,540 has to be paid in all the same, out of the buyer's own pocket, and then claimed back from the seller through the civil courts. That claim depends on what was agreed in the arras (the deposit contract signed before completion) and in the escritura, and on where the seller lives: with a seller in Norway, the cost of claiming €3,540 can exceed what is recovered. That is why the clause goes in beforehand, as we explain in the 3 % in the arras contract.
Not paying in so as to "set it off" against the seller is not an option. If the withholding is not paid in, the property becomes charged with payment of the lower of the withholding and the seller's tax: the problem does not go away, it stays with the property.
Deferred price, mortgage and other ways of paying for the home
Whether the buyer pays for the flat with a mortgage, in cash or with a deferred price does not change the base. Had Tomasz agreed to pay €60,000 at signing and the rest over two years, the 3 % is calculated in exactly the same way on the €118,000 agreed and is paid in exactly the same way in the month after the escritura. A 3 % is not paid in with each instalment. This surprises sellers who sell on deferred terms, because at signing they receive less than the buyer has to withhold in one go, and it is worth running the numbers beforehand.
The receipt with the NRC is your proof that the payment exists. The seller needs it for his Modelo 210 on the gain, which he files in the three months following the end of your period, and, if his tax comes out lower than the 3 %, to ask for the refund. If it does not reach him, his claim comes back to you. Hand it over by a means that leaves a trail.
Tomasz's sums, closed
- Agreed price: €118,000.
- Withholding: 118,000 × 3 % = €3,540.
- Paid to the seller at signing: €114,460.
- Last day: Monday 31 August 2026.
- Method: filing at the online office with a charge to his account, which generates the NRC, or an NRC obtained beforehand through his online banking.
- Afterwards: a copy to the seller, and the receipt filed away with the escritura.
If you have no electronic signature, or you are not sure whether the seller really was non-resident, the Modelo 211 withholding form is the shortest route for us to look at it before the month runs out. And if the doubt is about which boxes take each piece of data, the guide how Modelo 211 is filled in answers it.