Imputed income tax for non-resident property owners in Spain: the empty-home tax explained (2026)

Spain taxes non-resident owners of empty or second homes on a notional rental income called imputación de rentas inmobiliarias, even when the property earns no actual rent. The taxable base is 1.1% or 2% of the property’s cadastral value, taxed at 19% for EU and EEA residents or 24% for non-EU residents, filed annually on Modelo 210. No expenses are deductible from this base. It is the most overlooked non-resident property tax because owners who never rent out their home assume they owe nothing, and the Agencia Tributaria treats the charge as mandatory for every urban property that is neither a main residence nor let.

What is imputed income tax on Spanish property?

Imputed income tax is a Spanish tax charge that assumes a notional rental income from any urban property you own that is not your main residence and is not rented out. The Spanish tax authority does not care whether the property actually generates income. It treats the ownership of an empty or personally used second home as an economic benefit and taxes you on a presumed yield derived from the cadastral value. The legal basis for non-residents is Article 13.1.h of the Ley IRNR (Real Decreto Legislativo 5/2004), which classifies imputed rental income from urban property as Spanish-source income for non-resident individuals. The calculation rules live in Articles 24, 25 and 26 of the Ley IRNR, which cross-reference Article 85 of Ley 35/2006 (the IRPF framework) and the Disposición Adicional Quincuagésima Quinta of the same law. The AEAT’s non-resident property taxation page confirms that the imputed income regime applies to “personas físicas no residentes, titulares de inmuebles urbanos situados en territorio español, utilizados para su uso propio no afectos a actividades económicas, o vacíos” (non-resident individuals who own urban property in Spain used for their own purposes or left empty).

Who has to pay imputed income tax in Spain?

Every non-resident individual who owns an urban property in Spain that is not their main residence and is not rented out owes imputed income tax. The charge applies regardless of whether the property is used by the owner, left completely empty, or used only for holidays. There are five exclusions the AEAT sets out on its “A qué inmuebles se imputan rentas inmobiliarias” page. The property must be urban (not rustic agricultural land), must not be used for business activities, must not generate rental income, must not be the owner’s main residence, and must not be unbuilt land or property under construction. If you rent the property out, you pay rental income tax on the actual rent instead, and the imputed charge is reduced proportionally for the days the property was let. A company holding empty property faces no equivalent imputed income charge under the corporate tax regime, which is a structural difference worth noting if you are weighing personal versus corporate ownership, as we explain in our guide to annual property taxes for non-residents.

How is the imputed income tax calculated?

The taxable base is a percentage of the property’s cadastral value, which appears on your annual IBI receipt. The percentage is either 1.1% or 2%, and the choice depends on whether the municipal cadastral values have been revised.

The 1.1% rate applies when the cadastral values in the municipality where the property sits were revised, modified or determined through a general collective valuation procedure under Spain’s cadastre rules, and that revision entered into force on or after 1 January 2012. The Agencia Tributaria’s 2026 regulatory update page confirms that this reduced rate was extended for the 2023, 2024 and 2025 tax periods by Real Decreto-ley 2/2026. If the cadastral values were last revised before 2012, the general 2% rate applies. You can check the year of the last collective valuation for your municipality on the Catastro’s Ponencias de Valores portal.

The calculation formula, as set out on the AEAT’s calculation page, is straightforward:

Cadastral value x imputed percentage x (days not rented / 365) x ownership share x tax rate

No expenses of any kind may be deducted from the base. The AEAT states this explicitly: “Sobre el importe resultante de la aplicación del porcentaje que, en cada caso, corresponda no procederá la deducción de ningún tipo de gasto.” This is the critical distinction from rental income tax, where EU residents can deduct mortgage interest, community fees, insurance and maintenance costs. If you want to understand what you can deduct against rental income, see our guide to rental tax deductions for non-resident landlords.

What rate do EU and non-EU residents pay?

The tax rate applied to the imputed base depends on where you live, not your nationality. Article 25 of the Ley IRNR, confirmed on the AEAT’s tax rates page, sets the rates:

Owner residency	Tax rate on imputed base
EU, Iceland, Norway (and Liechtenstein since 11 July 2021)	19%
All other non-EU residents	24%

A UK resident who owns an empty apartment in Marbella pays 24%. A German resident who owns the same property pays 19%. The rate is applied to the full imputed base with no deductions, no allowances and no threshold. If you need a broader picture of how the non-resident tax regime works across rental, capital gains and imputed income, our guide to the IRNR framework covers the full structure.

A worked example: the empty Marbella apartment

Consider a UK resident who owns a two-bedroom apartment in Marbella with a cadastral value of EUR 100,000. The municipality of Marbella revised its cadastral values through a collective valuation that entered into force after 1 January 2012, so the 1.1% rate applies. The property is empty all year.

The calculation:

Step	Component	Value
1	Cadastral value	EUR 100,000
2	Imputed percentage (revised cadastral values)	1.1%
3	Imputed base (step 1 x step 2)	EUR 1,100
4	Days not rented / 365	365/365 = 1
5	Ownership share	100%
6	Tax rate (non-EU, UK resident)	24%
7	Tax due (step 3 x step 4 x step 5 x step 6)	EUR 264

If the same owner were a German resident, the tax due would be EUR 209 (19% of EUR 1,100). If the cadastral values had not been revised since before 2012, the 2% rate would apply and the non-EU owner would owe EUR 480.

