Form 210: The Spanish Non-Resident Tax Return Every UK Property Owner Must File
You bought the apartment. You use it for three weeks in August and maybe a long weekend in March. You do not rent it out, you do not earn a penny from it in Spain, and you certainly did not expect to be filing Spanish tax returns every year.
Spain disagrees.
If you own property in Spain and you live in the UK, you are a Spanish non-resident property owner, and you owe the Agencia Tributaria (Spain’s tax authority) a tax return every single year, whether you earn anything from the property or not. The form is called Modelo 210 (Form 210), and it is the piece of Spanish tax admin that catches British buyers completely off guard more than any other.
This guide explains exactly what Form 210 is, who has to file it, how to calculate what you owe, when to pay, and what happens if you ignore it.
What Is Form 210?
Form 210 (Modelo 210) is the Spanish non-resident income tax return, filed under IRNR: Impuesto sobre la Renta de No Residentes, or Non-Resident Income Tax. Any individual who is not a Spanish tax resident but earns income in Spain, or is deemed by Spanish law to have income from a Spanish asset, must file it.
For British property owners, that last phrase is the critical one: “deemed by Spanish law to have income.” Spain taxes you on the theoretical rental income your property could generate, even when you never rent it out. This is called renta imputada, or imputed income, and it is a concept that catches most new buyers completely cold.
Who Has to File?
If you are a UK tax resident who owns property in Spain, you need to file Form 210. That means:
- Holiday home owners who never rent their property out
- Buy-to-let investors who do rent
- People who have inherited Spanish property
- Anyone who holds a share in a jointly owned Spanish property (each co-owner files their own return, proportional to their ownership share)
The one category that does not file Form 210 is Spanish tax residents: people who spend more than 183 days a year in Spain and have formally established residency there. If you have moved to Spain under the Non-Lucrative Visa or Digital Nomad Visa, different rules apply to you. You can read more about that transition in our guide to the Non-Lucrative Visa for British retirees.
The Two Scenarios: Do You Rent It Out or Not?
How you complete Form 210 depends on whether your property generates actual rental income.
Scenario A: You Do Not Rent It Out (Imputed Income)
Spain applies an imputed income charge to all non-resident owners whose properties are not rented out commercially. The reasoning is that by owning a property, you receive a benefit in the form of its notional rental value. Spain taxes that benefit.
The calculation works in three steps:
- Find the valor catastral (cadastral value) of your property. This appears on your IBI bill, the Spanish equivalent of council tax. It is not the market value; for most Costa del Sol properties, it sits roughly 20% to 50% of the market price.
- Apply the imputed income rate: 1.1% if the cadastral value has been officially revised by your local authority since 1 January 1994, or 2% if it has not. Most properties in established areas use the 1.1% rate.
- Tax that amount at 24% if you are a UK resident (more on this below).
Worked example: Your apartment has a cadastral value of €90,000. The value was revised in 2012, so you apply the 1.1% rate.
- Imputed income: €90,000 x 1.1% = €990
- Tax due: €990 x 24% = €237.60 per year
For most holiday home owners, the annual bill falls somewhere between €150 and €600, depending on the property’s cadastral value and location. It is not a crippling amount. The problem is not the tax itself; it is the penalties that build up when owners do not know it exists.
Scenario B: You Do Rent It Out (Actual Rental Income)
If you let your property at all, even informally through Airbnb, Booking.com, or direct arrangements, you must declare the actual rental income on Form 210. This applies equally to short holiday lets and longer-term tenancies.
Rental income is taxed at 24% for UK residents, applied to gross rental receipts. That is where Brexit introduced a significant and often overlooked change.
The Brexit Factor: How Leaving the EU Changed the Numbers
Before the UK left the EU, British buyers were treated as EEA residents for Spanish tax purposes. That meant:
- Rental income taxed at 19% (the EU/EEA rate)
- Expenses fully deductible: mortgage interest, property management fees, repairs, insurance, community fees, and depreciation could all be offset against rental income before tax was calculated
Since 1 January 2021, the UK is a third country in the eyes of Spanish tax law. British owners now face:
- Rental income taxed at 24%
- No expense deductions: the 24% applies to the entire gross income, with no offsets whatsoever
The difference is material. Take a property earning €15,000 a year in holiday rental income, with €7,000 in legitimate annual running costs:
| EU/EEA resident | UK resident (post-Brexit) | |
|---|---|---|
| Gross rental income | €15,000 | €15,000 |
| Allowable deductions | (€7,000) | None |
| Taxable amount | €8,000 | €15,000 |
| Tax rate | 19% | 24% |
| Tax bill | €1,520 | €3,600 |
That is more than double the tax on an identical property with identical costs. It is not a comfortable reality, but it is the current law, and it is one every prospective British buyer should factor into their rental yield projections before they commit.
