As a German national you buy in Spain on the easiest footing there is — an EU citizen, in the same currency, with no immigration limits to clear. But the tax, succession and notary rules are not the ones you know from home. This is what changes when a German buyer purchases a home in Spain, and what to get right before you sign.
Germans are among the largest groups of foreign buyers in Spain, and for good reason: as an EU national you face fewer hurdles than buyers from outside the bloc, and several of the worries that keep British, American or Australian buyers awake — visa limits, currency swings, residency permissions to own — simply do not apply to you in the same way. That does not mean buying in Spain is the same as buying in Germany. The legal system is different, the taxes are different, and the way a sale is handled in front of the notary is different from what you are used to. But the starting point is genuinely favourable, and it helps to understand exactly why before we get into the parts that need care.
Three advantages stand out. First, freedom of movement: as an EU citizen you have the right to live, work and stay in Spain without the 90-day-in-180 limit that restricts non-EU visitors, so a Spanish home can be a true second base rather than something you can only use for part of the year. Second, the shared currency: you buy, pay and are taxed in euros, so there is no exchange-rate risk eating into your budget between reservation and completion, and no cost of moving money across currencies. Third, the EU framework around succession and tax coordination, which — handled properly — lets you keep your Spanish affairs aligned with your German ones rather than running two disconnected systems. The job is to use those advantages deliberately, not to assume they make the Spanish rules behave like German ones.
Three concrete benefits German buyers have that buyers from outside the EU do not — and the one thing none of them removes.
Freedom of movement means you are not capped at 90 days in any 180 as a Schengen visitor would be. You can spend as much of the year in your Spanish home as you wish, and formal residency — when you want it — is a registration process for EU citizens, not a visa application.
Germany and Spain share the euro, so the price you agree is the price you pay. There is no exchange-rate movement between reservation and completion to budget against, and no currency-conversion cost on the purchase funds, the taxes or the ongoing bills.
The EU Succession Regulation lets you choose German law to govern the inheritance of your Spanish estate, and EU rules limit double taxation on cross-border income. Used properly, this keeps your Spanish property aligned with your German planning instead of clashing with it.
What none of these advantages removes is the Spanish layer of obligations. You still need a Spanish tax number, you still pay Spanish purchase and ownership taxes, and a Spanish property still falls under Spanish succession and tax procedures even where German law governs who inherits. The EU framework smooths the edges and prevents the worst double-taxation outcomes; it does not let a German buyer opt out of the Spanish system. The pages that follow take each of those Spanish obligations in turn.
The single most important tax document for a German buyer is the Germany–Spain Double Taxation Agreement (DTA). A revised treaty between the two countries was signed in 2011 and entered into force in 2013, replacing the earlier 1966 convention, and it is the framework that decides which country taxes what when you have income or gains connected to both. For property, the governing principle is simple and consistent: income and gains from immovable property — your Spanish home — are taxable in the country where the property is located. So Spanish-source rental income and the capital gain when you sell a Spanish property are taxed first in Spain, regardless of the fact that you are resident in Germany.
The treaty then protects you from being taxed twice on the same income. Because you remain tax-resident in Germany, Germany also has the right to bring your worldwide income into account — but the DTA provides relief so that the Spanish tax you have paid is recognised. For most German residents the relief on this kind of Spanish property income operates through the exemption-with-progression method rather than a straight credit, which brings us to a feature that genuinely surprises people: the progression clause.
This is one of the biggest cultural gaps for German buyers, and it catches even experienced ones. In Germany you are used to the Notar as a neutral, highly active figure who effectively manages the conveyance: drafting the contract, advising both parties impartially, checking the register, and steering the transaction to a safe completion. Many German buyers arrive in Spain expecting the Spanish notario to play the same role — and then assume that because a notary is involved, their interests are being looked after. They are not, at least not in the way you expect.
