If you live in the UK and own a property in Spain, you file a Spanish tax return every year — including years when the property sat empty and earned you nothing. On rental and imputed income accruing from 1 January 2021 you pay 24% instead of the 19% that applied before, and you can no longer deduct your costs — though the rate on a capital gain, as below, did not change. Here is what Brexit changed, what you owe on a property held during the 2025 tax year, and which deadlines apply now.
What Brexit changed for UK property owners in Spain
Three things changed, all of them for income accruing from 1 January 2021: the rate on your Spanish property income went from 19% to 24%, your expenses stopped being deductible, and you lost the exemption for reinvesting the proceeds of a former main home in Spain.
The UK is not in the EU, and not in the EEA either. That second part catches people out, because Spanish non-resident income tax (IRNR) draws its line at "EU or EEA", not at "Europe": Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein are outside the EU but inside the EEA, so their residents kept the 19% rate. UK residents did not.
| Where the rules differ | EU/EEA resident | UK resident |
|---|---|---|
| Rate on rental and imputed income (2025 and 2026 accruals) | 19% | 24% |
| Expenses deductible against rent | Yes | No — tax on the gross |
| Rate on a capital gain from a sale | 19% | 19% |
One thing Brexit did not touch: the Spain–UK double taxation treaty, in force since 12 June 2014, is an agreement between two countries rather than an EU instrument, and it still stands. How your Spanish tax interacts with your UK return is a matter for HMRC and your own UK adviser — we handle the Spanish side.
Calculate your Spanish non-resident tax for free — you only pay when you file.
You still have to file, even if the property is empty
An empty or holiday property produces imputed income (renta imputada) — a notional amount that Spanish law treats as income simply because the property is there and available to you. For the 2025 tax year a UK owner pays 24% of it, declared on a Modelo 210.
Each owner files for their own share: a couple owning a flat 50/50 file two returns, each for half the income.
How imputed income is worked out
Start from the cadastral value (valor catastral) of the property — the administrative value shown on your IBI bill, which is normally well below the market value.
- If the cadastral value was revised within the last ten tax periods relative to the accrual year, the base is 1.1% of it.
- Otherwise the base is 2%.
That base is pro-rated by the days you owned the property and did not let it, and by your ownership share. A UK resident pays 24% of the result.
A worked example for the 2025 tax year: a cadastral value of €120,000 revised within the last ten periods, one owner holding 100%, never let. The base is €1,320 and the tax €316.80. If the value has not been revised in that period, the base is 2% — €2,400 — and the tax €576. Our imputed income guide runs through the same calculation alongside the form fields.
Renting it out: 24% of the gross, with nothing to deduct
For 2025 and 2026 accruals a UK resident pays 24% of the gross rent, with nothing deducted for community fees, IBI, insurance, repairs, mortgage interest or agency commission. Article 24.6 of the non-resident income tax law gives that deduction to residents of another EU member state, and the AEAT's Brexit guidance confirms UK residents lost it for income accruing from 1 January 2021.
Let it for part of the year only and the two regimes combine: rental income for the days it was let, imputed income for the rest. The rental income guide shows how they sit together on the form.
A worked comparison
Same flat, same year, same numbers: €12,000 of rent received in the 2025 tax year, €3,000 of costs that an EU/EEA owner could deduct, a single owner holding 100%.
| 2025 tax year | EU/EEA owner | UK owner |
|---|---|---|
| Gross rent | €12,000 | €12,000 |
| Expenses deducted | €3,000 | €0 |
| Taxable base | €9,000 | €12,000 |
| Rate | 19% | 24% |
| Tax due | €1,710 | €2,880 |
€1,170 more on identical facts. That gap opened on 1 January 2021, which is why an estimate made before then no longer holds.
Selling up: capital gains stayed at 19%
This one is easy to get wrong. The tax on a capital gain from selling Spanish property is a flat 19% for every non-resident, UK residents included. Brexit did not raise it to 24%.
The two rates sit in different places in the law. The 24% is the general rate for income such as rent and imputed income, where the EU/EEA distinction applies; a gain on the transfer of an asset is taxed at 19% for all non-residents, with no EU/EEA condition attached. The gain is the transfer value less the acquisition value. The transfer value is the sale price after deducting the costs of selling; the acquisition value is what you paid plus your purchase costs and any documented improvements. Leaving those costs out overstates your gain, and therefore your tax.
One loss that is real: UK residents can no longer claim the exemption for reinvesting the proceeds of what had been their habitual residence in Spain in a new main home.
