Leaving Spain: The Spanish exit tax and what happens to your property when you relocate abroad (2026)

Spain taxes unrealised gains on substantial shareholdings the moment you cease Spanish tax residency, under a regime often called the exit tax. For most property owners, the single most important fact is what the tax does not cover: your Spanish house or apartment. The exit tax in Article 95 bis of Ley 35/2006 applies to shares and company participations, not real estate. Leaving Spain still changes your tax picture, but the headline-grabbing charge only bites shareholders with multi-million-euro portfolios.

What is the Spanish exit tax and when does it trigger?

The Spanish exit tax, formally the regime for capital gains due to a change of residence, taxes the latent gain on your shares as if you had sold them on the last day of your final Spanish tax period. It was introduced by Ley 26/2014 and took effect on 1 January 2015, inserting Article 95 bis into the IRPF law (Ley 35/2006). The Agencia Tributaria describes its purpose as preventing the loss of tax revenue when a resident with high-value financial assets moves their tax authority to another country.

The tax only applies when two cumulative conditions are met. First, you must have been a Spanish tax resident for at least 10 of the 15 tax periods preceding the year of departure. Second, your share portfolio must clear one of two economic thresholds set out in Article 95 bis.2: an aggregate market value above EUR 4 million, or a holding exceeding 25 percent of a single entity where that stake is worth more than EUR 1 million. Below those thresholds, no exit tax is owed, however long you lived in Spain.

Crucially, the assets in scope are shares and participations in any type of entity: listed companies, private limited company interests (SL participaciones), foreign company holdings, and collective investment units. Real estate, bonds, bank deposits, and conventional cryptocurrencies fall outside the regime. If your wealth is concentrated in a Marbella villa rather than a company, the exit tax does not touch it.

Does the exit tax apply to your Spanish property?

No. This is the point most often misunderstood by owners planning a return to the UK, Germany, or the Nordics. The exit tax is a securities charge. Your Spanish property, whether a holiday apartment in Estepona or a villa in Nueva Andalucia, does not trigger Article 95 bis.

What does change when you leave is the tax treatment of any income that property produces. As a resident you paid IRPF on rental income at progressive rates up to 47 percent on the general base. Once you become non-resident, that same rental income moves to the Impuesto sobre la Renta de no Residentes (IRNR), filed via Modelo 210. The IRNR rate on rental income is 19 percent if you live in the EU, Iceland, or Norway, and 24 percent if you live elsewhere, applied to gross rent with no deductible expenses for non-EU residents.

If the property sits empty and is for your own use, you owe annual imputed income tax: 1.1 or 2 percent of the cadastral value, taxed at the same 19 or 24 percent IRNR rate. Our guide to annual property taxes for non-residents covers the full filing cycle.

How does the Beckham Law change the residency count?

If you moved to Spain under the special expat tax regime in Article 93 Ley 35/2006, commonly called the Beckham Law, the exit tax clock does not start ticking until you leave that regime. The 10-of-15-years requirement counts only tax periods in which the special regime did not apply.

The practical effect: a relocator who spends five years under the flat 24 percent Beckham rate and then leaves Spain has accrued zero years toward the exit tax threshold. They can depart without any Article 95 bis exposure, regardless of share portfolio size. Our Beckham Law guide explains the six-year special regime in full.

How is the exit tax gain calculated and at what rate?

The taxable base is the positive difference between the market value of your shares on the accrual date and their acquisition value. Latent losses are not computed against gains; the regime taxes gains only. Listed securities use the quotation price on a regulated market. Unlisted participations use the higher of net equity in the last balance sheet or a 20 percent capitalisation of average profits over the last three closed corporate years.

The gain is added to your savings tax base (base del ahorro) and taxed on the IRPF savings scale. Since Ley 7/2024 took effect on 1 January 2025, that scale runs from 19 percent on the first EUR 6,000 up to 30 percent on the portion above EUR 300,000. The Agencia Tributaria publishes the full state scale, which is set out in Article 66.2 of Ley 35/2006.

