The plusvalia municipal in Spain in 2026: IIVTNU calculation, the two methods and the Tribunal Supremo refund route

The plusvalia municipal, formally the Impuesto sobre el Incremento de Valor de los Terrenos de Naturaleza Urbana (IIVTNU), is a local tax every Spanish town hall charges on the increase in urban land value between the date you bought a property and the date you sell, inherit or donate it. Since the Constitutional Court struck down the old single-method system in STC 182/2021 and parliament passed RDL 26/2021 to replace it, sellers can choose between two calculation methods and pay the lower result. The tax applies only to the land element, not the building, and the deadline is 30 working days from the deed for sales. In February 2026 the Tribunal Supremo confirmed that taxpayers who paid plusvalia under the old unconstitutional method can claim indemnification from the State, even on firm liquidations, opening a refund route no competitor explains.

What is the plusvalia municipal and who pays it?

The plusvalia municipal is a municipal capital gains tax on the increase in the value of urban land, charged by the town hall (ayuntamiento) rather than by the central tax authority (AEAT). It is governed by Articles 104 to 110 of the consolidated Texto Refundido de la Ley Reguladora de las Haciendas Locales (TRLRHL), approved by Real Decreto Legislativo 2/2004 of 5 March. The tax is devenged on any transmission of urban land, whether by sale, inheritance, donation, exchange or aportacion to a company.

The taxpayer depends on the type of transfer. For a sale (transmision inter vivos), the seller pays. For an inheritance (transmision mortis causa), the heir or beneficiary pays. For a donation, the recipient pays. The tax base is the increase in the cadastral value of the land, not the total property value and not the capital gain on the building. This is the key distinction from the national capital gains tax (IRNR for non-residents, IRPF for residents), which taxes the gain on the whole property. A seller can owe plusvalia even when the overall property gain is small, because land values may have risen independently of the building.

For the broader selling process and how the plusvalia fits alongside the 3 per cent buyer retention and the Modelo 210 capital gains return, see our selling property timeline guide. For the capital gains tax itself, see our non-resident CGT and 3 per cent retention guide.

How did the two-method system come about?

Three Constitutional Court rulings between 2017 and 2021 reshaped the plusvalia. STC 59/2017 (11 May) declared the old objective-only system unconstitutional insofar as it taxed situations where no increase in value had occurred. STC 126/2019 (31 October) went further, declaring the system unconstitutional where the tax bill exceeded the actual gain. STC 182/2021 (26 October), the decisive ruling, declared the entire objective-only framework unconstitutional and left a legislative vacuum that made the tax unenforceable until parliament acted.

The government responded with Real Decreto-ley 26/2021 of 8 November (BOE-A-2021-18276), in force from 10 November 2021. The reform made three structural changes. First, Article 104.5 introduced a no-subjection rule: if no increase in land value occurred, the transfer is not subject to the tax at all. Second, Article 107 was rewritten to make the objective method optional rather than mandatory, and a new Article 107.5 introduced the real-gain method as an alternative the seller can request. Third, the coefficient table in Article 107.4 was updated and made subject to annual revision through the national budget law.

The practical effect is that a seller now calculates the tax under both methods and pays the lower figure. If the property was held for a long time in an area where land values stagnated, the real-gain method often produces a much lower bill. If the property was held briefly in a rising market, the objective method may be cheaper. The choice is per transaction, not per taxpayer, and the seller must actively request the real-gain method.

How does the objective method work?

The objective method calculates the tax base by multiplying the cadastral land value at the moment of the transfer by a coefficient based on the number of complete years the property was held. The formula is:

Tax base = Cadastral land value x Coefficient (by years held)

Tax due = Tax base x Municipal tax rate

The cadastral land value is the value the Catastro assigns to the land element of the property, separate from the construction value. It appears on the IBI receipt and on the catastral certificate. The coefficients are set by the central government as maximums and can be lowered by each municipality in its ordenanza fiscal. The table in Article 107.4 of the TRLRHL, as updated by Article 24 of RDL 8/2023 for devengos from 1 January 2024 onwards, sets the following maximums:

Years held	Coefficient (max)
Under 1 year	0.15
1 year	0.15
2 years	0.14
3 years	0.14
4 years	0.16
5 years	0.18
6 years	0.19
7 years	0.20
8 years	0.19
9 years	0.15
10 years	0.12
11 years	0.10
12 years	0.09
13 years	0.09
14 years	0.09
15 years	0.09
16 years	0.10
17 years	0.13
18 years	0.17
19 years	0.23
20 years or more	0.40

These coefficients are the current maximums for 2026. The government attempted to update them twice through emergency decrees, but Congress rejected both. RDL 9/2024 of 23 December attempted a coefficient update for 2025 devengos, but the Pleno of the Congress of Deputies rejected it on 22 January 2025 (BOE-A-2025-1136). RDL 16/2025 of 23 December attempted another update for 2026 devengos, but Congress rejected it on 27 January 2026 (BOE-A-2026-2024). The RDL 8/2023 coefficient table therefore remains the current maximums for 2026 devengos. During the brief windows each decree was in force (24 December to 22 January 2025, and 24 December 2025 to 27 January 2026), those coefficients applied to transmissions in those periods. Town halls may apply lower coefficients in their local ordinances but cannot exceed these maximums.

