Selling property in Spain: taxes and selling costs
In 30 seconds
Selling as a non-resident means three separate payments. The buyer withholds 3 % of the price at completion. The tax on your real gain is a flat 19 %. The municipal plusvalía is also owed, and it can legally become the buyer's responsibility when the seller is a non-resident.
| Sale price | 500.000 € |
|---|---|
| Withholding at completion3 % of the price | 15.000 € |
| Capital gains tax19 % of the actual gain | Settled after filing |
| Plusvalía municipalUp to 30 % of the land-value increase | Settled after filing |
What are the three separate payments, and why do people confuse them?
Every non-resident sale involves the same three payments, and a different rule with a different timeline governs each one. Mixing up the 3 % withholding with the 19 % tax bill is the most common confusion. The withholding is an ADVANCE, not the tax. The two rarely match.
| Payment | Rate | Who pays it |
|---|---|---|
| 3 % retention (Modelo 211) | 3 % of the agreed sale price. | Withheld by the BUYER at completion and paid directly to the tax authority, no matter whether you end up owing anything. |
| Capital gains tax (Modelo 210) | 19 % of the real gain, flat, the same for every non-resident. | The seller, settled against the 3 % already withheld: a refund if the withholding was too much, a further payment if it was too little. |
| Plusvalía municipal (IIVTNU) | Up to 30 %, set by the local ayuntamiento, applied to a base calculated by whichever of two methods produces the lower figure. | The seller by law, but the town hall can require the BUYER to pay it as substitute taxpayer when the seller is a non-resident, which is a rule most sellers never expect. |
How does the 3 % withholding work, and when do you get it back?
At completion, the buyer must withhold 3 % of the agreed price by law, and pay it to the tax authority within one month, using Modelo 211. This happens no matter what the outcome of your sale is. Even a seller who made no profit, or lost money on the sale, has 3 % of the sale price withheld at the notary.You then have four months from the date of the sale to file Modelo 210. This declares your real capital gain and reconciles it against what was withheld. If the 19 % tax on your real gain is less than the 3 % already withheld, which is common on a property held for several years in a rising market, you get a refund of the difference. If it is more, you pay the shortfall with the same filing.
The 3 % withholding
- At completionBuyer withholds 3 %No matter what the outcome is.
- Within 1 monthModelo 211 filed by the buyerPaid over to the tax authority.
- Within 4 monthsYou file Modelo 210Declaring the real gain and reconciling it.
- After filingRefund or shortfall settledRefund if 19 % of the gain is less than the 3 % withheld.
The four-month deadline and the reconciliation are exactly the kind of filing Arevont hands to an independent lawyer, rather than handling it directly. Arevont does not do tax work, and this filing is not one to leave until the deadline is close.
What is the plusvalía municipal taxing?
Plusvalía is the municipal tax on the increase in the land value of a property, and it is a cost for the seller rather than the buyer. In practice, though, this cost can still become the buyer\'s to pay at completion: where the seller is a non-resident, the town hall can make the buyer the substitute taxpayer, which is covered in full below. It has nothing to do with the building or with your real profit: it taxes only the increase in the value of the LAND underneath it, as the town hall calculates that increase, over the years you owned it.Since a 2021 reform, the old flat formula that could tax you even on a loss no longer applies. You choose whichever of two calculation methods gives the lower result. The objective method uses the cadastral land value, multiplied by a coefficient set for your holding period, capped at a maximum of 30 % once the local rate applies. The real method is based on the real increase between your purchase and sale prices. If there was no increase in value at all, the tax authority’s own reform confirms that nothing is owed under either method.
Did the land value increase while you owned it?
- YesOwed, by whichever of the two methods gives the lower figure, capped at 30 % once the local rate applies.
- No, or you cannot show oneNothing owed under either method, confirmed by the 2021 reform.
What sellers assumeWhat the 2021 reform changed
- Plusvalía is always owed on a sale
- It is owed only where the land value increased. Sell at a loss, or at the same land value you bought at, and nothing is due, as long as you can show it.
- It is always the seller who pays it, no exceptions
- By law it is the seller’s liability, but where the seller is a non-resident the town hall can make the BUYER the substitute taxpayer, which in practice means it is often withheld from the price at completion rather than billed separately afterward.
What do the agency and legal side of a sale cost?
Two further items sit alongside the tax layer, and neither is a tax: they are market fees, the same way they are on the buying side. How you sell changes both.
- Option 1Sole agencyOne agency, one listing agreement.
- Cost
- 1,5 to 4 %
- Speed
- Depends on that one agency's buyer pool
- Reach
- That agency's own network
- Option 2Multi-agencySeveral agencies market it at once.
- Cost
- 1,5 to 4 %
- Speed
- Often faster, less individual attention
- Reach
- The widest reach of the three
- Option 3Private saleNo agent at all.
