Modelo 210: non-resident income tax in Spain (IRNR)

Many foreigners buy a holiday flat on the Costa del Sol, keep an apartment after moving away, or hold on to Spanish property they inherited — and assume that because they do not live in Spain, they owe Spain nothing. That is one of the most common misunderstandings in Spanish tax. Non-residents who own Spanish property or receive Spanish-source income are, in most cases, within the scope of the Impuesto sobre la Renta de no Residentes (IRNR), the non-resident income tax, and the return used to declare it is Modelo 210. It is a quiet obligation — no one sends you a reminder — but it does not go away simply because you have moved abroad.

"The imputed-income return on an empty second home is the duty non-residents overlook most. It is small, no one chases it, and then it surfaces years later — with interest — the moment the property is sold."

What IRNR and Modelo 210 actually are

Spain taxes individuals in one of two ways depending on where they are tax resident. If you are a Spanish tax resident, you are taxed on your worldwide income under ordinary personal income tax (IRPF, declared through Modelo 100). If you are not a Spanish tax resident, you are still taxed — but only on income that arises in Spain — under the separate non-resident income tax, IRNR. Modelo 210 is the form through which a non-resident declares that Spanish-source income and pays the tax due.

The logic is simple: Spain claims the right to tax income connected to its territory, whoever earns it. For most private individuals living abroad, the connection that brings them into IRNR is a piece of Spanish real estate. That single asset can trigger a filing obligation every year, whether or not the property earns a penny of actual cash.

Who has to file Modelo 210

In broad terms, Modelo 210 applies to non-residents with Spanish-source income. For private owners, the two situations that come up again and again are:

• You own Spanish property that you do not rent out — for example a second home or holiday apartment kept for personal use. Here the tax is on imputed (notional) income, explained below.
• You own Spanish property that you rent out — here the tax is on the actual rental income you receive.

Other Spanish-source income can also fall within IRNR — certain interest, dividends, pensions, capital gains on Spanish assets and so on — but for the typical non-resident homeowner, imputed income and rental income are the two cases that matter. Note that each owner generally files their own return for their share; a couple who jointly own a flat will usually each account for their proportion.

Case 1: imputed income on a second home you don't rent out

This is the case that surprises people most. If you own a Spanish home that is not your main residence and you do not rent it out, Spanish law nonetheless treats it as if it produced an income — a notional or imputed income — simply because you have the property available for your use. You then pay non-resident income tax on that imputed figure, once a year, through Modelo 210.

The imputed income is calculated as a small percentage of the property's cadastral value (valor catastral), the administrative value shown on your IBI (local property tax) receipt — not the market price you paid. The percentage is commonly 1.1% of the cadastral value where that value has been reviewed or updated within the relevant recent period, and 2% otherwise. These percentages and their conditions must be confirmed for your property and year.

Step	What it means (illustrative)
Take the cadastral value	From your IBI receipt — an administrative value, not market price
Apply 1.1% or 2%	Gives the imputed (notional) annual income — figure to confirm
Apply the IRNR rate	19% (EU/EEA) or 24% (non-EU) on that imputed income

The tax due is often modest in absolute terms, but the obligation is real and recurs every year for as long as you own the property. Because the sums are small and no one issues a reminder, this is the filing non-residents most often forget — and unpaid IRNR can resurface, with interest, when the property is later sold.

Case 2: rental income if you let the property

If you actually rent your Spanish property — whether long-term or as a short-let holiday rental — the picture changes. You are no longer taxed on a notional figure; you are taxed on the real rental income you receive. For lettings, the return is generally filed on a recurring basis tied to when the rent is received, rather than as a single annual return, so a landlord typically files more often than the owner of an empty second home.

How much you can offset against that rental income depends critically on where you are tax resident, which is where the EU/EEA versus non-EU distinction becomes decisive. It is also worth remembering that the imputed-income rule only applies to periods when the property is available for your own use; broadly, months when it is genuinely let out are taxed as rental income instead. Mixed-use properties — let for part of the year, kept empty the rest — can therefore involve both cases across a single tax year.

If the letting is a holiday one, note that the tax return is the last step in a sequence and not the first: the use must be lawful at that address, registered with the region and permitted by the community of owners before a booking is taken. See renting your Spanish home to tourists.

The rates: 19% for EU/EEA residents, 24% for non-EU

The rate that applies, and whether you can deduct expenses, turns on your country of tax residence:

• Residents of the EU, Iceland, Norway or Liechtenstein (EU/EEA) — generally taxed at 19%, and, importantly, may deduct allowable expenses against rental income (for example, a proportion of mortgage interest, IBI, community fees, insurance, repairs and, in some cases, depreciation). The tax is effectively on the net rental profit.
• Residents outside the EU/EEA (for example the United States, the United Kingdom post-Brexit, or most of Asia) — generally taxed at 24% on the gross income, with no deduction for expenses.

