How to pay and file taxes as a non-resident property owner in Spain

September 7, 2021

How to pay and file taxes as a non-resident property owner in Spain

If you own a property in Spain, how to file your non-resident taxes probably isn’t the first question on your mind when thinking about your finances. It is, however, a question that you must deal with if you do not want the Spanish tax office on your back. 

Even if you live and pay your taxes in another country, if you’re a non-resident property owner, you must file at least one Spanish tax return (Form 210) each year per property and owner whether the property is rented out or not. 
 
Regardless of where in the world you live, IberianTax can make filing your own Spanish tax returns easy peasy without the need of spending hundreds every year on fees for staying compliant with your Spanish tax obligations. Besides, IberianTax allows you to pay your Spanish non-resident tax online.
 
Below, we'll explain step-by-step how to file taxes as a non-resident in Spain with our online process, designed for the convenience of non-resident property owners.
 

How to file Spanish non-resident taxes from home

If you got here, you may need to complete our online tax service designed specifically for non-resident property owners in mind. Here’s how to do it:

1. Register your account. 

Our simple process makes filing your Spanish non-resident tax as easy as ABC. After you decide to join IberianTax, you’ll be able to register an account and get started on your tax questionnaire. Here we ask you basic questions about you and the property. Your answers will be reflected on your completed return. 

2. Start a new Form 210

Once you click on "Start Form 210", you will be asked to choose what type of income you would like to declare, the tax year/quarter and the number of property owners who wish to file their Form 210. Currently, we support the following two declarations:

Imputed Income (Annual Tax Return)

"Imputed income" should be filled in by property owners who qualify as non-residents in Spain for the days when the property is available to them and not rented out. Therefore, even though you may not generate income from your Spanish property, you must declare an "imputed" income for the days when it was not rented.

This type of income is calculated once a year, on December 31. Tax returns for imputed income must be filed during the following year and no later than December 31 of the following year. For example, imputed income due on December 31, 2021, should be declared in 2022.

Here are a few examples of the most common situations where non-residents must declare "imputed income":

  • John has a property in Lanzarote that he only used for two months. The rest of the time he did not rent the house. John must declare the imputed income for the entire year 2020 because he had the property at his disposal for the entire year, regardless of whether the property was used or not.
  • In 2020, Petra and Marcus spent 30 days in their summer home in Mallorca and for the rest of the year the property was rented. In 2021, they must declare imputed income for these 30 days, i.e., for the time when the house was not rented out and thus available to them. In addition, in 2020 they must declare rental income quarterly.
  • Mats bought a property in Marbella on November 15, 2020. He did not rent or use the property until the end of the year. Mats must declare imputed income in 2021 for the period between the date of purchase and December 31.
  • Paul sold his property on March 5, 2020. Does he have to declare imputed income? Yes. In 2021, he must declare imputed income for the days the property was available to him in 2020, i.e., the days between January 1, 2020, and March 5, 2020, if the property was not rented.

Rental Income (quarterly tax return)

“Rental income” should be completed by non-resident property owners who rented out their properties in Spain.

Rental income is accrued every quarter and must be filed within the first 20 days of April, July, October, and January. In each filing period, the owner should declare the income generated in the immediate previous quarter. For example, within the first 20 days of April 2021, you should declare rental income generated between 1st January and 31st March 2021; in July 2021 you have to declare rental income generated between 1st April and 30th June 2021 and so on.

Important note: Starting from the 2024 tax year, the declaration of rental income will shift to an annual basis, with the deadline for submission set between January 1st and January 20th of the following year. 

Example: 

In 2021, Stuart rented out his property from July to September. He should declare rental income corresponding to July, August and September within the first 20 days of October 2021. Finally, in 2022, he must also declare imputed income for the portion of the year during which the property was not rented (from January to June and from October to December).

3. Fill in our simple questionnaire with the help of our Support team (if needed)

In the following sections, you will be required to input basic personal information of each owner as well as some property details. You will have to fill in the requested information in their respective fields. Mandatory fields are marked with an asterisk * and you will not be able to proceed to the next step without completing them. 

You will have to fill in the personal details of as many owners as you selected. According to the Spanish Tax Law, each owner is considered a separate taxpayer and therefore it must be filed one Form 210 per owner. Therefore, if you choose 2 or more owners, we will prepare one Form 210 per owner. Fortunately, IberianTax allows you to create several 210 forms by filling in a single wizard.

The majority of the data required is easy to find. However, other fields like the cadastral reference or value will require getting your local tax receipt close. In any case, you count on our Support Team who will be behind your back in case you need help.

The cadastral reference is the official and obligatory identification number for tax purposes of each Spanish property. It consists of an alphanumeric code that is assigned by the Cadastre so that every property must have a unique cadastral reference that allows it to be located unequivocally in the cadastral cartography. The cadastral reference must be 20 characters long. For example 9372023VH5797S0001WX.

On the other hand, the cadastral value (“valor catastral”) is a valuation of the property carried out by the General Directorate of Cadastre, which is part of the Ministry of Finance. This valuation is only used for tax purposes and does not correspond to the market value. 

You can find this figure on your council tax bill, usually known as IBI, which is issued by the local council where your Spanish property is located. In Spanish it is known as "Valor catastral total" or “Valor Catastral” and it is sum of "valor catastral construcción" plus "Valor catratral del suelo".

When it comes to rental income, you will also be provided with a detailed checklist of deductible expenses that will help to reduce your non-resident tax to the minimum. 

4. Choose the payment method, review and file your Form 210 with IberianTax. 

The information that you have provided along the process will allow our software to calculate your taxes considering the legislation in force and the latest criteria of the Spanish tax office.

Before entering into any obligation, you will be provided with a summary of the tax due as well as a summary of the data provided. You can change any data before filing or come back later to finish your tax return.

At this point, you'll be required to choose what payment method will be used to pay the tax. We offer up to three different payment methods for the same price (including dealing with the payment of the tax on your behalf).

Once you file and pay our fees, we'll file your completed return directly to the AEAT. After filing, your tax return will be stored in your secure client account, where it will be safe and easy to access, whenever you need it.

The whole process will take no longer than 10 minutes and without the need for any specific tax knowledge.

However, if your situation is a bit more complicated or you want the guidance of one of our registered tax advisors, you can always reach us at contact@iberiantax.com.

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