Ingrid and Lars live in Bergen and own a flat in Mijas in equal shares. They let it from November to April to a retired couple, on a seasonal contract, and use it themselves in the summer. Since 2022 a local gestoría (accountancy firm) had filed their returns. In 2026, when they changed adviser, we reviewed their four years of Modelo 210 for imputed income and found three errors that all pointed the same way: they had overpaid. About 2,400 € in total between the two of them.
It is not always like that. More often the error is the other way round and the client finds out they owe money. But this case is useful for seeing both sides of the question: who answers and how it is corrected, whether there is too much or too little.
The three errors, one by one
- The rate. The gestoría applied 24 %, the rate for residents outside the European Union. Norway is not in the Union, but it belongs to the European Economic Area, and the law applies 19 % to residents of the Union, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein.
- The percentage. It applied 2 % of the cadastral value (valor catastral, the official value the land registry gives the property). The value of the Mijas flat was revised with effect from 2016, within the ten-year window, so 1.1 % applies.
- The days. It imputed all 365 days of each year, when the flat was let for 180. The imputation only covers the days the property was at the owners' disposal: 185.
How big the difference is, per owner and per year
With a cadastral value of 160,000 € and 50 % ownership each:
| Item | What the gestoría filed | The correct figure |
|---|---|---|
| Percentage | 2 % | 1.1 % |
| Days imputed | 365 | 185 |
| Base per owner | 1,600.00 € | 446.03 € |
| Rate | 24 % | 19 % |
| Tax per owner | 384.00 € | 84.75 € |
| Overpaid per owner per year | 299.25 € | |
The correct base is 160,000 × 1.1 % × 50 % × 185/365 = 446.03 €. With two owners and four tax years, from 2022 to 2025, the overpayment comes to 299.25 × 2 × 4 = 2,394 €.
How the overpayment is recovered
When a self-assessed return works against the taxpayer themselves, it is corrected by rectification, within the four years following its filing. Depending on the Modelo and the year, this is done with a rectifying return or with an application for rectification (solicitud de rectificación); the version of the form in force for that year decides which, and it is the first thing to check. In this case all four years were within the time limit, including 2022, filed in December 2023.
The refund of what was wrongly paid comes with late-payment interest in the taxpayer's favour, calculated from the date of payment. The Administration can carry out checks before refunding, and usually asks for the rental contract and proof of the days of occupation, so it is worth having them ready before filing. To support the 19 % rate, the certificate of tax residence in Norway for each year is also needed, as we explain in the certificate of residence for Modelo 210.
If you suspect your imputed income has been calculated wrongly, one way or the other, leave us the details in the non-residents form: with the IBI bills (the municipal property tax) and the returns filed, it can be seen in a short time.
When the error goes the other way
If the gestoría had applied 1.1 % to a value that had not been revised, or had forgotten the imputation for the empty days and filed only the rental 210, the result would be tax underpaid. There the correction is made with a supplementary return (complementaria) for each year, with the article 27 recargo, the surcharge for filing late unprompted, if it is filed before any request from the tax office, or with an assessment, interest and a possible penalty if the Administration gets there first.
Either way, the person liable to Hacienda (the Spanish tax authority) is the owner of the property. The gestoría is not a party to the procedure: what is refunded is refunded to Ingrid and Lars, and what is claimed is claimed from them.
What can be asked of the previous adviser
When money is overpaid, almost nothing: the Administration refunds the tax with interest, and the damage is reduced to the cost of rectifying and, at most, the fees paid for a job badly done. When money is owed, the damage attributable to negligence can be significant: the recargo, the interest and the penalty that would not have arisen had it been done properly. Never the tax itself, which was owed in any case.
The route is civil, against the professional and, behind them, their professional indemnity insurance. What decides whether it succeeds is the evidence: the engagement, the information handed over, especially the IBI bill and the rental contract, and the returns filed. It is worth asking the gestoría, in writing and before any dispute, for a copy of everything it filed in your name.
In Ingrid and Lars's case there was no dispute to take anywhere: the refund covered the error with interest, and the only thing they asked of their former gestoría was the complete paperwork and access to the receipts. That is what we recommend almost always when the error is in the client's favour: recover the money through the tax route, which is the one that pays interest, and keep a claim against the professional for cases where there is a cost that no rectification gives back.
An adviser who applies the non-EU rate to a Norwegian resident usually makes the same mistake in the return for the rental income, and there is more at stake there: residents of the Union and of the European Economic Area with exchange of information can deduct the property's expenses, and others cannot. If they were denied that deduction, the difference may be greater than on the imputed income.
The order of work for correcting four years
- Gather the IBI bills for 2022 to 2025 and check on each one the cadastral value and the year of the revision. It is the figure that decides the percentage and it cannot be assumed.
- Request the certificates of tax residence in Norway for the four years, which prove the right to 19 %.
- Document the days let with the seasonal contract and proof of payment, to show that the flat was not at the owners' disposal on those 180 days.
- Recalculate each year and each owner and file eight rectifications, one per return, with the account into which the refund is to be paid.
- Review the rental 210s at the same time, because if the rate was wrong on the imputed income it is likely to be wrong there too.
The refund is not immediate. The Administration can take months and, if it decides to check, will ask for the same documents as in step 3. Having them in order from the start shortens the road a great deal. And bear in mind that the 2022 rectification is the most urgent, because it is the first whose four-year period runs out.
These errors repeat year after year without anyone looking at them, because one year's return is prepared by copying the previous one. A percentage wrongly chosen in 2022 travels intact to 2025. That is why, when you change adviser, the useful review is not of the last year but of the four that are not time-barred, and the first figure to check is the IBI bill for each of them. The full guide to the calculation is in imputed income.