Capital Gains Tax on Spanish Property Sale in 2026

Capital gains tax on Spanish property in 2026 is the state tax on the profit between purchase and sale price, adjusted by documented costs on both ends. If you are tax resident in Spain, the gain enters your annual IRPF return on the savings base (base del ahorro). If you are non-resident, it is settled under IRNR (Impuesto sobre la Renta de no Residentes) through Modelo 210. Agencia Tributaria collects both. Neither includes the plusvalía municipal that the town hall charges on the same transaction.

Ownership status on the day of the escritura decides which regime applies. Move to Spain in June and sell in November, and you are a resident for the full 2026 calendar year, filing through IRPF the following spring. Spain does not prorate by half-year.

How is the gain calculated and what are the 2026 rates?

Gain equals transfer value minus acquisition value. The paperwork behind that formula is where sellers overpay.

Transfer value is the price on the escritura de compraventa, minus the selling costs you can prove: estate agent commission with a factura, plusvalía municipal, energy certificate, certificate of habitation renewal if you had to buy one, and any lawyer's fee tied to the sale.

Acquisition value is the price you paid, plus the transfer tax at purchase (ITP for resale, VAT plus AJD for new build), notary and land registry fees, gestoría or lawyer fee, and any capital improvements documented by invoice with VAT. Repainting a terrace does not qualify. A new kitchen, aerothermal system, extension or pool does, if you kept the facturas with your NIE on them.

For properties acquired before 31 December 1994 the coeficientes de abatimiento still reduce part of the gain, capped at a lifetime transfer value of EUR 400,000 across all such assets. Inflation adjustment (coeficientes de actualización) was abolished for individuals in 2015 and has not returned.

Inherited or gifted property takes the value declared for inheritance or gift tax as acquisition value, plus the tax paid and the notarial costs of that transfer.

Residents pay progressive rates on the savings base. Non-residents pay a single rate on the net gain and suffer a separate 3% retention on the gross sale price.

Seller status	Tranche of gain	Rate
Resident (IRPF savings base)	0 to EUR 6,000	19%
Resident	EUR 6,000 to EUR 50,000	21%
Resident	EUR 50,000 to EUR 200,000	23%
Resident	EUR 200,000 to EUR 300,000	27%
Resident	Above EUR 300,000	28%
Non-resident (IRNR, all countries)	Entire gain	19%

The non-resident rate has held at 19% flat for capital gains on Spanish real estate since 2016, regardless of country of residence. The 24% general IRNR rate applies to other Spanish-source income, not to property gains.

On top of the state tax, the buyer of a property from a non-resident must withhold 3% of the sale price and pay it to Agencia Tributaria within one month using Modelo 211. This is not an additional tax. It is a prepayment against the seller's final CGT bill, and if the actual tax on the gain is lower than the 3% withheld, the seller reclaims the difference. Full mechanics sit in our note on the 3% retention for non-resident sellers.

How do I file, and what about plusvalía municipal?

The sequence at the notary and afterwards runs like this.

1. Sign the escritura de compraventa. The buyer or their lawyer prepares the funds. If you are non-resident, they retain 3% of the price and hand you a bank cheque or transfer for the remaining 97%.
2. Buyer files Modelo 211 within one month of the escritura and pays the 3% to Agencia Tributaria. They give you a stamped copy. Keep it. You need it to claim credit on Modelo 210 later.
3. Non-resident seller files Modelo 210 for the capital gain within four months of the escritura date (one month for the buyer plus three for the seller). If the tax due exceeds the 3% withheld, you pay the difference. If the tax is lower, you request a refund into a Spanish or SEPA bank account. Detail in our guide to Modelo 210 for non-resident property tax.
4. Resident seller does nothing extra in the year of sale beyond keeping records. The gain is reported the following spring in Modelo 100 (IRPF) during the April to June campaign.
5. File plusvalía municipal at the town hall or through their electronic office within 30 calendar days of the escritura. Every ayuntamiento uses its own form.
6. Deregister for IBI and utilities using the escritura and the cadastral reference so the following year's IBI bill goes to the new owner.

Refunds on the 3% retention typically arrive within six to twelve months of filing Modelo 210, sometimes faster if the file is clean and the Spanish IBAN is valid. Agencia Tributaria pays interest from the seventh month.

What is plusvalía municipal and how does it differ from CGT?

Plusvalía municipal, formally the Impuesto sobre el Incremento del Valor de los Terrenos de Naturaleza Urbana (IIVTNU), is a separate tax charged by the town hall on the increase in the cadastral land value between the year you bought and the year you sell. It is not a share of your profit. It is a share of the land component's assumed appreciation.

Since the Constitutional Court ruling and Royal Decree-Law 26/2021, the taxpayer chooses between two calculation methods and pays the lower one:

• Objective method: apply municipal coefficients to the cadastral land value.
• Real method: apply the town's tax rate to the actual land-value share of the gain.