The gap is wider than the headline percentages suggest: a non-EU landlord pays 24% on gross rent with nothing deducted, while an EU landlord pays 19% on net profit after costs.

These rates apply to both rental income and the imputed income described above. Rates, the list of qualifying countries and the scope of deductible expenses can change and must be confirmed for your specific residence and the tax year in question. Post-Brexit, UK residents are treated as non-EU for these purposes, which for many British owners of Spanish holiday homes meant a move from the 19%-with-deductions regime to the 24%-on-gross regime.

Deadlines and how the return is filed

The timing depends on the type of income:

• Imputed income on a second home is declared annually, with the return for a given year filed during the following calendar year. The deadline should be confirmed, as the annual filing window is a specific period rather than open-ended.
• Rental income is declared on a recurring basis linked to when rent is received, so a landlord files periodically through the year rather than once.

Modelo 210 is filed with the Spanish tax authority (the Agencia Tributaria) and is normally submitted electronically. In practice, most non-residents either obtain a Spanish electronic certificate to file themselves or, more commonly, appoint a Spanish gestor or lawyer to prepare and submit the return and arrange payment from a Spanish bank account. Because the forms are in Spanish and the cadastral and rate rules are easy to get wrong, delegating the annual filing is the norm for overseas owners. For the wider picture of how expats are taxed in Spain, see our guide to taxes for expats in Spain.

The interaction with becoming a Spanish tax resident

IRNR and Modelo 210 apply only while you are a non-resident. The moment you become a Spanish tax resident — broadly, if you spend more than 183 days in Spain in a calendar year, or your main centre of economic interests is in Spain — you leave the IRNR system entirely. From that point you are taxed on your worldwide income under ordinary personal income tax (IRPF), filed through Modelo 100, and the imputed-income rule no longer applies to your main home.

This switch is not a small administrative detail. It changes what income Spain taxes (Spanish-source only versus worldwide), which form you file, and the rates and reliefs available. Getting your residence status right is therefore the first question in any cross-border tax analysis — and the 183-day test is where it usually starts. We explain that test in detail in our note on the Spanish 183-day tax residency rule. Filing Modelo 210 as a non-resident while actually being tax resident, or vice versa, is a common and costly error.

Selling the property: the buyer's 3% retention (Modelo 211)

There is one further point every non-resident owner should know before selling. When a non-resident sells Spanish property, the buyer is generally obliged to withhold 3% of the purchase price and pay it directly to the Spanish tax authority on the seller's behalf, using Modelo 211. This 3% is a payment on account against the seller's eventual capital gains tax under IRNR.

If your actual capital gain is small — or you sold at a loss — the 3% withheld may exceed the tax genuinely due, and you can claim the excess back by filing a Modelo 210 for the gain within the applicable period after the sale. Conversely, if the gain is larger, the 3% is only a down-payment and further tax may be owed. This is also the moment when any years of unpaid imputed-income IRNR can come to light, because the sale draws the tax authority's attention to the property's history. For the full seller sequence, including Modelo 211, the Modelo 210 filing window and the refund file, see our guide to selling Spanish property after moving back to the US. The 3% figure and the reclaim procedure should be confirmed for the year of sale. Buyers financing a purchase should separately understand the lending rules — see our note on a Spanish mortgage for non-residents.

Common mistakes non-residents make

• Assuming no rental means no tax. An empty second home still generates taxable imputed income every year.
• Confusing IBI with IRNR. The local property tax (IBI) you pay to the town hall is separate from, and additional to, the state non-resident income tax on Modelo 210.
• Using the wrong rate. Applying 19% when you are non-EU, or missing that Brexit moved UK residents to the 24% gross regime.
• Forgetting joint owners file separately. Each co-owner generally declares their own share.
• Overlooking arrears at sale. Years of unfiled imputed-income returns can surface — with interest and penalties — precisely when you are trying to close a sale.

None of this is difficult once it is set up, but it does need to be set up. The safest approach is to arrange the annual filing at the point you buy, so the obligation is handled quietly in the background rather than discovered years later.

General information, not tax advice. Non-resident income tax (IRNR) and Modelo 210 rules, rates, percentages and deadlines change and must be confirmed for your country of residence, your property and the relevant tax year. The 1.1%/2% imputed-income percentages, the 19%/24% rates and the 3% retention are indicated here as general figures to be verified for your case.