Ingrid lives in Uppsala and has owned a two-bedroom flat in Nerja since 2019. In 2025 she let it to a retired English couple on a long-term contract: €800 a month, €9,600 over the year, paid punctually into her Swedish account. Everyone had told her about the IBI (the annual municipal property tax) and the community fees; nobody told her about Modelo 210, the return a non-resident files for income from a Spanish property. She found out in September 2026, when a neighbour in the building, also a foreigner, mentioned in the lift that she had just filed hers. By then five full months had passed since the filing period for that year had closed. Her question was the one almost everybody asks: am I going to be fined?
Ingrid can still get away with paying little
The short answer is no, as long as she moves before the tax authorities do. Article 27 of the Ley General Tributaria, Spain's General Tax Act, draws a very clear line between two situations. If the taxpayer files late without any prior request from the tax office (the requerimiento previo), there is no penalty: there is a recargo, a surcharge for filing late unprompted, which starts at 1 % and rises by one point for each full month of delay. After twelve months the surcharge is 15 % and late-payment interest runs on top. And if the tax is paid at the moment of filing, the surcharge is cut by 25 %.
If, on the other hand, the Agencia Tributaria, the Spanish tax agency, first sends a letter asking about that rental, the surcharge no longer exists and a penalty procedure under articles 191 and following is opened instead. What counts as a prior request is not always obvious (a plain information letter may not be one, a formal check is) and we explain it in the guide on what counts as a prior request.
Ingrid's numbers, from rent to surcharge
Sweden is a member state of the European Union, so Ingrid is taxed at 19 % and may deduct the costs of the property that are linked to the letting. If she lived in the United States or the United Kingdom she would be taxed at 24 % on the gross income, with nothing deducted. Her 2025 figures come out like this:
- Income for the year: €9,600.
- Costs she can deduct: IBI €420, community fees €960, home insurance €180 and depreciation of the building €1,650. In total, €3,210.
- Taxable base: 9,600 − 3,210 = €6,390.
- Tax at 19 %: 6,390 × 0.19 = €1,214.10.
- Surcharge for five full months: 1 % + 5 points = 6 %, that is, €72.85.
- Reduced surcharge if she pays on filing: 72.85 × 0.75 = €54.63.
- Total leaving her account: 1,214.10 + 54.63 = €1,268.73.
Now compare that with the scenario she feared. Had a request arrived first, the penalty for failing to pay tax of less than €3,000 is normally classed as minor, at 50 %: €607.05. With the 30 % reduction for accepting the assessment it would drop to €424.94, and with the 40 % reduction for prompt payment to €254.96, with late-payment interest added on top. In other words, almost five times the surcharge, in the best case and accepting everything without argument.
What each month of waiting costs on that €1,214.10
| Delay in filing | Surcharge | Amount | If paid on filing (−25 %) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than one month | 1 % | €12.14 | €9.11 |
| Three full months | 4 % | €48.56 | €36.42 |
| Five full months (Ingrid) | 6 % | €72.85 | €54.63 |
| Eleven full months | 12 % | €145.69 | €109.27 |
| Twelve months or more | 15 % + interest | €182.12 + interest | €136.59 + interest |
The table shows something worth keeping in mind: the surcharge grows slowly, one point a month, but the jump at twelve months is abrupt, and from then on interest is added. The real cliff edge, though, is not in the table: it is the request, which can arrive any day. The full calculation, interest included, is in the guide to calculating the article 27 surcharge.
A forgotten year rarely comes alone
When someone discovers they did not file the 210 for one year, the usual story is that they did not file the earlier ones either. Ingrid bought in 2019. Before it was let, the flat stood at her disposal for several years, empty most of the time and used by her for a few weeks in summer. Those years give rise to what is called imputación de rentas, imputed income: a notional income Spain taxes on a non-resident's property that is not let, which is also declared on Modelo 210 even though the flat has not produced a single euro.
A serious regularisation, therefore, is not filing 2025 and breathing out: it is reviewing the four tax years that are still open and putting them in order. Doing it in the right order matters, because each return carries its own surcharge and its own count of months, and because the tax office, when it reviews one year, tends to look at the ones around it. We go into it in the guide on the four-year limitation period.
There is also some good news hidden in the calendar. Imputed income for a year is filed from 1 April to 31 December of the following year (until 23 December if payment is by direct debit). So if what is outstanding is the imputed income for 2025, in September 2026 there is no delay at all: it is still within the filing period and no surcharge applies. It is worth checking the dates before writing off a year as lost.
If you would rather we go through with you which years are missing and in what order they are best filed, the non-resident form collects what we need in a few minutes: the property, the owners, your country of residence and what you did with the flat each year.
The document Ingrid needs before filing
The 19 % rate and the deduction of costs are not automatic. They depend on Ingrid being tax resident in Sweden, and that is proved with a tax residence certificate issued by the Swedish tax administration. In a regularisation it is the first document asked for and the one that takes longest to arrive. Filing without it to hand is possible, but if residence is later challenged the whole calculation collapses and the tax is recalculated at 24 % on the gross income. How to request it and what it must say is in the guide to the residence certificate for Modelo 210.
The second thing almost nobody mentions is that each owner is a separate taxpayer. If the flat belonged to Ingrid and her husband in equal halves, there would not be one 210 for €1,214.10: there would be two, each for half, and each with its own surcharge. Forgetting the second owner when regularising leaves half the regularisation undone.
The temptation is to add the 2025 rent to the 2026 rent and file once, on time, to save the surcharge. It does not work: each tax year is a separate accrual, and putting one year's income into another is not regularising, it is filing both wrongly. If the tax office spots it, what was a small surcharge turns into a penalty on an inaccurate return. The forgotten year is filed with its own period, even if it costs a few euros more.
How we worked through a case like hers
First, gather the data: the title deed, the IBI receipts, the rental contract, statements showing the rent received and the invoices for costs for each year. Second, request the residence certificate. Third, calculate each tax year with its own rate and its own base, separating the periods the flat was let from the periods it was at the owner's disposal. Fourth, file from the oldest to the most recent, paying on the spot to keep the 25 % reduction. And fifth, set up the calendar for the years ahead, so that the 210 for 2026, filed from 1 to 20 April 2027, or by the 15th if paid by direct debit, catches nobody by surprise again.
Ingrid sorted it out in three weeks. She paid a little over €1,268 for 2025 and regularised two older imputed-income years of small amounts. She never received a letter from the tax office. That is the difference between moving in time and waiting, and there is no way of knowing in advance how much margin is left: which is why it is best not to spend it.