Sell at a loss and prove it with both escrituras, and you owe zero plusvalía. You still file the declaration to claim the exemption. Rates and coefficients are fixed by each ayuntamiento within limits set by state law, so a sale in Torrevieja and one in Denia produce different bills for the same numbers. Torrevieja, Alicante city, Valencia and Murcia all publish their coefficient tables on their sede electrónica.

Which exemptions apply and which mistakes cost sellers money?

Four reliefs matter in practice, and all four are for residents only.

Reinvestment in habitual residence. Sell your main home in Spain and reinvest the entire net proceeds in another main home within two years (or two years before, if you already bought the replacement), and the gain is fully exempt. Partial reinvestment gives partial exemption. Second homes and rentals do not qualify.

Over-65 selling habitual residence. If you are 65 or older on the day of sale and the property has been your habitual residence for at least three years, the gain is exempt. No reinvestment required. Late-life downsizers use this heavily.

Over-65 investing gain in a life annuity. Any capital gain (property, shares, funds) is exempt up to EUR 240,000 if reinvested in a qualifying life annuity within six months.

Dación en pago of habitual residence. Hand the property back to the bank to settle a mortgage you cannot pay and the gain is exempt.

Non-residents do not access the main-home reinvestment relief, even if the Spanish property was their only home in Spain. The Tribunal Supremo has confirmed this reading. Becoming Spanish tax resident before the sale is the only way to open the exemption door, and that decision has consequences across your global tax position.

An early sale can still be a rational choice; the numbers behind the five-year mark are in selling within five years and the CGT exemption question.

Which mistakes actually cost sellers money?

Assuming the 3% retention is the final tax. It is a prepayment. If your gain is small or nil you are owed a refund; if your gain is large you owe more. Non-residents who walk away thinking they are done often get a compliance letter twelve months later.

No invoices for improvements. A EUR 30,000 kitchen refit without a valid factura is not deductible. Cash payments to a builder without VAT are worthless in the calculation. Keep every factura with your NIE and the property address for the full ownership period.

Ignoring the acquisition costs of the original purchase. ITP or VAT, notary, registry and lawyer fees at purchase increase your acquisition value and reduce the gain. Sellers often submit only the escritura price and overpay.

Missing the 30-day plusvalía window. Interest and a surcharge start on day 31. Some town halls offer a simplified online filing; others still require paper. Check before the notary date.

Filing Modelo 210 with the wrong exchange rate. For gains where either purchase or sale was invoiced in another currency, Agencia Tributaria uses ECB reference rates on the transaction date. Getting this wrong triggers a paralela.

Overlooking the reduction for old assets. A property bought in 1988 and sold in 2026 can still shave a slice of the gain through the pre-1994 coefficients, up to the EUR 400,000 lifetime cap. Many gestores forget to apply it.

Confusing habitual residence with occasional residence. The exemption for over-65s requires three continuous years of habitual residence and empadronamiento to back it up. A summer flat used four months a year does not count.

Official forms, downloadable instructions and the electronic filing portal for Modelo 210 sit on the Agencia Tributaria website at sede.agenciatributaria.gob.es. BOE publishes the underlying IRNR consolidated text (Real Decreto Legislativo 5/2004) and the annual IRPF rates each December.

FAQ

Do I pay Spanish CGT if I sell at a loss? No state CGT if the gain is negative, but you still file. Non-residents file Modelo 210 to reclaim the 3% retention. Residents declare the loss in Modelo 100 and can offset it against other savings-base gains for four years. Plusvalía municipal is also zero if you can prove the loss, but the declaration still has to reach the town hall within 30 days.

Can I deduct the estate agent's commission? Yes, from the transfer value, as long as you have a proper factura with VAT addressed to you as the seller. A verbal agreement or a receipt without VAT does not qualify. The commission reduces the gain directly.

What if I bought in a currency other than euros? Both sides of the calculation must be in euros. Use the European Central Bank reference rate on the day of each escritura. A gain in sterling can become a loss in euros or vice versa depending on how the exchange rate moved. This trips up many British sellers who bought pre-2016.

Is inherited property taxed differently? The acquisition value is the value declared for inheritance tax plus that tax and notarial costs, and the acquisition date is the death of the previous owner. There is no step-up or reset beyond that. Sell shortly after inheriting at a well-documented probate value and the gain is often small.

Do I need to visit Spain to file Modelo 210 after selling? No. A gestor or lawyer with a power of attorney files electronically. You need a Spanish or SEPA bank account for any refund of the 3% retention. Digital certificate holders can file themselves through the sede electrónica.

Next steps

Run your likely net proceeds through our property tax calculator before you list, and gather every purchase and improvement invoice you can find. On gains near the EUR 200,000 threshold, a short call with a local lawyer pays for itself.