Selling property in Spain as a non-resident: the 3% retention, capital gains, plusvalía and the documents

A sale by an owner who lives outside Spain follows the same steps as any other, with three differences: the buyer holds back 3% of the price for the tax agency, the town hall’s plusvalía is settled by the buyer on your behalf, and the tax on the gain is filed on the non-resident return rather than the annual one. This guide sets out the documents to gather before the home goes on the market, how the 3% retention works and how you get it back, how the 19% tax on the gain is worked out, the plusvalía and who pays it, the other costs, the timeline from offer to completion, and how to sell without travelling. Each point is taken from the law or the tax agency’s own guidance, linked where it applies. If you are on the buying side, the same steps are described from that direction in the Spanish buying process.

The order of a sale

A straight valuation from recent sales of comparable homes, not asking prices. Preparation and photography. The listing agreement, in writing. Viewings and offers. A reservation agreement that takes the home off the market for a short period while the buyer’s lawyer checks the title. The private contract (contrato de arras) with a deposit, usually 10%. Completion at the notary, where the deed of sale (escritura) is signed, the balance is paid and the keys change hands. Then the taxes, within the months that follow. The deposit stage and what it commits each side to is in the arras contract explained.

The documents to gather first

The buyer’s lawyer will ask for all of these, and most take days rather than hours to obtain. Gathering them before the first viewing is what makes a sale move quickly once an offer is agreed.

1. The title deed and a fresh land registry extract (nota simple). The extract shows the registered owner, the description of the property and any charges on it.
2. Property tax receipts. The last year’s IBI and rubbish collection receipts, which show that nothing is outstanding.
3. A certificate from the community of owners. For an apartment or a home in a community, the law requires the seller to produce a certificate that they are up to date with the community fees, issued by the administrator and signed by the president within seven days of the request. Without it the notary cannot sign the deed unless the buyer expressly waives it. The rule is article 9.1.e of the horizontal property law.
4. An energy performance certificate (certificado de eficiencia energética). Required for every sale under Real Decreto 390/2021. It is issued by an architect or engineer, lasts ten years, and its rating must appear in every advertisement. A copy is attached to the contract.
5. The licence of first occupation (licencia de primera ocupación) for a home built in the last few decades, and the planning file for any extension or pool added since. The buyer’s lawyer will check that what stands on the plot matches what the town hall has approved.
6. Recent utility bills for electricity, water and gas, so that the contracts can be transferred rather than reconnected.
7. The mortgage details. If there is a loan on the home, the bank’s statement of what is owed, so that it can be repaid and cancelled at completion.
8. Your NIE and, if you will not attend, a power of attorney. The NIE is the tax number every owner already has from the purchase. The power of attorney is covered below.
9. The tourist licence registration, if the home is let to holidaymakers. A registered licence is a selling point, and the buyer’s lawyer will want to see its registration and the community’s position on holiday letting. The rules are in the tourist licence guide.

The 3% retention

When the seller is a non-resident, article 25.2 of the non-resident income tax law requires the buyer to hold back 3% of the agreed price and pay it to the tax agency as an advance on the seller’s tax. The buyer pays it on form 211 within one month of completion and gives you a copy. If the buyer fails to pay it, the property itself stands as security for the amount, which is why every buyer’s lawyer insists on it.

You then declare the sale on form 210, the non-resident return, within the three months that follow the buyer’s one-month deadline. The return works out the actual tax at 19% of the gain and sets the 3% against it. If the tax comes to less than the 3%, the tax agency refunds the difference. If it comes to more, you pay the balance. Where there is no gain at all, the whole 3% comes back. The tax agency has six months from the filing to pay a refund before interest starts to run in your favour.

The retention is worked on the full price, not on the gain, so on a 600,000 euro sale the buyer holds back 18,000 euros whatever your tax turns out to be. Your lawyer files the return, and the refund is paid into a Spanish account or to a foreign account named on the form.

The tax on the gain, at 19%

A non-resident pays tax on the gain at 19%, under article 25.1.f of the same law. The rate is the same whichever country you live in. The tax agency’s guidance sets out how the gain is worked out.

The acquisition value is what you paid, plus the taxes and costs of buying, which means the transfer tax or VAT, the notary, the land registry and the lawyer, plus the cost of any improvements to the home, such as a new kitchen or a pool. Where the home has been let, a deduction for depreciation is taken off. Keep the invoices for all of it. Costs you cannot evidence cannot be claimed.

The transfer value is the sale price, less the costs of selling that you have borne, which means the agency fee, the lawyer, the energy certificate and the plusvalía.

The gain is the difference, and the tax is 19% of it. Two worked examples.

Two reliefs are worth knowing about. A seller who lives in another EU or EEA country and sells what was their main home in Spain can leave the gain out of tax if the proceeds are reinvested in a new main home, under the seventh additional provision of the law. The 3% is still held back and reclaimed. And for a home bought before 1995, a transitional relief reduces the part of the gain built up before January 2006. Both are for your adviser to apply.

Your home country will usually tax the gain as well, and give credit for the Spanish tax under the double taxation treaty. Spain has treaties with the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States, Canada and every other country its buyers come from. The Spanish return comes first, because the credit is claimed against it.

