Home / Non-residents / Advice for non-residents in Marbella
Advice for non-residents in Marbella: Form 210
Careful planning and analysis help you stay compliant, whether you are a company, self-employed (autónomo) or a family: the aim is a solution that fits the matter and a simple way of meeting your obligations to the authorities. If your home is in Marbella and your tax residence is in another country, Spain asks you for Form 210 (modelo 210) every year, whether you use the property or not. We file it for you, and we also help with letting, with selling and with the town council taxes. Our office is in La Línea de la Concepción; we work online or in person, with a team that has spent years working with foreign owners on the Costa del Sol.
Form 210, sales and rentalsService in Spanish and EnglishOnline, without coming to Spain
Advice for non-residents with a home in Marbella
People who buy in Marbella usually do so with an agent and a lawyer, and then face a question nobody answered: what do they owe the Spanish Tax Agency (Hacienda) for owning the house? The answer depends on three things: where you live, what you do with the property and when you plan to sell it.
We are tax advisers and lawyers in the same team. Our tax advice starts from your situation: we tell you which forms apply to you and what your obligations are each year, and we file them. If a tax notice (requerimiento), an inheritance or a property sale comes later, the team already knows your case.
We work with individuals who own property in Nueva Andalucía, Puerto Banús, San Pedro Alcántara, Elviria or the old town, with tax residence in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Nordic countries, Germany or the Netherlands. We speak with them in Spanish and English, and each country’s tax rules are studied with your documents in front of us.
210
Filed every year by the non-resident owner, whether or not the home is used
Form 210: what a non-resident owner pays each year
Owning a home in Spain without living here creates an annual obligation, even if the house is closed for ten months. The law presumes the property gives you income and taxes it. This imputed income is calculated on the cadastral value shown on the local property tax bill (IBI): 1.1 % if the municipality’s cadastral values were revised in the last ten years and 2 % if not.
The tax rate is applied to that figure: 24 % in general and 19 % if you live in the European Union, Iceland or Norway. A British owner falls in the first group; a Swedish, German or Norwegian owner, in the second.
An example with round numbers: an apartment with a cadastral value of 150,000 euros and a recent revision gives imputed income of 1,650 euros. At 24 % that is 396 euros a year; at 19 %, a little over 313.
There is no exempt minimum and no family allowance, and the tax does not depend on what the house is worth on the market, but on its cadastral value. If you have not filed for years, the years that have not expired under the statute of limitations must be put in order, and it is best to do so before Hacienda writes to you. The deadline for imputed income for 2026 runs from 1 April to 31 December 2027.
Holiday lets in Marbella: how to declare them and what to know
Marbella is one of the places where properties are most often let by the week. That income is taxed on Form 210, and the difference between nationalities is large: residents of the EU or the EEA deduct the expenses they can justify; everyone else pays on the full income, with nothing deducted.
Each contract can be declared separately, or all those of the year together. For the grouped option, the deadline is 1 to 20 April of the following year. And if the house is let for a few months and empty the rest of the year, the tax is calculated by days, with one part on real income and another on imputed income.
Apart from Hacienda, the Andalusian regional government (Junta de Andalucía) requires a tourist-use property to be entered in its Tourism Register before it is advertised, and owners’ associations and local planning rules may set limits. That is a different procedure from the tax one, and we do not handle it: ask whoever manages your rental before the first guest arrives. We make sure the income is properly declared.
3 %
Withholding the buyer applies to the price when the seller is a non-resident
Selling in Marbella as a non-resident: 3 % withholding and Form 211
The buyer does not pay you the full price: they withhold 3 % and pay it to Hacienda on Form 211 (modelo 211), within one month of the sale. It is an advance payment, not the final tax.
The real tax falls on the gain, the difference between what you receive and what the house cost you, with the purchase and sale costs. It is taxed at 19 % and declared on Form 210. If the 3 % withheld is more than that amount, Hacienda refunds the difference, but only if you ask for it. And in both cases the form must be filed, because the buyer does not do it for you.
That is why it is best to work it out before signing the title deed (escritura). If the gain is small or there is a loss, the buyer still withholds and you recover the excess afterwards. A sale prepared in advance avoids your money sitting with the Spanish Tax Agency (Agencia Tributaria) for two or three months unnecessarily.
IBI and municipal capital gains tax in Marbella for foreign owners
The 2026 tax by-law sets the local property tax (IBI) on urban properties at 0.65 % of the cadastral value, and it is collected not by Hacienda but by the town council. If you live abroad, it is best to pay it by direct debit from your bank: a returned bill leads to surcharges and, in time, an enforcement order you may not even know exists.
Municipal capital gains tax (plusvalía municipal), the tax on the increase in value of the land, has a rate of 29 % in Marbella. The by-law includes a rule that directly affects this profile: when the seller is a non-resident individual, the buyer pays as substitute taxpayer and can then claim it back from the seller. In practice it is deducted from the price or agreed in the deed, and the calculation should be done beforehand. If the sale is made at a real loss, you can ask to be taxed on the actual gain, which is lower.
