When a non-resident sells a Spanish property, the buyer must retain 3% of the price and pay it to the tax authority (Modelo 211) as an advance on your capital gains tax — which you then settle or reclaim via the Modelo 210. You’ll also face plusvalía municipal to the town hall. This page explains the 3% retention, how your real CGT is worked out, claiming any refund, the documents you need, and how to sell remotely. We handle the whole sale, in English.
What's Different When a Non-Resident Sells
Anyone can sell a Spanish property, resident or not — but the tax mechanics for a non-resident seller are distinct, and they're built around one idea: the Spanish tax office wants to be sure it collects the tax on your gain before the money leaves the country. That's why a chunk of your sale proceeds is withheld at completion and paid directly to the tax authorities, and why there's a specific process to settle the real position afterwards.
For most non-resident sellers the outcome is fair and often favourable — but only if the steps are followed and the claims are made. The pitfalls are nearly always the same: not reclaiming over-withheld tax, being caught out by undeclared earlier years, or losing time and money on documents that should have been ready. This page is the non-resident seller's companion to our general selling property in Spain guide and our non-resident owners hub.
The Taxes on Sale at a Glance
Three taxes (and one withholding) come into play when a non-resident sells. Here's the shape of it before we go through each:
| Tax / withholding | What it is & the deadline |
|---|---|
| 3% retention | The buyer withholds 3% of the price and pays it to the tax office (via Modelo 211) within 1 month of completion, as an advance against your capital gains tax. See 3% retention. |
| Capital gains tax | Tax on your actual profit, declared on Modelo 210 within 4 months of completion. The 3% is credited against it — often leaving a refund. See capital gains tax. |
| Plusvalía municipal | A local tax on the increase in land value, paid to the town hall, generally within 30 days of completion. |
| Refund of over-withheld 3% | Where the 3% exceeds the capital gains tax due, you claim the difference back through the Modelo 210 filing; the tax office then processes and repays it (this can take several months). |
You should also be up to date on your annual Modelo 210 filings before selling — undeclared imputed-income years are the classic thing that surfaces and delays a sale.
The 3% Retention
When a non-resident sells, Spanish law requires the buyer to retain 3% of the agreed price and pay it directly to the tax office on the seller's behalf, using Modelo 211, within one month of completion. The buyer then gives you proof of that payment, which you need for your own filing. It isn't an extra tax — it's an advance payment against the capital gains tax on your sale, designed so the authorities collect something even if a non-resident seller were to disappear abroad without filing.
The key consequence is that the 3% is calculated on the price, not on your actual gain. If your real gain is modest, nil, or a loss, the 3% withheld will usually be more — often much more — than the tax you actually owe. That over-withheld amount is yours to reclaim, but only if you file and claim it. Our dedicated 3% retention guide covers the mechanics in full.
Capital Gains Tax — Your Real Liability
Your actual tax is capital gains tax on the profit: broadly, the sale price less your acquisition cost and allowable expenses (purchase taxes and costs, certain improvement works, and the costs of buying and selling). It's declared on a Modelo 210 within four months of completion, with the 3% already paid credited against it.
Two points matter a great deal for non-residents. First, keep your purchase paperwork — the original deed, the taxes and fees you paid on buying, and invoices for capital improvements all reduce the taxable gain, and without them you may be taxed on a larger gain than is fair. Second, certain reliefs and the treatment of older properties can affect the figure. We calculate the gain properly, apply everything you're entitled to, and make sure the 3% is correctly credited. The detail is on our capital gains tax guide, and our non-resident tax page explains the rates.
Sold at a loss or small gain? You're likely owed money
Because the 3% is based on price not profit, sellers who break even, sell at a loss, or make only a small gain are very often due a refund of part or all of the 3%. It is one of the most commonly unclaimed sums in Spanish property — simply left with the tax office because no one filed the claim.
Claiming Your Refund
The refund of over-withheld 3% isn't automatic — you claim it as part of the capital gains Modelo 210 filing after completion. Once filed, the tax office reviews the position and, if a refund is due, repays it; in practice this can take several months, and the office may ask for supporting documents along the way. A non-resident seller who has left the country and isn't monitoring a Spanish address can easily miss those requests, which stalls the refund.
This is exactly where having someone act for you pays off. As your representative we file the claim, respond to any queries from the tax office, and chase the repayment through to your account — so the money you're owed actually comes back rather than sitting unclaimed. Owners who sell without representation are the ones who most often never see their refund.
Plusvalía Municipal
Separate from the national taxes above, the plusvalía municipal is a local tax charged by the town hall on the increase in the value of the land (not the building) between your purchase and sale. It's generally payable within 30 days of completion. The amount depends on the local rates and how long you've owned the property, and in some circumstances — for example where there's been no real increase in value — it may be reduced or not due, but that has to be handled correctly rather than assumed.
Because plusvalía is a town-hall matter with its own short deadline, it's easy to overlook amid the national tax filings. We deal with it as part of managing your sale so nothing is missed and any available reduction is claimed.
The Documents You'll Need to Sell
A smooth completion depends on having the right paperwork ready — and gathering it from abroad takes longer, so starting early matters. Typically you'll need:
- Title deed (escritura) and a recent nota simple from the Land Registry confirming ownership and any charges.
