Selling Property in Spain as a Non-Resident: 19% CGT, the 3% Retention and Plusvalía

Selling a property in Spain as a non-resident in 2026 means three distinct charges stack at different times: the flat 19% capital gains tax (IRNR) declared on the seller’s Modelo 210, the 3% buyer retention paid at the notary and declared on the buyer’s Modelo 211, and plusvalia municipal billed by the town hall separately. The retention is an advance, not a tax, and it is refundable if the declared gain is lower than the retention. The plusvalia is a separate municipal levy on the land element of the gain, with a choice of two calculation methods after the 2021 Constitutional Court ruling. The mechanic is well-trodden; the miscalculation risk is highest when the seller accepts a generic IRNR figure without checking allowable acquisition costs, the cadastral reference value, and the lower of the two plusvalia methods.

What is the 3% retention and why does the buyer pay it at the notary?

The 3% retention is a mandatory advance payment that the buyer calculates on the official sale price, retains from the seller’s price, and pays directly into the Agencia Tributaria at the notary on the day of the public deed of sale (escritura publica). It exists because the seller, as a non-resident, is harder to collect from if they default on the capital gains filing, so the law takes the cash up front and lets the seller reconcile later. The buyer files Modelo 211 declaring the retention within one month. The seller then files Modelo 210 declaring the actual capital gain, deducts the retention already paid, and either settles the difference or claims a refund if the retention exceeds the final IRNR.

The retention rate is 3% of the declared sale price, regardless of whether the seller actually made a gain. The only exemptions are: (a) sales for less than the original purchase price, where the buyer can be released from the retention by proving a loss on a declared-value basis; (b) sales to a non-resident buyer where the seller appoints a Spanish tax representative who guarantees the IRNR; and (c) sales of a primary residence (vivienda habitual) where the seller is a resident moving abroad, in which case the special rules under IRPF apply instead.

How is the 19% IRNR capital gains tax calculated on a 2026 Costa del Sol sale?

The IRNR capital gain is the difference between the official sale price and the higher of (a) the original declared purchase price plus documented acquisition costs and (b) the cadastral reference value of the land at the time of sale. The flat 19% under the Impuesto sobre la Renta de No Residentes applies to the difference, per the consolidated text of the IRNR in Real Decreto Legislativo 5/2004, de 5 de marzo. The seller declares the actual gain on Modelo 210, attaches the escritura de compraventa, the escritura de venta, the costs evidence, the NIE and the non-resident certificate, and files within the statutory window. The 3% retention the buyer paid is deducted; if the retention exceeds the IRNR due, the seller claims the excess back in the same filing.

A worked example illustrates the mechanic. A non-resident owner bought a Costa del Sol villa in 2019 for EUR 700,000, paying EUR 49,000 ITP (Andalusia 7%), EUR 8,000 in notary and registry, EUR 6,000 in legal fees, and EUR 3,500 in valuation, for a documented acquisition base of EUR 766,500. The owner sells in 2026 for EUR 1,100,000. The cadastral reference value of the land at the time of sale is EUR 320,000; the original cadastral reference value at the time of purchase was EUR 220,000, so the cadastral-difference test is EUR 100,000, well below the EUR 400,000 sale-price gain. The taxable gain is therefore the sale price minus the documented base, EUR 1,100,000 minus EUR 766,500 = EUR 333,500. The IRNR due is 19% of EUR 333,500 = EUR 63,365. The buyer retained 3% of EUR 1,100,000 = EUR 33,000 at the notary. The seller pays the difference, EUR 63,365 minus EUR 33,000 = EUR 30,365, in the Modelo 210 filing. If the seller had reinvested the gain in another Spanish property, the analysis changes; for the non-resident primary-residence case, the 19% IRNR rate is replaced by the Spanish IRPF scale and the reinvestment rules in the IRPF statute.

What is plusvalia municipal and how is it calculated in 2026?

Plusvalia municipal (formally the Impuesto sobre el Incremento del Valor de los Terrenos de Naturaleza Urbana, IIVTNU) is a separate capital-gains-style tax charged by the town hall on the increase in the cadastral value of the land, not the property, between the original purchase and the current sale. It is a municipal tax, billed directly by the ayuntamiento, and it is collected on top of the IRNR. The 2021 Spanish Constitutional Court ruling (STC 182/2021) declared the original objective-only calculation method unconstitutional and gave taxpayers the choice of two methods: the objective method (the town hall’s formula on the cadastral value multiplied by the years held and the municipal coefficient table) and the real-gain method (the actual gain on the land element, which the seller can evidence). The seller chooses the lower of the two, on a per-year basis or on the whole sale.

