All Non-resident owners of Spanish properties are liable for paying Spanish income taxes - regardless of whether they actually have any earnings in Spain, or let their property out for a small income.
This is a tax that is completely different to the IBI (Impuestos sobre Bienes Inmeubles ) which are essentially local Muncipal taxes, and are described in a little more detail HERE.
How do I Know if I have paid this tax ?
If you don't for certain that you have paid the tax, or engaged a Gestor or Abogado to do this for you, chances are that you haven't paid it !
So What now ?
The Government is notoriously lax in billing and collecting this tax. It is the responsibility of the property owner to self-declare this tax as opposed to the government sending out a bill, which is one of the reason that it goes overlooked by so many property owners.
However, just because you may have got away with not paying this tax for a number of years does not mean that you are home and dry !
The Tax authorities can very easily check who has not not paid their taxes, and it is largely for this reason that the sum of 3% of the property value is withheld from the sale of a property, until it can be proved that all outstanding taxes have been paid.
Upon the sale of a property these unpaid taxes will be taken from the withheld sum, together with any fees, penalties and interest charges.
How to pay this tax
You basically have 2 options :
1.) Ask a Gestor, Asesor, Abogado or Property Agent to do this on your behalf (which will obviously result in some kind of fee being charged on top of the value of the taxes.
2.) Do it yourself.
How to do it yourself
The completed Modelo 201 Tax form, together with the amount of tax payable needs to be submitted to the Tax office by the end of the year following the year which you are submitting payment for. (IE: If you are submitting the tax for the year 2011 you have up to 31-12-2012 to pay your taxes without penalty)
You can download and complete a copy of the Modelo 210 by clicking the link HERE .
(Note : This downloadable form is for demonstration purposes only - your submission should be made on an original carbonated 2-Part form which you can collect from your local tax office.)
How much is it likely to cost me ?
It really depends upon the 'Valor Catastral' as detailed on your latest IBI Bill (Click HERE.
to find out more), which may not compare with the true value of your property.If your Valor Catastral has not been revised since 1994 the tax applied will be 2%, whereas if the Valor has been revised since 1994 the tax applied will be 1.1%.
Therefore : If your Valor Catastral is 3'000 Euros and was last revised in 1991, you will pay a 2% Tax = 60 Euros (Per Year)