The Spanish notario is a public official who authenticates the deed (the escritura), confirms the parties' identities and capacity, and ensures the document is legally formed and properly recorded. But the Spanish notary's role is more limited and more neutral-procedural than the German Notar's: they do not act as your adviser, they do not run the full due diligence on your behalf, they will not negotiate or protect your commercial position, and they are not there to make sure the deal is a good one for you. They verify the deed; they do not safeguard the buyer. That gap — between what a German expects of "the notary" and what a Spanish notary actually does — is precisely why an independent lawyer acting only for you is not optional in Spain in the way it might feel in Germany.
As a non-resident German owner you pay Spanish taxes at purchase and every year you hold the property. These are the main ones.
On a resale home you pay Transfer Tax (ITP) at the regional rate; on a new build from a developer you pay VAT (IVA) plus Stamp Duty (AJD). The taxable base is influenced by the valor de referencia, the Catastro reference value, which since 2022 can sit above the price you actually pay.
Every owner pays the local property tax, IBI (Impuesto sobre Bienes Inmuebles), to the town hall each year. It is based on the cadastral value, not what you paid, and it continues for as long as you own — a modest but unavoidable running cost of Spanish ownership.
As a non-resident owner you file the Modelo 210. If you let the property, you declare the Spanish rental income; if you keep it for your own use, Spain still levies an annual "imputed income" tax on a notional rent. As an EU citizen you can typically deduct allowable expenses against rental income, which non-EU owners cannot.
The non-resident regime is where being an EU citizen pays off again. EU and EEA residents are generally able to deduct expenses related to letting — interest, repairs, agency fees, a share of IBI and community charges — against Spanish rental income, and the applicable rate is lower than that charged to non-EU non-residents who cannot deduct at all. So a German landlord of a Spanish flat is taxed more favourably than, say, a British or American owner in the same position. The detail of what you can deduct, and how the imputed-income charge works when the home sits empty, is exactly the kind of thing we set out clearly before you buy, alongside the full non-resident property tax picture and the wider cost of buying.
Inheritance is the area where German buyers most often assume the German position carries over, and where the reality is more layered. A Spanish property is, for inheritance purposes, a Spanish asset. When the owner dies, Spanish Inheritance and Gift Tax (Impuesto sobre Sucesiones y Donaciones, ISD) can apply to the transfer of that property to the heirs, calculated on a value that cannot be below the valor de referencia and at rates and reliefs set by the relevant autonomous community. So the Spanish home is exposed to Spanish inheritance tax regardless of the fact that the family is German and the heirs live in Germany.
At the same time, Germany levies its own inheritance tax (Erbschaftsteuer) on the worldwide estate of a German-resident deceased or, depending on the situation, on German-resident heirs. That raises the prospect of the same Spanish property being caught by both systems. Crucially, there is no dedicated inheritance-tax treaty between Germany and Spain — the 2013 DTA covers income and capital, not inheritance — so relief from double taxation on death generally comes through Germany's domestic rules for crediting foreign inheritance tax, rather than through a bilateral treaty. The interaction is real, it is technical, and it is one of the strongest reasons for German owners to plan the succession of a Spanish property deliberately rather than leave it to chance. We address the Spanish side in detail in our guide to inheritance tax in Spain, and coordinate with your German advisers on how the two regimes meet.
German buyers typically fund a Spanish purchase in one of two ways, and each has consequences worth weighing before you commit. The first is a Spanish non-resident mortgage: Spanish banks lend to non-resident EU buyers, usually up to around 60–70% of the lower of price and bank valuation, with the loan secured on the Spanish property itself. This keeps the borrowing in euros, matched to the asset and your Spanish income or rent, and ring-fences the debt to the property. It does add Spanish costs — the bank's valuation, arrangement fees, and Stamp Duty on the mortgage deed — and the bank will want to see your German income documentation, which is straightforward but must be properly presented.