Savings base (EUR)	Rate
0 to 6,000	19%
6,000 to 50,000	21%
50,000 to 200,000	23%
200,000 to 300,000	27%
Above 300,000	30%

If you lose residency mid-year, the gain is imputed via a supplementary self-assessment with no penalty, late-payment interest, or surcharge. The Agencia Tributaria manual is explicit on this point.

Can you defer the Spanish exit tax?

Yes, and deferral is often the main planning lever. Article 95 bis offers two deferral routes depending on your destination.

If you relocate to an EU or EEA member state, you qualify for an automatic 10-year deferral under paragraph 6. No bank guarantee is required and no late-payment interest accrues. The gain is only self-assessed if a reactivating event occurs within the 10-year window: a sale, a gift, a further loss of EU or EEA residency, or a breach of the reporting duty. If the decade elapses without such an event, the deferral consolidates and the gain is never taxed. Switzerland qualifies under the same regime under the Agreement on Free Movement of Persons.

If you move to a third country that has a double taxation treaty with Spain including information exchange, you may qualify for a 5-year deferral under paragraph 4. This route typically requires a bank guarantee. Moving to a country Spain considers a tax haven triggers immediate payment with no deferral available.

What happens to your property tax when you leave Spain?

Leaving Spanish tax residency shifts your property obligations from IRPF to IRNR. The transition is mechanical, but it is where most owners miss filings. You must notify the Agencia Tributaria of your change of residence using Modelo 030, the census declaration that updates your fiscal domicile. Until that filing is processed, the tax authority continues to treat you as a resident, with IRPF obligations.

After departure, three ongoing property taxes apply:

1. Imputed income tax (Modelo 210) on any property not rented out and available for your own use, calculated on 1.1 or 2 percent of the cadastral value at your 19 or 24 percent IRNR rate.
2. Rental income tax (Modelo 210) at 19 percent for EU or EEA residents, or 24 percent for others, on gross rent. EU residents can deduct expenses; non-EU residents cannot.
3. Capital gains on sale, where a 3 percent buyer retention is applied under Modelo 211 and settled via Modelo 210, alongside the plusvalia municipal on the land value increase.

Our selling property guide and non-resident CGT guide walk through the sale process in detail, including the 3 percent retention mechanism and how to claim a refund if the actual gain is lower than the retention.

How do you formally cease Spanish tax residency?

Ceasing residency is not automatic. You must file Modelo 030 with the Agencia Tributaria to declare your change of fiscal domicile. If you were registered on the municipal padron (empadronamiento), you should also notify the town hall, though padron deregistration alone does not change your tax status. Some owners assume that physically leaving Spain ends their obligations; it does not. Until Modelo 030 is filed, the Agencia Tributaria considers you a resident and expects IRPF filings.

If you own a company holding Spanish property, the SL corporate ownership route has its own exit considerations. Our buying property through a company guide covers the corporate tax side, and the capital repatriation guide covers moving sale proceeds out of Spain once you have sold.

What about wealth tax and Modelo 720 on departure?

Two further regimes interact with leaving Spain. The wealth tax (impuesto sobre el patrimonio) applies to residents on their worldwide assets. Once you become non-resident, it applies only to Spanish-situated assets, and only if their value exceeds the filing threshold. Andalucia applies a 100 percent bonification up to EUR 2 million under Decreto-ley 7/2022, which means most non-resident property owners in the region owe nothing, though they may still need to file. Our wealth tax for non-residents guide details the exemption.

Modelo 720, the declaration of foreign assets, is a resident-only obligation. Once you cease residency you no longer file it, but you must keep records of your final filing for at least four years, as the Agencia Tributaria can look back. The Modelo 720 guide explains the scope and the common non-compliance penalties.

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and individual circumstances differ. Verify current requirements with an independent lawyer (abogado) or tax advisor (gestor or asesor fiscal) before acting.