Own a holiday home in Spain but live in the UK? Even if it never earns a penny in rent, the Spanish tax office expects a return for 2025 by 31 December. And the form changes in January.
For thousands of British families, the end of the year in Spain means shutters down, water off and a last look at the terrace before the flight home.
What very few of them do before leaving is file a Spanish tax return.
Yet if you own a home in Spain and live elsewhere, the Agencia Tributaria, Spain’s tax office, expects one from you every year. Rented or not.
For the 2025 tax year, the deadline is 31 December 2026. If you choose to pay by direct debit from a SEPA bank account, the deadline is 23 December 2026.
Foreign buyers accounted for almost 16% of all home sales in Spain in the second quarter of 2026, a record share according to the Colegio de Registradores de la Propiedad, with British buyers still the largest single nationality. Many of them will only discover this rule when a letter from the tax office arrives.
A tax on a home you simply own
The tax is called imputed income tax (renta imputada) and it is filed on a form called the Modelo 210.
Spain assumes that a second home has a value to its owner, even when it sits empty. So it treats a small percentage of the property’s official value, the cadastral value shown on your annual IBI bill, as notional income and taxes it.
- Take 1% or 2% of the cadastral value, depending on when your town hall last updated it.
- Adjust it for the days you owned the property during the year.
- Apply the tax rate: 24% for UK residents since Brexit, or 19% for EU and EEA residents.
For a home with a cadastral value of €120,000, owned all year by a UK resident, that is around €317. IberianTax’s free tax calculator works out your exact figure in a couple of minutes.
Why 31 December matters
Imputed income is declared the year after it arises, so the 2025 return can be filed at any point up to 31 December 2026. If you pay by direct debit (any SEPA bank account), the cut-off is 23 December.
- Each owner files separately. A couple who own a home together submit two returns.
- Garages and storage rooms with their own cadastral reference are declared separately.
- Holiday use makes no difference. The obligation applies whether the home is used for a few weeks, lent to family or left empty.
What changes in 2027
In June 2026, Spain’s Ministry of Finance published Order HAC/623/2026 in the official state gazette (BOE), updating the Modelo 210 for non-residents.
- An updated Modelo 210 from 1 January 2027. Every return submitted from that date uses the new version, whichever year it relates to, including late 2025 returns.
- A later filing window for rental income. Since 2024, owners who let their property have filed one annual return instead of quarterly ones. That return was due from 1 to 20 January; for rental income from 2026 onwards, the window moves to 1 to 20 April of the following year.
- More detail on rental expenses. EU and EEA residents who deduct costs will need to break them down, including days let and each owner’s share.
The IberianTax blog covers each of these changes in plain English. For owners who don’t let their homes, the message is simple: file your 2025 return before the year ends and start 2027 with nothing outstanding.
What happens if you miss it?
A late return filed voluntarily carries a surcharge of 1%, plus 1% for each full month of delay. After 12 months, the surcharge rises to 15% and late-payment interest is added.
If the tax office contacts you first, penalties can be considerably higher. And because the authorities can look back four years, missed returns tend to arrive together, often in a letter written in Spanish with a short deadline to respond.
How IberianTax makes it simple
IberianTax was built for exactly this situation. Its online platform lets non-resident owners file their Modelo 210 in English, from anywhere in the world, without speaking Spanish or knowing the tax system.
The company is a registered collaborator of the Agencia Tributaria and a member of AEDAF, Spain’s association of tax advisers. It has filed more than 30,000 tax returns for owners in over 80 countries and is rated 4.9/5 on Google.
Filing imputed income with IberianTax costs from €34.95 (VAT included) for returns filed before 31 December, compared with the €200 or more a traditional gestoría often charges. You only pay when you file.
Owners who would rather not think about it at all can switch on IberianTax’s automatic yearly filing, so the return is handled every year without reminders or paperwork.
How it works with IberianTax
Filing with IberianTax is 100% online and takes less than five minutes. There are just three steps:
- Sign up for free. Create your IberianTax account in English. No Spanish needed.
- Start your Modelo 210. Add your property’s cadastral value, which you’ll find on your IBI bill, and the owner details. IberianTax works out what you owe.
- File online. IberianTax submits your return to the Agencia Tributaria and you receive the official receipt by email.
Missed a previous year? IberianTax can also file overdue returns from earlier years.
👉 File your 2025 imputed income return with IberianTax, from €34.95, in less than five minutes.
This is a Spotlight Feature in collaboration with IberianTax.