The second route is to use German equity — releasing funds against a German property or drawing on German savings or lending — and buy the Spanish home outright. This can be cheaper and quicker, avoids the Spanish mortgage costs, and gives you a stronger negotiating hand as a cash buyer, but it concentrates the borrowing against your German assets and removes the discipline a Spanish lender's valuation imposes. There is no single right answer; it depends on rates, your tax position on both sides, and how you want your exposure structured. What matters legally is that whichever route you choose is reflected properly in the purchase and, where there is a Spanish mortgage, that the loan terms and the deed are reviewed before you sign. We do not arrange finance, but we make sure the financing structure you have chosen is correctly documented and protected within the conveyance.
Before a German buyer can complete a purchase, pay the taxes, or open a Spanish bank account, you need an NIE — the Número de Identidad de Extranjero, the foreigner's identification number that the Spanish system uses to attach you to every tax and registration. There is no buying property in Spain without one. As an EU citizen the process is administrative rather than discretionary: you apply through a Spanish police station or a Spanish consulate in Germany, or — far more conveniently for most buyers — you authorise your lawyer to obtain it on your behalf by power of attorney, so you do not have to make a special trip or queue for an appointment.
The NIE is the first of a short sequence of practical steps that turn a German buyer into a Spanish owner: obtain the NIE; open a Spanish bank account; appoint an independent lawyer and, usually, grant a power of attorney so the purchase can proceed even when you are in Germany; run full legal due diligence on the property; sign the private purchase contract and pay the deposit; and finally complete before the notary, after which the deed is registered and the taxes are filed. None of these steps is difficult in isolation, but the order matters, the timing matters, and a missed check at the due-diligence stage is far harder to fix afterwards. Coordinating the whole sequence — so the NIE, the funds, the contract and the completion line up — is the core of what we do for German buyers, and it is why most clients grant a power of attorney and let us run the process around their schedule rather than theirs around it. You will find the full breakdown of every step and cost in our guide to the cost of buying property in Spain and the wider property legal services we provide.
The German buyer's situation is, in the best sense, a favourable one to manage: you arrive with EU rights, no currency risk and a treaty framework that — handled properly — keeps double taxation in check. The work is not about clearing obstacles that do not exist; it is about making sure the genuine advantages are actually used, and that the Spanish layer of tax, notary procedure and succession is handled to the standard you would expect at home. That means getting the NIE and the bank account in place early, running uncompromising due diligence on the property, recreating through your own independent lawyer the protection a German Notar would give you, and structuring the will and succession so your Spanish home fits your German planning rather than fighting it.
We are a team of bar-registered solicitors and legal specialists who act for English-speaking and German clients across Spain, with extensive experience helping expats buy and own property here. We handle the Spanish side of the tax position — the purchase taxes, the Modelo 210, the inheritance tax exposure — and we coordinate openly with your German Steuerberater on the cross-border treaty and progression questions, because those belong with a German specialist and we will always tell you so. Everything is explained in plain English, and where a piece of work falls outside a clear scope we set out what it involves and quote for it rather than leaving you to guess. Extras may apply depending on the complexity of your matter.
Yes. As an EU citizen, a German national can buy property anywhere in mainland Spain and the islands without any special permission. You need a Spanish tax number (NIE) and a Spanish bank account, but there is no restriction on EU buyers owning Spanish residential property, and freedom of movement means no immigration limit on how long you can stay in it.
No. The 90-days-in-180 Schengen limit applies to non-EU visitors. As a German EU citizen you have freedom of movement and can spend as much of the year in your Spanish home as you wish. If you make Spain your main home, you register as an EU resident — a registration process, not a visa application — rather than applying for a permit.
No. Germany and Spain both use the euro, so the price you agree is the price you pay. There is no exchange-rate movement between reservation and completion to budget against, and no cost of converting currency on the purchase funds, the taxes or the ongoing bills — an advantage non-eurozone buyers do not have.