The calculation of the plusvalía uses the cadastral value of the land, not the market value of the home. Asking the Land Registry office (Catastro) for the cadastral reference and the split between land and building is the first step.
Wealth tax and Solidarity Tax: does a house in Marbella affect you?
The short answer, for most owners, is that nothing usually remains to be paid, but it needs to be checked. Non-residents are taxed on the assets they hold in Spain, not on their worldwide assets. In Andalusia the regional rate of wealth tax (Impuesto sobre el Patrimonio) is reduced by an allowance, and residents of the EU or the EEA can apply the rules of the region where their assets are located.
The nuance is with high net worth. The Solidarity Tax on Large Fortunes (Impuesto de Solidaridad de las Grandes Fortunas), which is a state tax, remains in force in 2026 and starts to count from 3 million euros of net wealth. Anyone who owns several properties, a company or investments in Spain as well as a house in Marbella should add everything up before assuming they are outside it.
There is also an obligation to file the return even if the tax comes to zero when assets and rights in Spain exceed a certain gross value. We review your case and tell you whether you need to file.
Tax representative, NIE and residence certificate
Three documents that hold up more procedures than they should.
NIE
Without it you cannot file Form 210, sell, or set up direct debit for the IBI. If you do not have one yet, we tell you how to get it. (NIE is the Spanish foreigner identification number.)
Tax representative
If you live outside the EU, Hacienda can require you to appoint one in Spain, and you must notify it within two months. We tell you if this applies to you.
Tax residence certificate
It is issued by the tax authority of your country and is used to prove the 19 % rate and the deductible expenses on rentals. It is best to ask for it in good time.
Hacienda in Marbella: where it is and when you need to go
The Spanish Tax Agency has a local branch (Administración) in Marbella, at Avenida Jacinto Benavente, 27. A non-resident owner almost never needs it: Forms 210 and 211 are filed online, and if anything needs doing with the tax office, we do it with your authorisation.
The same goes for the IBI and the plusvalía: they are dealt with at Marbella town council, also online. What may need your presence is signing the sale deed. If you cannot travel, there is the notarial power of attorney (poder notarial), which is signed at the Spanish consulate in your country, and we explain how to prepare it.
Also online: from London to Stockholm, without setting foot in Spain
Most of our clients on the Costa del Sol have never been to La Línea, and they do not need to.
If you prefer to see us in person, we welcome you in La Línea de la Concepción. To book a video call, use the online consultation page. →
Video call
We review your situation with you in a single conversation.
Documents by phone
Title deed, IBI bill, rental contracts and NIE, by WhatsApp or email.
Digital signature
With your certificate or a power of attorney, we sign and file on your behalf.
Online filing
Forms 210 and 211 reach Hacienda with no paper and no travel.
“
A typical case: selling an apartment in Nueva Andalucía
An Irish couple bought an apartment in 2012, have used it every summer and have never filed Form 210. Now they are selling. First we calculate the years that have not expired, with the imputed income for each and the 19 % rate that applies to them as EU residents. We file the overdue years. Then, before going to the notary, we estimate the gain, the 3 % withholding the buyer will make and the municipal capital gains tax, and agree with the other party how the payment is shared. The buyer pays Form 211 within its deadline; we file the Form 210 for the sale and ask for a refund of what was withheld in excess.
Common questions about non-resident taxes in Marbella
Is your situation not covered here? Tell us on WhatsApp where you live and what you own in Marbella, and we will reply.
Do I have to file Form 210 if my Marbella house is empty?
Yes. Imputed income is declared every year by each owner, even if there are no tenants.
What rate does a British owner with a house in Marbella pay?
24 %. The 19 % rate is for residents of the EU, Iceland and Norway.
Who pays the plusvalía when a non-resident sells?
Marbella’s by-law says that, if the seller is a non-resident individual, the buyer pays the tax as substitute taxpayer and can claim it back from the seller.
What happens if I have not filed Form 210 in previous years?
It can be put in order. We file the years that have not expired under the statute of limitations, with the surcharges that apply. The sooner it is done, the lower they are.
Can you handle my tourist rental?
We deal with the tax side: Form 210 for the income. Registering the tourist property with the Junta de Andalucía is a different procedure and we do not do it.
Do you only handle paperwork?
We do the tax work you would expect from an office that handles the paperwork: Hacienda forms, income tax returns and non-resident returns. We do not do monthly bookkeeping or payroll.
Are you based in Marbella?
No. We work from La Línea de la Concepción. We work with owners in Marbella by video call or, if they come through the Campo de Gibraltar, in person.
Do you work in English?
Yes, in Spanish and English.
Other related services
Tell us which house is yours and where you live
Tell us which part of Marbella the property is in, which country you live in and whether you rent it out or plan to sell. We reply with the forms that apply to you and the deadlines.
Office in La Línea de la Concepción. We work with you online or in person.
C/ Cervantes 2, entreplanta, despacho 4 · 11300 La Línea de la Concepción
WhatsApp 652 948 572 · 956 174 981 · pablo@asesoriaserra.es