The objective method in 2026 is calculated by taking the cadastral value of the land at the time of sale, multiplying by the annual coefficient for the year of purchase (set by each municipality, with Andalusia town halls publishing updated tables each fiscal year) and the number of complete years held, then multiplying by the local tax rate (typically 20% to 30% for Marbella and surrounding municipalities). The real-gain method is calculated by an independent valuation, accepted by the town hall, of the increase in the market value of the land (not the property) between purchase and sale. For many 2019-2026 purchases in Marbella, the real-gain method produces a lower result because the cadastral coefficient has been capped; for legacy purchases (pre-2000), the objective method can sometimes be lower because the years-held multiplier compresses later gains. The seller should run both before paying.

How does the Modelo 211 buyer retention and the Modelo 210 seller refund path fit together?

The two forms are a matched pair filed at opposite ends of the same transaction. The buyer’s Modelo 211 is the declaration that the buyer paid the 3% retention to the Agencia Tributaria at the notary. The seller’s Modelo 210 is the declaration of the actual IRNR capital gain and the resulting balance or refund. The notary holds the original retention receipt and the buyer must deliver it to the seller on the day of the deed so the seller can attach it to the Modelo 210. The Agencia Tributaria reconciles the two filings; a clean reconciliation lands the refund in the seller’s Spanish bank account or in the currency of the original payment, depending on the seller’s representative arrangement.

Filing	Who files	When	What it does
Modelo 211	The buyer	Within 1 month of the public deed	Declares the 3% retention paid at the notary
Modelo 210 (IRNR)	The seller (or the seller’s tax representative)	Within 4 months of the sale (3 months in some non-EU cases)	Declares the actual capital gain, allowable costs, and the IRNR due
Plusvalia municipal	The seller (or the seller’s gestor)	Within 30 working days of the sale (municipal deadline)	Pays the IIVTNU to the town hall, choosing the lower of the two methods

A non-resident seller who filed Modelo 210 with a refund claim and did not appoint a Spanish tax representative can wait 12 to 18 months for the refund; a seller with a representative typically waits 4 to 12 months. The seller’s fee for the tax representative is a documented cost of the sale, deductible on the IRNR calculation.

How do Beckham-regime sellers pay CGT on a 2026 property sale?

A non-resident seller who arrived in Spain under the special impatriado regime (Ley 28/2022, the so-called Beckham regime) and is still inside the six-year window becomes an IRPF taxpayer, not an IRNR taxpayer, for the first six years of Spanish tax residency. The 19% flat IRNR rate does not apply. The IRPF scale applies: 19% on the first EUR 6,000 of taxable savings income, 21% from EUR 6,000 to EUR 50,000, 23% from EUR 50,000 to EUR 200,000, 27% from EUR 200,000 to EUR 300,000, and 28% above EUR 300,000 (2026 brackets; verify against the AEAT scale on filing). The 3% retention at the notary still happens (the buyer’s obligation is unchanged), but the seller reconciles against the IRPF scale on the Modelo 100 filing, not the IRNR flat rate on the Modelo 210. Many advisors conflate the two: a Beckham seller who files Modelo 210 at 19% overpays and then has to amend. The disambiguation matters because the Beckham regime exit rules (Real Decreto Legislativo 5/2004 dispositions) are not a smooth handoff.

What is the realistic 2026 timeline and total cost for a non-resident seller?

A 2026 sale on the Costa del Sol, with a Spanish tax representative appointed, typically runs as follows.

Step	Window	Cost component
Notary retention paid to AEAT (Modelo 211 by buyer)	Day of deed	3% of sale price
Plusvalia municipal paid to town hall	30 working days	Objective or real-gain method, whichever is lower
Modelo 210 filed by seller’s representative	4 months from sale	IRNR at 19% on the gain, less the 3% retention
IRNR settlement or refund	4 to 12 months from filing	Net cost is IRNR due minus retention; refund is the excess retention

The non-resident CGT process on a Costa del Sol sale in 2026 is operationally clean, and the tax representative fee (typically EUR 200 to EUR 600) is a documented deduction. The two recurring failure modes are a seller who skips the appointment of a representative and waits 18 months for a refund that lands slowly, and a Beckham-regime seller who files on the wrong form. The non-resident mortgage guide explains how the mortgage cancellation tax (AJD on the deed of cancellation) fits the same sale. The 100% surcharge myth explainer shows why the recargo does not apply to the resale-side tax stack this post covers. The Estepona guide walks through the Marbella plusvalia plus the IRNR stack on a New Golden Mile resale. The common mistakes buying in Spain guide names the tax-representative appointment as the third item in the 2026 pitfalls playbook. The Spain Golden Visa status post sets out the visa-termination tax base that this post reconciles on sale.

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/asesor fiscal) before acting. The 3% retention and the 19% IRNR apply at the date of the public deed; the AEAT form windows and the plusvalia municipal deadlines must be confirmed with the seller’s tax representative on the day.