The municipal tax rate (tipo de gravamen) is set by each town hall up to a legal maximum of 30 per cent under Article 107.4. Marbella and most Costa del Sol municipalities apply the maximum or a rate close to it. The rate is applied to the tax base to produce the final bill.

How does the real-gain method work?

The real-gain method, introduced by Article 107.5 of the TRLRHL, calculates the tax base as the actual increase in the value of the land between acquisition and transmission. The seller must request this method and provide the title deeds showing both the purchase price and the sale price. The calculation extracts the land element from the total property value by applying the proportion that the cadastral land value represents of the total cadastral value at the date of devengo.

The formula, derived from Article 104.5 and Article 107.5, is:

1. Determine the land proportion: cadastral land value divided by total cadastral value at devengo
2. Apply that proportion to the sale price and the purchase price to extract the land value at each date
3. Calculate the real gain: land value at sale minus land value at purchase
4. Tax base = real gain (if positive); if zero or negative, Article 104.5 exempts the transfer

The seller chooses whichever method produces the lower tax bill. If the real gain is negative (the land lost value), no tax is due at all under the no-subjection rule in Article 104.5. The seller must still declare the transmission and provide both deeds, but the tax is not devenged.

This method is particularly valuable in areas where the cadastral land value has risen significantly faster than actual market land values, or where a property was held for many years through a market downturn. It is also the route for challenging an objective-method bill that appears confiscatory, as our property tax appeals guide explains in detail.

A worked example: selling a Marbella apartment after 10 years

Consider a non-resident who bought an apartment in Marbella for EUR 400,000 in 2016 and sells it for EUR 520,000 in 2026, ten years later. The cadastral value of the property at the time of sale is EUR 120,000, of which EUR 30,000 corresponds to the land. The Marbella town hall applies the maximum 30 per cent tax rate.

Objective method:

• Cadastral land value: EUR 30,000
• Coefficient for 10 years (2026 table): 0.12
• Tax base: EUR 30,000 x 0.12 = EUR 3,600
• Tax due: EUR 3,600 x 30 per cent = EUR 1,080

Real-gain method:

• Land proportion: EUR 30,000 / EUR 120,000 = 25 per cent
• Land value at purchase: EUR 400,000 x 25 per cent = EUR 100,000
• Land value at sale: EUR 520,000 x 25 per cent = EUR 130,000
• Real gain: EUR 130,000 minus EUR 100,000 = EUR 30,000
• Tax base: EUR 30,000
• Tax due: EUR 30,000 x 30 per cent = EUR 9,000

In this example the objective method produces the lower bill (EUR 1,080 versus EUR 9,000), so the seller chooses it. The result flips for short hold in flat markets: a property bought for EUR 500,000 and sold two years later for EUR 510,000 would produce a small real gain on the land but a potentially higher objective-method bill if the cadastral land value is substantial.

Can you claim back plusvalia paid when there was no real gain?

The Constitutional Court rulings opened a refund route that the Tribunal Supremo has progressively consolidated. The key development is that taxpayers who paid plusvalia under the old unconstitutional objective method, where no actual land value increase occurred, can recover the amount paid even if the liquidation became firm, through a state liability (responsabilidad patrimonial del Estado legislador) action.

In STS 339/2024 of 28 February 2024, the Tribunal Supremo reversed its earlier jurisprudence and held that firm liquidations are nul de pleno derecho when no land value increase occurred, because the STC 59/2017 declaration of unconstitutionality carried no temporal limitation. The court found that applying an unconstitutional law imposed a tax burden where no economic capacity existed, violating Article 31.1 of the Constitution, and that Article 217.1.g of the Ley General Tributaria permits revision of firm liquidations in these circumstances.

In STS 3/2026, issued in February 2026, the Tribunal Supremo went further and recognised the right of a property developer to be indemnified by the State with EUR 22,939.71 plus interest for plusvalia paid on a 2015 transfer where no real land value increase occurred. The court held that all requirements of Article 32.4 of Ley 40/2015 (responsabilidad patrimonial del Estado legislador) were met: the taxpayer had challenged the liquidation, had expressly alleged the absence of a real gain, the applicable norm was later declared unconstitutional, and the economic damage was real, evaluable and individualised. The ruling does not open the door to mass claims, but it consolidates the route for taxpayers who meet all four conditions.