If the property were rented for 200 days and empty for 165, the imputed base would be prorated: EUR 1,100 x (165/365) = EUR 497, and the non-EU tax due would be EUR 119. The rental income for the 200 let days would be taxed separately under the rental income tax regime on Modelo 210.

Which properties are exempt from imputed income tax?

Five categories of property do not trigger the imputed income charge, according to the AEAT’s eligibility page:

Property type	Exempt?	Reason
Your main residence (if Spanish tax resident)	Yes	Article 85 excludes the main residence
Property rented out	Yes for let period	Rental income is taxed separately instead
Unbuilt land (suelo no edificado)	Yes	No urban property to impute
Property under construction	Yes	Not susceptible to use
Property affected to business activity	Yes	Taxed under business provisions
Urban second home, empty or personal use	No	This is the chargeable category

The main residence exclusion only helps if you are a Spanish tax resident. A non-resident by definition cannot have a main residence in Spain for tax purposes (they are non-resident), so every Spanish property a non-resident owns falls outside the main residence exclusion and is chargeable unless it is let. This is why the tax catches so many foreign owners by surprise. Our guide to owning a second home in Spain as a non-resident explains the usage and residency rules in more detail.

How does the cadastral value affect your imputed tax bill?

The cadastral value is the anchor of the entire calculation. It is the valuation the Dirección General del Catastro assigns to every property in Spain, and it appears on your annual IBI receipt. A higher cadastral value means a higher imputed base and a higher tax bill. The cadastral value is separate from the valor de referencia de la catastro, which was introduced in January 2022 as a minimum tax base for transfer tax (ITP) and VAT purposes and does not affect the imputed income calculation. Our guide to the valor de referencia explains how that separate reference value works.

If a property has no notified cadastral value at the tax year end (31 December), the AEAT applies the 1.1% rate to 50% of the greater of the acquisition price or the administratively verified value. This is a fallback, not a common scenario, but it matters for newly built or recently registered properties where the cadastre has not yet issued a valuation. For a full explanation of how the cadastral value is set and how it feeds into IBI, see our guide to Catastro and the cadastral value.

How and when do you file the Modelo 210 for imputed income?

The imputed income tax is filed on Modelo 210, the same form used for non-resident rental income and capital gains. The filing is annual, not quarterly, because the imputed income is not rental income and does not fall under the quarterly withholding regime. The deadline is 31 December of the year following the tax year. For the 2025 tax year, you file and pay before 31 December 2026.

Most non-resident owners are required to appoint a fiscal representative in Spain to handle their tax filings. The fiscal representative receives AEAT communications, files the Modelo 210, and ensures the imputed income charge is paid on time. Our guide to the fiscal representative role explains who must appoint one and what it costs.

The AEAT treats the imputed income filing as mandatory. Missing the deadline triggers late payment surcharges (recargo ejecutivo) ranging from 1% to 20% depending on delay, plus interest on arrears at the legal rate. The AEAT’s Annual Tax Control Plans explicitly name non-resident property owners as a priority focus area, as we document in our guide to the AEAT audit process for non-residents.

How does imputed income tax compare to the other non-resident property taxes?

Imputed income is one of three non-resident property taxes. Understanding how they interact prevents double-counting and missed filings.

Tax	When it applies	Taxable base	Rate	Form
Imputed income	Property empty or personal use	1.1% or 2% of cadastral value	19% EU, 24% non-EU	Modelo 210 annual
Rental income	Property let	Net rent (EU) or gross rent (non-EU)	19% EU, 24% non-EU	Modelo 210 quarterly
Capital gains	Property sold	Net gain (sale price minus cost)	19% flat, 3% buyer retention	Modelo 211 + Modelo 210
IBI (local)	All property	Cadastral value x municipal rate	0.4% to 1.1%	Annual IBI bill
Wealth tax (regional)	High-value holdings	Net asset value above threshold	Progressive 0.2% to 3.5%	Modelo 714

The imputed income tax and the rental income tax are mutually exclusive for the same period. If you rent the property for 200 days, you pay rental income tax on the rent for those 200 days and imputed income tax on the notional base prorated for the remaining 165 days. You never pay both on the same day. IBI is a separate local tax that every property owner pays regardless of residency or use. Wealth tax may also apply to high-value holdings under the Andalusia regional regime. Our guide to IBI property tax covers the local tax in detail.

Does the over-65 reinvestment exemption apply to imputed income?

No. This is a common misconception. The over-65 capital gains reinvestment relief in Article 38 of Ley 35/2006 allows a seller over 65 to reinvest the proceeds from selling their main residence into another main residence and pay no capital gains tax. It applies only to capital gains on a main residence sale, not to the annual imputed income charge on a second or empty home. There is no age threshold, no exemption and no allowance for imputed income tax. A 75-year-old non-resident who owns an empty Marbella apartment owes the same imputed income tax as a 35-year-old owner of the same property. The charge is triggered by ownership of a non-main-residence urban property, not by the owner’s age or income level.

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.