The '100% tax on foreign buyers': what's actually true

I get asked about this one almost every week, usually by someone who has read a headline. So let me be straight with you from the first line: as of September 2026, there is no 100% tax on property bought by British buyers in Spain. What there is, is a proposal. A proposal is a very different thing from a law.

Where the proposal stands (September 2026)

The dated position, in order:

• 13 January 2025. Pedro Sánchez announced a tax of up to 100% on the value of property bought by non-residents from outside the EU, as part of a housing package (BBC News).
• 22 May 2025. The measure was put before Congress inside a wider housing bill (Bloomberg Law).
• Since then. The bill has not been put to a vote in Congress (idealista, January 2026).
• January 2026. The government’s new housing package did not include it (Olga Caballero & Co, July 2026).
• Today. The minority government has no majority for it (El Periódico, September 2025), and its parliamentary partners have publicly opposed it (Olga Caballero & Co, July 2026). It is not in force, and nothing extra is payable on a purchase.

Where the headline came from

In January 2025 the Spanish government announced a measure aimed at non-EU buyers — which, since Brexit, includes UK citizens. (That same reclassification is what puts British visitors under the 90/180-day rule.) It was described in the press as a tax of up to 100% on the value of a property bought by non-residents from outside the EU. The framing was about housing affordability: the idea being to cool demand from overseas buyers and keep homes within reach of local people.

That is a real thing that was said. It made a lot of noise, and understandably so. But noise is where it has largely stayed.

Proposed is not the same as in force

Here is the distinction that the headlines skip, and it matters enormously:

• Proposed (not binding on you): a 100% purchase tax on non-EU, non-resident buyers. Announced in January 2025 and put before Congress in May 2025. Not put to a vote. No agreed detail on who exactly it would catch, what exemptions might apply, or whether it survives the process at all.
• In force today (the numbers that actually apply): the ordinary purchase taxes — 7% ITP on a resale in Andalucía (article 41 of Andalucía’s tax law), and 10% IVA (article 91 of the Spanish VAT law) plus 1.2% AJD (article 49 of the same Andalucían law) on a new build. Unchanged. These are what a British buyer pays right now.

An announcement is a starting position, not a settled outcome. For a measure like this to become law it would have to pass Spain’s parliament — and the government does not command a simple majority there, so nothing is a formality. Along the way the detail gets fought over: the rate, who it applies to, the exemptions, the carve-outs, whether it targets purchases at all or is reshaped into something else entirely. Plenty of floated measures never reach the statute book in anything like their original form. Some never reach it at all.

A proposal is not a law. Until it passes parliament, it is a headline — not a bill you have to pay.

What this means if you’re thinking about buying

The taxes you would actually pay today are the ones I set out, line by line, in what a Costa del Sol purchase really costs. Those numbers are real, current, and unchanged by the headline. If you buy this year, that is the arithmetic — not a doubling of the price. The sum is the same on the new developments I can show you, whatever passport you hold.

Could the picture change? Of course it could. Tax policy moves, and I would never promise you it won’t. But you make a good decision on facts. The fact today is that the number in the headline is a proposal, not a cost.

How I’ll handle it with you

My job is to tell you what is actually on the books versus what has merely been announced, and to keep the two apart when the news blurs them. So here is my commitment on this:

• I’ll always separate enacted law from announced intention — and say plainly which one we’re looking at.
• If this measure, or any measure, does progress towards law, I’ll tell you where it has actually got to, not where a headline says it is.
• For your own position, meaning residency, tax status and how any future change might touch you specifically, I’ll point you to a qualified Spanish tax adviser. That is their call to make, not mine.

A headline is not a reason to change a plan. Watch the actual legislation, take advice on your own circumstances, and buy, or wait, on what is real. If you’d like me to walk you through where things genuinely stand before you commit to anything, that is exactly what the buying service is for, and you can book a chat whenever suits.

Dated guidance, last reviewed 13 September 2026. Tax policy changes, so always confirm the current law with a qualified Spanish tax adviser.

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