Under the revised Germany–Spain Double Taxation Agreement, in force since 2013, income and gains from immovable property are taxed in the country where the property is located. So your Spanish rental income and the capital gain when you sell are taxed first in Spain. Germany then gives relief — typically by exemption with progression — so the same income is not taxed twice.
It is a feature of German tax law where income that is exempt in Germany under a treaty can still be counted when working out the rate applied to your remaining German-taxable income. So Spanish rental income may be taxed in Spain and exempt in Germany, yet still raise the effective German rate on your German salary or pension. Your German Steuerberater applies this; we provide the accurate Spanish figures they need.
No. We are Spanish lawyers, not German tax advisers. We handle the Spanish side of your tax — the purchase taxes, the Modelo 210, the inheritance tax exposure — and coordinate with your German Steuerberater so the Spanish and German treatment line up correctly. The German return and computation stay with your German specialist, and we will tell you plainly when a question belongs on the German side.
The German Notar is a neutral but highly active figure who effectively manages the conveyance and checks the register. The Spanish notario authenticates the deed and confirms identity and capacity, but does not run your due diligence, negotiate, or protect your interests as a buyer. That gap is why German buyers need an independent lawyer acting only for them — to do the work they would expect the notary to do at home.
At purchase, Transfer Tax (ITP) on a resale or VAT plus Stamp Duty on a new build. Every year you own, the local IBI property tax to the town hall, and the non-resident income tax via the Modelo 210 — on rental income if you let it, or on a notional "imputed income" if you keep it for your own use. As an EU citizen you can usually deduct letting expenses and pay a lower rate than non-EU owners.
Potentially, yes. A Spanish property is exposed to Spanish Inheritance and Gift Tax (ISD), and a German-resident estate or heir can also be within German inheritance tax. There is no inheritance-tax treaty between the two countries, so relief from double taxation usually relies on Germany crediting the Spanish tax under its own domestic rules. This makes early, coordinated succession planning particularly worthwhile.
Generally yes. A separate Spanish will covering only your Spanish property makes the succession far quicker and cheaper for your heirs and avoids them having to translate, legalise and prove a German will through the Spanish system. It must be drafted to sit alongside your German will without revoking it — which is exactly the kind of coordination we handle for German clients.
Yes. Under the EU Succession Regulation you can expressly elect the law of your nationality — German law — to govern who inherits your estate, including your Spanish property. This keeps German succession rules deciding the distribution rather than Spanish forced-heirship rules, while the property remains a Spanish asset for tax and procedure. The election must be made correctly in the will to be effective.
It depends on your circumstances. A Spanish non-resident mortgage keeps the borrowing in euros and secured on the Spanish property, usually up to around 60–70% of value, but adds Spanish costs. Using German equity can be cheaper and makes you a cash buyer with more negotiating power, but concentrates the debt against your German assets. We do not arrange finance, but we make sure whichever structure you choose is properly documented in the purchase.
Yes — every buyer needs an NIE (foreigner's identification number) to buy property, pay tax and open a bank account in Spain. As an EU citizen the process is administrative, and you can authorise us by power of attorney to obtain it on your behalf so you do not need to make a special trip from Germany. We arrange the NIE, the bank account and the power of attorney as part of getting you ready to buy.
German buyers start from a strong position — EU rights, no currency risk, a treaty framework. We make sure those advantages are used and the Spanish tax, notary and succession side is handled properly. In plain English, across Spain.
The information on this page is general guidance only and does not constitute legal or tax advice, and in particular does not constitute German tax advice — Platinum Legal Spain advises on Spanish law and coordinates with your German Steuerberater on cross-border matters. The Germany–Spain Double Taxation Agreement, the German progression rules, Spanish and German inheritance tax, Transfer Tax (ITP), VAT, Stamp Duty and the non-resident income tax regime are set out in legislation that changes over time and varies between Spain's autonomous communities. Always obtain advice on your specific property and circumstances before acting. Platinum Legal Spain is an independent English-speaking legal practice serving clients across Spain.