In STS 12/2026 of 14 January 2026, the Tribunal Supremo clarified the deadline for these claims. The one-year period under Article 32.4 of Ley 40/2015 runs from the date the taxpayer obtains a firm court decision, and the Constitutional Court’s limitation of temporal effects in STC 182/2021 does not exclude the autonomous state liability action. The court stressed that the dies a quo cannot be fixed in a way that makes the one-year deadline impossible or illusory.

The practical takeaway for a non-resident seller who paid plusvalia before November 2021 under the old objective method, and whose transfer produced no real land value gain, is that a refund claim may still be possible if the liquidation was challenged at the time and the absence of a gain was alleged. This is a separate route from the Article 104.5 no-subjection rule that applies to current transfers, and it requires legal proceedings against the State rather than a simple municipal refund request.

What is the filing deadline and what happens if you miss it?

The filing deadline is set by Article 110.2 of the TRLRHL. For inter vivos transfers (sales and donations), the period is 30 working days from the date of the public deed. For transmissions mortis causa (inheritances), the period is six months from the date of death, extendable to one year on request of the taxpayer. Working days exclude weekends and Spanish national and local public holidays, so the practical calendar window for a sale is approximately 42 calendar days, though this varies by municipality and holiday calendar.

Most Costa del Sol town halls operate an autoliquidacion system under Article 110.4, meaning the seller (or their gestor) calculates and pays the tax themselves within the 30 working day window, rather than waiting for the town hall to issue a bill. The filing is done through the municipal tax portal or in person at the town hall’s tax office.

Missing the deadline triggers late payment surcharges under the general tax law (Ley 58/2003 General Tributaria). A voluntary late payment (before any demand) accrues a 1 per cent surcharge per month of delay up to 12 months, after which a 15 per cent penalty plus interest applies. If the town hall issues a demand and the tax remains unpaid, the recargo de apremio applies: 5 per cent if paid within the enforcement period, 10 per cent if the reduced period is missed, or 20 per cent with interest if the ordinary period expires. The practical risk for a non-resident seller who flies home after the notary without filing is that the objective method is applied automatically with surcharges, losing the right to choose the cheaper real-gain method.

The plusvalia filing deadline differs from other property tax deadlines. AEAT tax prescription runs to four years under Article 66 of the Ley General Tributaria, while community fee debts prescribe after five years under the Codigo Civil as reformed in 2024. Our property tax prescription guide and community debt prescription guide explain those separate clocks. The plusvalia itself has no specific prescription period in the TRLRHL; it follows the general LGT rules, meaning the town hall has four years to assess and collect.

How does the plusvalia interact with the capital gains tax?

The plusvalia municipal and the non-resident capital gains tax (IRNR) are two separate taxes on the same sale, charged by different authorities on different bases. The IRNR, declared on Modelo 210, taxes the gain on the whole property (land and building) at a flat 19 per cent for EU, Iceland and Norway residents and 24 per cent for others, with a 3 per cent buyer retention under Modelo 211. The plusvalia taxes only the land value increase at the municipal rate. Both must be paid, and the deadlines differ: the plusvalia is due within 30 working days of the deed, while the Modelo 210 capital gains return is due within four months of the sale (one month for the buyer’s Modelo 211 retention plus three months for the seller’s Modelo 210 filing).

A seller who correctly calculates the real-gain plusvalia can use the same land-value evidence to support the IRNR capital gains calculation, since both depend on the purchase and sale prices. The plusvalia paid to the town hall is not deductible from the IRNR capital gain; it is a separate cost. For the full selling timeline with all tax deadlines, see our selling property timeline guide, and for the IRNR capital gains mechanics, see our non-resident CGT guide. If you are repatriating sale proceeds, see our capital repatriation guide.

What coefficients apply in 2026 and why did they change?

The coefficient table in Article 107.4 of the TRLRHL has been updated three times since the 2021 reform, but two of those updates were rejected by Congress. The original RDL 26/2021 set the first post-reform table. RDL 8/2023 of 27 December (Article 24) updated the coefficients for devengos from 1 January 2024 onwards, reflecting movements in the real estate market. RDL 9/2024 of 23 December attempted a further update for 2025 devengos, but the Pleno of the Congress of Deputies rejected the decree on 22 January 2025 (BOE-A-2025-1136). RDL 16/2025 of 23 December attempted another update for 2026 devengos, but Congress rejected it on 27 January 2026 (BOE-A-2026-2024) after 35 days of provisional application. The RDL 8/2023 coefficients remain the current maximums for 2026 devengos.

The practical consequence for a 2026 sale is that the RDL 8/2023 coefficient table applies. Town halls that had already updated their ordinances to the RDL 16/2025 or RDL 9/2024 values before their rejection must revert to the RDL 8/2023 maximums, though in practice most municipalities apply the state maximums directly. During the brief windows each rejected decree was in force, those coefficients applied to transmissions in that period. Sellers should confirm the applicable coefficient with their town hall or gestor before filing.

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.