The buyer's 3% retention and how you get it back
When a non-resident sells, the buyer must withhold 3% of the agreed price and pay it over to the AEAT on a Modelo 211. It is a payment on account of your own tax, not an extra charge.
Say you sell for €300,000 a property that cost you €220,000 including purchase costs. The gain is €80,000, the tax at 19% is €15,200, and the €9,000 already retained comes off it, leaving €6,200 to pay. Where the 19% works out lower than the retention, the excess is refunded to you.
Your return is due around four months after the sale. See the capital gains guide and the capital gains calculator for your own numbers.
Which deadline applies to you
It depends on whether the property was empty or let, and on the accrual year: the windows moved for 2026 accruals onwards (Orden HAC/623/2026).
If your property is empty (imputed income)
For 2025 and earlier accruals the window is the whole of the following calendar year — so for the 2025 tax year, 1 January to 31 December 2026. For 2026 accruals onwards it opens later: 1 April to 31 December of the following year.
If you want the tax collected by direct debit, the cut-off is 23 December. If you have seen 20 December quoted, check it against the AEAT's own page before relying on it.
If you rent it out
For 2024 and 2025 accruals, a return with tax to pay that groups the whole year's rent together is due 1–20 January of the following year. From 2026 accruals that window becomes 1–20 April of the following year.
Declared separately rather than grouped, the 2026 accruals still ahead of you fall due as follows: April–June 2026 in the first 20 calendar days of July 2026; July–September 2026 in the first 20 calendar days of October 2026; October–December 2026 on 1–20 April 2027. (January–March 2026 was due on 1–20 April 2026, under the old rule.)
A return with no tax to pay is due 1–20 January of the following year. A refund claim can be filed from 1 February of the following year, within four years from the end of the period for declaring and paying the withholding.
| Accrual year and situation | Filing window | Direct debit |
|---|---|---|
| 2025, empty (imputed income) | 1 January – 31 December 2026 | Until 23 December of the filing year |
| 2026, empty (imputed income) | 1 April – 31 December 2027 | Until 23 December of the filing year |
| 2025, let, grouped return with tax to pay | 1–20 January 2026 | 1–15 January 2026 |
| 2026, let, grouped return with tax to pay | 1–20 April 2027 | 1–15 April 2027 |
Our 2026 overview covers the same deadline change for owners of every nationality. Not sure which situation is yours? The obligations checker answers that in a couple of questions.
Paying from a UK bank account
The SEPA zone covers 36 countries and expressly includes the United Kingdom, so holding your account in the UK is not in itself an obstacle.
For imputed-income and rental returns filed online, and within the AEAT's direct-debit windows, the tax can be direct-debited from a SEPA account — the UK is in the SEPA zone. It is not available on a property-sale return, where you pay the AEAT yourself.
Since 1 February 2024 that account may be held at a bank which is not one of the AEAT's collaborating entities, which is what makes a UK-held account practical. Any bank charges the AEAT has to pay on the transaction are passed on to you. The direct-debit windows are 1–15 April, July, October or January in the general case, and up to 23 December for imputed income on urban property.
If you have never filed
Many owners discover this obligation years after buying. Each tax year is its own return, so earlier years are filed one at a time, and you can file them now.
What matters most is who moves first. Article 27 of the Ley General Tributaria treats a return filed late on your own initiative — before any formally notified AEAT action aimed at checking, regularising or collecting the debt — as an extemporaneous return without prior requirement. A surcharge applies, and it expressly excludes the penalties that could otherwise have been demanded.
Once the AEAT has notified you of such a requirement, that article no longer applies to the years it covers. Filing before you hear from them is the better position, which is the reason not to wait.
Other taxes you will meet, and what they are not
Three other Spanish taxes come up in the same conversation. None is the Modelo 210, and paying one does not settle another.
- IBI — the annual local property tax billed by your town hall. A UK owner cannot deduct it against rental income.
- Plusvalía municipal — a municipal tax on the increase in the value of the land, settled with the town hall when the property changes hands. It is separate from the 19% capital gains tax you pay to the AEAT.
- Wealth tax (Impuesto sobre el Patrimonio) — a separate tax on the value of assets held in Spain, with its own rules and its own return.
Plain-English definitions are in our Spanish tax glossary.
Filing your Modelo 210 with SpainTax
You give us the property details and the figures; we work out the tax, prepare the Modelo 210 and file it with the AEAT. Most people are done in minutes. The calculation is always free — you only pay when you decide to file, at a price shown up front on our pricing page.
Start with the free calculators.
This article is general information about how Spanish non-resident tax works for UK residents, not tax advice, and it cannot cover every situation. The figures are those of the 2025 and 2026 accrual years, as stated above.