- Cost
- 0 €, no commission
- Speed
- Usually slower
- Reach
- Your own network and portals only
- The selling agent’s commissionTypically 1.5 to 4% of the sale price on a resale property, paid by the seller. This is a market range, not a figure set by any official source, since no regulator publishes a commission rate. It varies by agency, region and the specific listing agreement, so treat it as an estimate to confirm with the agency, not a fixed cost.
- Your own lawyer for the saleA seller benefits from independent legal representation for the same reasons a buyer does: checking the contract, coordinating the 3 % withholding and the completion, and, where relevant, the plusvalía calculation. Most of what independent legal coordination covers on the buying side also applies to a sale.
What to confirm before you estimate your net proceeds
Four things, checked against your real purchase documents rather than a general rule.| Ask for | What it tells you | What a bad answer looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Your original acquisition price and costs, in writing | The capital gain is calculated as the difference between what you paid (plus allowable acquisition and improvement costs) and what you sell for, not the sale price alone. Without the original figures, nobody can calculate the real 19 % liability. | No record of the original purchase costs, notary fee or improvement invoices. |
| Whether the community fees and IBI are clear on the property | An unpaid community debt or IBI bill can attach to the property and complicate completion, exactly as it does on the buying side. | Nobody has checked the account is current before agreeing a sale date. |
| Which plusvalía calculation method produces the lower figure | The choice is yours by law, and the two methods can produce very different results depending on how long you held the property and how land values moved locally. | A figure quoted from only one method, without the other being calculated to compare. |
| Who is contractually responsible for the plusvalía in the sale agreement | Since the town hall can pursue the buyer as substitute taxpayer, a sale contract should state clearly who bears this cost between buyer and seller, rather than leaving it to whichever party the town hall happens to chase first. | A contract silent on plusvalía entirely. |
A real gain against a loss or flat sale
The 3 % withholding looks identical either way. What happens afterward does not.| Sale with a profit | Sale without a profit or at a loss | |
|---|---|---|
| 3 % withholding at completion | Withheld regardless, per Modelo 211. | Also withheld regardless: the buyer’s obligation does not depend on your actual outcome. |
| Capital gains tax owed | 19 % of the real gain, likely less than the 3 % withheld, leaving a refund. | Nothing owed; the whole 3 % withheld is reclaimable. |
| Plusvalía municipal | Owed on the increase in land value, calculated by the lower of two methods. | Nothing owed if there was genuinely no increase in land value, provable under the 2021 reform. |
| Filing needed either way | Modelo 210 within four months, to reconcile and claim any refund. | Modelo 210 within four months, to reclaim the withholding and, where relevant, to evidence no plusvalía increase. |
The mechanism, not your net proceeds
We read the 19 % capital-gains rate, the 3 % withholding, and the plusvalía reform directly from the Agencia Tributaria’s own pages and the relevant BOE texts, on 17 August 2026. One point worth flagging: the government’s proposed update to the plusvalía coefficients for 2026 (RD-ley 16/2025) was not approved by Congress. So the RD-ley 8/2023 coefficients remain the ones in force. Several commentary sources we checked had not yet updated this.This is general information about how a sale is taxed, not a calculation of your own net proceeds. Your real gain depends on your original purchase price, your allowable costs, and the specific plusvalía coefficients your town hall applies. These belong in a lawyer’s written figure, not in a published range. Arevont is not a tax adviser and does not file this tax return. This work belongs to an independent lawyer.Some topics are left to their own guides: the ongoing imputed-income and rental-income tax that applied while you owned the property, a separate question from the sale; the mechanics of a community debt attaching to a property; and the separate question of tax on holding wealth rather than on realising a gain. Each has its own guide.
Most common questions about selling and exit costs
- If I sell at a loss, do I still get the whole 3 % back?
- If you can show a real loss, yes. The capital gains tax owed is zero, and you can reclaim the entire 3 % withheld at completion through the Modelo 210 filing, within the four-month window. The withholding is not a minimum amount you owe. It is an advance that is reconciled against the real outcome.
- Can I be pursued for plusvalía after I have already left Spain?
- Yes. This is exactly why the rule exists that allows a town hall to collect plusvalía from the buyer as substitute taxpayer: pursuing a non-resident seller who has already left the country is harder than collecting it at the point of sale. This is a reason for the sale contract to state clearly who bears the cost, rather than leaving it unresolved.
- Does the 19 % rate change if I have become a Spanish tax resident by the time I sell?
- Yes: a Spanish tax resident is taxed on a capital gain under the ordinary resident scale rather than the flat 19 % non-resident rate, with its own rules on reinvestment relief for a main home that do not apply to a non-resident. That is a different calculation entirely, and this site’s resident-tax guide covers it in full.
