Modelo 210 2026: 19% EU vs 24% Non-EU Spanish Tax
Every non-resident with a Spanish property files Modelo 210, even on an empty flat. 19% rate for EU/EEA residents, 24% non-EU (UK post-Brexit, US, MENA, Asia). EU residents can deduct expenses, non-EU cannot. Triples the annual bill for the same gross rent. Full 2026 working guide with quarterly + annual filing windows.
Every non-resident who owns Spanish property files Modelo 210. The empty-flat owner files. The Airbnb host files. The long-let landlord files. Skipping a filing because the home generated no cash is the most expensive single mistake a foreign owner makes, and Hacienda (the Spanish tax agency) is patient. They cross-reference the catastro registry against incoming Modelo 210s every year and catch missing filers via the lawyer's NIE record on the deed.
Here is what Modelo 210 actually is in 2026, who files which version of it, what you can deduct, and where US, UK and Asian-domiciled investors trip up.
The two forms of non-resident income tax
Modelo 210 (the form) covers two completely different income streams under one piece of paper. Read the right column.
| Your situation | What gets taxed | Filing window |
|---|---|---|
| You own the property and DO NOT rent it (or rent it part-year) | Imputed income (presumed rental income on the cadastral value) | Annual: between 1 January and 31 December of the YEAR AFTER the tax year |
| You rent it long-term (contrato de arrendamiento de vivienda) | Actual rent received | Quarterly: Q1 by 20 Apr, Q2 by 20 Jul, Q3 by 20 Oct, Q4 by 20 Jan |
| You rent it short-term (VUT holiday let) | Actual rent received from each booking | Quarterly, same dates as long-term rent |
| You sold it | Capital gain (separate filing on Modelo 210 too) | Within 3 months of the sale date |
Owning + not renting still creates a tax liability. Hacienda presumes you derived rental value from the home and taxes the presumption.
The rate that applies to you
Two flat rates, decided by your country of tax residence (not your nationality):
- 19% if you are tax-resident in an EU or EEA state (Spain, Germany, France, Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Belgium, Austria and the rest of the EU plus Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein).
- 24% if you are tax-resident anywhere else. After Brexit, UK residents pay 24%, not 19%, which catches a lot of British buyers out. Same rate applies to US, MENA, Asian and Latin American residents.
The rate hits the taxable base, which differs by income stream (see next sections). For an Irish owner of an Algorfa apartment charging €750/month rent, the year math runs €9,000 gross income × 19% = €1,710 IRNR. With deductions (see below), the IRNR drops to around €400-€600.
Imputed income: the empty-flat trap
If you own a Spanish property and you do not earn rental income from it (or you only rent it part of the year), Hacienda still levies tax on a presumed rental value. This is the line every non-resident misses on their first year of ownership.
The math:
- Take the cadastral value (valor catastral) of your property. It sits on every IBI receipt. Typical cadastral value runs 40-65% of market price.
- Apply 1.1% if the cadastral value was revised after 1994 (most Costa Blanca and Costa Cálida properties qualify). Apply 2.0% if not.
- The result is your annual imputed income. Tax it at your 19% / 24% rate.
- Pro-rate for any month you did not own the home, and pro-rate down for any month you rented it (those months get taxed under the rental stream instead).
A concrete example. You bought a San Miguel de Salinas apartment for €190,000 in 2024. Cadastral value €82,000 (revised after 1994). Annual imputed income = €82,000 × 1.1% = €902. If you are UK tax-resident, IRNR = €902 × 24% = €216.48. Due by 31 December 2026 for tax year 2025.
Two cautions:
- Holiday lets do not erase imputed income. Months you let the property short-term get taxed under the rental stream. The remaining months still get imputed income at the cadastral rate. Most accountants split the year correctly; some confused tax-software setups apply imputed for the entire year. Check your filing.
- Imputed income does not apply to your one primary residence. Spanish tax law recognises one home per family unit as the "habitual residence". If Spain is not your main home (it almost never is for a non-resident), every property gets imputed income.
Rental income: what counts and what deducts
For Q1 2026 onwards, the rental stream is straightforward at the income level: every euro of rent received from the tenant goes on the Modelo 210. Where it gets technical is the deduction side, and the deduction rules depend on whether you are EU/EEA or not.
EU/EEA residents can deduct expenses. Non-EU residents cannot.
This is the single largest tax difference between an Irish/German owner and a UK/US owner. An Irish owner on €9,000 gross rent claims:
- Mortgage interest paid in the year (only the interest, not principal)
- IBI for the period the property was rented
- Comunidad fees for the same period
- Building insurance
- Property management fees (Spanish or foreign manager)
- Repairs and maintenance (not improvements)
- Letting-agent commission
- Local taxes and rubbish collection
- A pro-rata share of depreciation (3% of construction value per year)
Net taxable might fall from €9,000 gross to €3,000-€4,000. At 19%, IRNR runs €570-€760.