The plusvalía and who pays it

The plusvalía municipal is a town hall tax on the increase in the value of the land under the home during the years you owned it. Its full name is the tax on the increase in value of urban land (Impuesto sobre el Incremento de Valor de los Terrenos de Naturaleza Urbana), and it is set out in articles 104 to 110 of the local finance law.

The seller is liable. When the seller is a non-resident, article 106.2 makes the buyer the substitute taxpayer, which means the buyer is the one the town hall pursues. In practice the buyer’s lawyer works out the figure before completion and it is held back from the price, in the same way as the 3%.

Since a 2021 reform there are two ways to calculate it, and the taxpayer is entitled to the lower. The first multiplies the cadastral value of the land by a coefficient set for the number of years owned, up to twenty. The second takes the actual increase in the value of the land, worked out from the purchase and sale prices in proportion to the land’s share of the cadastral value. Where the land has not risen in value there is no tax, and the seller shows this by producing the two deeds. Each town hall sets its own rate, up to a legal maximum of 30%, and the tax is declared within thirty working days of completion. The figure varies a great deal between towns and between an apartment and a villa on a large plot, so ask your lawyer for the calculation before you accept an offer.

The other costs

• The agency fee, which is a percentage of the price agreed in the listing contract. It is paid at completion out of the proceeds.
• Your lawyer, who checks the buyer’s contract, prepares the documents, attends the notary and files the tax returns. Fees are usually fixed for a sale.
• The energy certificate, a few hundred euros.
• Cancelling the mortgage, if there is one. Repaying the loan is not enough on its own. The bank’s deed of cancellation is signed at the notary and registered at the land registry, at the seller’s cost, so that the buyer takes the home free of the charge.
• The notary. The Civil Code puts the cost of the deed on the seller and the cost of copies on the buyer, unless the parties agree otherwise. On the Costa del Sol the contract usually says who pays, and it is often the buyer, so read the clause.

The timeline

A reservation is usually a week or two of exclusivity while the buyer’s lawyer reads the documents. The private contract with the 10% deposit follows within two or three weeks. Completion is set for four to eight weeks after that, longer if the buyer has a mortgage to arrange. At the notary the balance is paid by bank draft or transfer, less the 3% retention and the plusvalía, the mortgage is cancelled if there is one, and the keys are handed over. The community, the town hall and the utilities are notified of the new owner in the days after.

The buyer’s form 211 is due within a month. Your form 210 is due within the three months after that, and the refund, if there is one, follows.

Selling without travelling

Most sellers who live abroad sign a power of attorney (poder notarial) in favour of their lawyer and do not attend. It can be signed at a Spanish consulate, where it is issued in Spanish and needs nothing further, or before a notary in your own country, in which case it needs an apostille and a sworn translation into Spanish. The lawyer then signs the private contract and the deed for you. A limited power that covers the sale of one named property is enough, and it can be revoked once the sale is done. The proceeds are paid into your Spanish account, or to a foreign account under an instruction the notary records, and moving them home is straightforward. The currency side is in getting your money to Spain, which works the same way in reverse.

How I handle a sale

A straight valuation from recent sales of comparable homes, so that the asking price is one the market will meet. Preparation and professional photography before the listing goes live. Marketing to the buyers who are looking in your price range, including international buyers working with me on the buying side. Negotiation on your behalf. Coordination of the lawyer, the buyer’s side and the notary through to completion, so that you hear from me when there is something to decide. The service is set out on the selling page.

Five things to settle before you list

1. The documents. Gather the nine items above first. A buyer whose lawyer receives everything in a day moves to contract in a week.
2. The price. Ask for the comparable sales, not a figure chosen to win the listing.
3. The tax position. Have your adviser estimate the gain, the 19% and the plusvalía before you accept an offer, so that the net figure is known.
4. The invoices. Purchase costs and improvements reduce the gain only if you can evidence them. Find them now.
5. The power of attorney. If you will not travel, sign it early. A consulate appointment can take weeks.

If you are thinking of selling a home on the Costa del Sol, book a call and we can start with what it is genuinely worth.

Dated guidance, September 2026. The 3% retention and the 19% rate are in articles 25.1.f and 25.2 of Real Decreto Legislativo 5/2004, the plusvalía in articles 104 to 110 of Real Decreto Legislativo 2/2004 as amended in 2021, the community certificate in article 9.1.e of Ley 49/1960, and the energy certificate in Real Decreto 390/2021. The worked examples are illustrations. Rates and rules change, and your own position should be confirmed with a Spanish lawyer and tax adviser.

Common questions

The same subject, for buyers abroad

Pages written for buyers in other countries, in their own language, covering what changes for them.

• United States: Taxes for American owners of a Spanish home
• Netherlands: Box 3 en uw woning in Spanje: wat u in Nederland aangeeft
• Belgium: Belastingen op een tweede verblijf in Spanje: wat u in België aangeeft
• Belgium: Kadastraal inkomen voor uw Spaanse woning: aangeven binnen vier maanden
• Germany: Spanische Immobilie und das deutsche Finanzamt
• Poland: Nieruchomość w Hiszpanii a podatki w Polsce
• Sweden: Skatt i Sverige när du äger bostad i Spanien
• Norway: Skatt på bolig i Spania når du bor i Norge