Always verify current rates and your specific position with a qualified Spanish tax adviser. Rules change, and your individual circumstances may affect your obligations.
When to File and How to Pay
Deadlines differ depending on which scenario applies to you.
If you do not rent out your property (imputed income):
You file once a year, and you have until 31 December of the year following the tax year to submit. For the 2025 tax year, that means you have from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2026. Each property requires a separate Form 210, and each co-owner files separately for their share.
If you do rent out your property (actual rental income):
You file quarterly, with the following deadlines:
- Q1 (January to March): 20 April
- Q2 (April to June): 20 July
- Q3 (July to September): 20 October
- Q4 (October to December): 20 January the following year
Payments can be made through the Agencia Tributaria’s online portal (Sede Electrónica), in person at a Spanish bank using an NRC (Número de Referencia Completo) payment reference code, or via your gestor if you are using one.
Gestor or DIY: Which Makes More Sense?
A gestor is a Spanish administrative professional who sits somewhere between a tax agent and a licensed bureaucracy expert. For most British owners, using a gestor for Form 210 is not just convenient; it is genuinely the sensible call.
Fees for a straightforward imputed income return run between €80 and €150 per property per year. For a rental portfolio, or any situation with complexity, expect higher. The cost earns its keep for two reasons.
First, a gestor knows which cadastral value applies to your property, can calculate the correct imputed rate, and files electronically without you needing to navigate the Agencia Tributaria portal in Spanish. Second, if the Agencia Tributaria ever queries your filings, your gestor holds the complete history.
That said, if you have an NIE, a Spanish bank account, and a reasonable tolerance for online government forms in a foreign language, the Agencia Tributaria’s RENTA WEB NON-RESIDENTS system allows direct filing. The prerequisite for all of this is having your NIE sorted. If you have not done that yet, our complete guide to getting your NIE number from the UK walks you through it step by step.
What Happens If You Do Not File?
The Agencia Tributaria takes non-resident tax compliance seriously, and the penalties are not light.
Voluntary late filing (before any inspection): a surcharge of 5% to 20% of the unpaid tax depending on how late you are, plus interest at around 3.75% per annum.
Late filing after an inspection notice: a penalty of 50% to 150% of the unpaid tax, plus accumulated interest. At this point a small oversight becomes an expensive one.
Statute of limitations: The Agencia Tributaria can look back four years. If you bought your Costa del Sol apartment in 2022 and have never filed Form 210, you could be liable for the 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 returns, plus surcharges on every one of them.
If you have missed years, the practical move is voluntary regularisation through a gestor before you receive any inspection notice. Penalties for self-disclosure are substantially lower than those issued after the Agencia Tributaria contacts you first.
What You Need to File
To complete Form 210, you will need:
- Your NIE (Número de Identificación de Extranjeros)
- The cadastral reference number (referencia catastral) for your property, found on your IBI bill or on the Sede Electrónica del Catastro website
- The cadastral value (valor catastral) of the property
- Your ownership percentage if the property is jointly held
- If you rented the property: all rental income receipts for the relevant period, with dates
If you are mid-way through a purchase and have not yet obtained your NIE, treat it as the first item on your to-do list. You cannot legally complete a Spanish property purchase without one, and you cannot file Spanish tax returns without one either.
Sorting This From the Start
Form 210 is easy to manage when you build it into your ownership plan from day one. It is a different story when you discover three or four years of missed returns, each compounding with interest.
The buyers who handle this best are the ones who appoint their gestor at the same time as they instruct their Spanish abogado (lawyer) during the purchase process, not as an afterthought after completion. The annual cost is modest; the peace of mind from staying compliant is worth considerably more.
For a full picture of what it costs to own property on the Costa del Sol, from the purchase taxes and legal fees through to the annual running costs, take a look at our complete cost breakdown for Costa del Sol buyers.
If you are in the market for a property and want to understand exactly what ownership will cost you, year by year, or if you need an introduction to a trusted local gestor, we are happy to help.
Tell us what you are looking for and we will get back to you.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute tax or legal advice. Spanish tax law changes regularly, and your individual circumstances may affect your obligations. Always seek advice from a qualified gestor or asesor fiscal before relying on any figures here.