A UK owner on the same €9,000 cannot deduct any of this. UK owner pays 24% × €9,000 = €2,160. Triple the Irish liability for the same property.
Want to know whether you can shift to EU/EEA tax residency? WhatsApp us your tax status and we walk through whether residency-rule changes would cut your Modelo 210 bill in half.
Filing windows and what happens if you miss one
Quarterly windows for rental income (long-term and short-term):
- Q1 (January-March income): file by 20 April
- Q2 (April-June): file by 20 July
- Q3 (July-September): file by 20 October
- Q4 (October-December): file by 20 January of the following year
If you missed a window and Hacienda has not yet sent a notice, file voluntarily late (extemporánea). The base tax is still due plus a small surcharge: 1% per month of delay for the first 12 months, then 15% flat. No penalty proper.
If Hacienda has already sent a notice, the surcharge replaces with a penalty of 50-150% of the tax due, plus interest. Always file before Hacienda asks.
For the annual imputed-income filing, the window runs the entire year 1 January to 31 December AFTER the tax year. So tax year 2025 imputed income files between 1 January 2026 and 31 December 2026.
The four costs a non-resident pays in total
To put Modelo 210 in context, the annual non-resident bill on a typical €240,000 apartment looks roughly like this:
| Line | EU/EEA owner | Non-EU owner (UK/US/Asia) |
|---|---|---|
| IBI (council tax, paid annually) | €650 - €1,100 | €650 - €1,100 |
| Basura (waste collection, often included in IBI) | €90 - €170 | €90 - €170 |
| Modelo 210 (assuming €9,000 gross rent) | €570 - €760 (after deductions) | €2,160 (no deductions) |
| Comunidad (12 × monthly) | €720 - €2,640 | €720 - €2,640 |
| Spanish tax-rep + filing fees | €350 - €550 / year | €350 - €550 / year |
The "Spanish tax-rep + filing fees" line is the one we book through our partner abogados. Annual flat-fee setup is €350-€450 for the imputed-income annual filing, or €120-€180 per quarter for rental filings.
How we help
Three concrete services that close the Modelo 210 loop for our buyers:
- Pre-purchase tax briefing. Before you offer, we run your tax-residency country and target property through a one-page memo showing what your annual IRNR liability will look like under both ownership-only and rental scenarios. Free for buyers we are working with.
- Lawyer + tax-rep introduction at closing. Our partner abogados in Torrevieja and Murcia handle the post-purchase filings, the NIE-updates and the quarterly Modelo 210 submissions for €120-180/quarter (rental) or €350-450/year (imputed-only). The handover happens at notary day so you do not have to source a tax rep from your home country.
- Annual reminder + tax-window monitoring. We flag the filing windows for the property's first year so you do not miss the Q1 April deadline.
For a quick read on your specific tax-status math before you buy, send us your country of residence and target purchase price and we will return the EU vs non-EU annual bill within 4 hours.
Three places to start your search if Modelo 210 is the deciding factor
For a UK or US buyer paying 24% no-deduction on rental income, gross yield matters more than EU/EEA buyers face. Two strategies work in 2026:
- High gross yield to compensate for the no-deduction hit. Inland Murcia delivers it. WES-2429 €78k 1-bed Avileses apartment on a long-term let yields ~7.2% gross before any tax, ~5.5% net after Modelo 210 at 24%. The smaller absolute price reduces every other annual cost line too.
- Low-rent imputed-only ownership. If you do not want to rent at all and intend the home for family use 3-4 months a year, an empty-flat strategy keeps the only Modelo 210 line as the imputed-income annual filing. On a WG-14 €155k Torrevieja apartment the annual imputed-income IRNR runs around €350-€450 even at the non-EU 24% rate.
Read next
- Investing in Spanish coastal property 2026: a working guide for foreign buyers. The 2026 macro picture, the four cost lines, and the three buyer profiles.
- Spanish mortgages for non-residents 2026. The four lender banks, rate ranges and negotiation levers.
- Where rental yields beat 6% on the Spanish coast in 2026. Town-by-town yield breakdown.
- Spain Property Tax Calculator. Plug in your specific price for the full closing-cost breakdown.
Need a tax-rep introduction today? Book a free 15-min call and we connect you with our partner abogados in Torrevieja or Murcia for the post-purchase setup. Same fee structure whether your property is in Algorfa, San Miguel de Salinas or Pilar de la Horadada.
By Oleg Fesechko, founder of Wesna Group.
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