- Proof of purchase costs — the original purchase deed and the taxes and fees you paid, plus invoices for any improvements, all of which reduce your taxable gain.
- Energy performance certificate (certificado energético), legally required to market and sell.
- IBI receipts and proof that local taxes are up to date, plus a community-fees certificate if the property is in a comunidad.
- Your NIE and ID, and evidence your annual non-resident filings are current.
- Habitation/occupation certificate where required locally.
We pull these together for you and flag anything that needs resolving before completion — an undischarged mortgage charge, an outdated registry entry, or unpaid community fees — so they don't surface at the notary on the day.
The Sale, Step by Step
Get sale-ready
We check your registry position, confirm your annual filings are current, and assemble the documents — so you reach the market with nothing outstanding.
Reservation and deposit contract
We review the buyer's offer and the deposit (arras) contract, protecting your position before you commit.
Completion at the notary
The deed is signed, the buyer withholds the 3%, and the balance is paid to you. We can act for you by power of attorney so you needn't attend in person.
Post-completion taxes
We file the capital gains Modelo 210 (within four months), confirm the buyer's 3% (Modelo 211) is correct, settle the plusvalía with the town hall (within 30 days), and claim any refund.
Refund follow-through
We pursue any over-withheld 3% through to repayment, dealing with tax-office queries on your behalf.
Selling Remotely
You don't need to be in Spain to sell. Much of the process — document gathering, contract review, the tax filings and the refund claim — is handled at a distance, and completion at the notary can be done on your behalf under a power of attorney, which we arrange. For non-resident sellers who've already moved on, this is often the whole point: the sale and its taxes are managed end to end without a trip back, in English, with one point of contact.
This connects naturally to our wider online legal services and, if you're acting for a deceased owner's estate, to our inheriting property and probate services — selling an inherited Spanish property as a non-resident heir is a common and very handle-able situation.
Common Mistakes Non-Resident Sellers Make
- Never claiming the 3% refund — leaving over-withheld tax with the authorities because no one filed for it.
- Losing the purchase paperwork — being taxed on a bigger gain than necessary because acquisition costs and improvement invoices can't be evidenced.
- Undeclared earlier years surfacing — unfiled imputed-income Modelo 210s delaying the sale and adding interest.
- Missing the energy certificate — which can't legally be skipped and holds up marketing if left late.
- Overlooking plusvalía — its 30-day town-hall deadline slipping amid the national filings.
- Not monitoring tax-office requests — refund queries sent to Spain going unanswered after the seller has left.
How We Help
We manage the whole sale — legal and tax — so you keep what you're owed and complete without stress:
- Get you sale-ready, including regularising any outstanding annual filings.
- Review the contracts and protect your position through to completion.
- Act by power of attorney so you needn't travel for the notary.
- Handle every tax — capital gains Modelo 210, the 3% credit, plusvalía — to deadline.
- Claim and chase your refund, dealing with the tax office on your behalf.
We work on clear quotes agreed before we start, and we'll tell you upfront if anything beyond the standard scope is needed. Your consultation gives you an exact quote, and our legal fees page explains how we price. It sits within our property law and tax & fiscal services.
A Worked Example: a Refund Recovered
A non-resident owner sells an apartment they bought several years earlier. The 3% retention is withheld from the price at completion and paid over by the buyer. When we calculate the actual capital gain — taking the original purchase price, the taxes and fees paid on buying, and invoices for a kitchen and bathroom refurbishment — the taxable gain is modest, and the capital gains tax due comes to less than the 3% that was withheld.
We file the capital gains Modelo 210 within the four-month window, crediting the 3% already paid, and claim the difference back. We settle the plusvalía with the town hall inside its deadline, and when the tax office later requests a supporting document, that request comes to us and is answered promptly rather than sitting unseen in an empty Spanish letterbox. Some months later the refund lands in the seller's account — money they hadn't expected and would very likely never have claimed on their own. The whole sale was handled from their home country; they signed once, by power of attorney, and the rest happened in the background.
EU vs Non-EU Sellers — the Rate on Your Gain
As with rental income, your country of residence affects the capital gains rate applied to a non-resident sale. Residents of EU/EEA countries are generally taxed on the gain at the lower non-resident rate, while residents of non-EU/EEA countries (including the UK since Brexit) face a higher flat rate. The 3% retention mechanism is the same for everyone — it's the rate applied to the calculated gain that differs.
For British sellers this is one more post-Brexit change worth understanding before you sell, because it affects how much of the 3% you'll get back. It doesn't change the fundamentals — keep your paperwork, calculate the gain properly, claim the refund — but it does change the numbers, and it's a reason to have the position worked out before completion rather than discovering it afterwards. Our non-resident tax guide sets out the rates in more detail.
Reliefs That Can Reduce or Remove the Gain
Not every sale produces a taxable gain, and several reliefs can reduce or eliminate it — but they generally have to be claimed and substantiated, not assumed. The most relevant for non-residents:
- Acquisition costs and improvements. The biggest lever for most sellers: the purchase price, the taxes and fees paid on buying, and invoices for capital improvements all increase your cost base and shrink the gain. Missing paperwork here costs real money.
- Reinvestment relief (EU/EEA). Where an EU/EEA resident sells what was their main home in Spain and reinvests the proceeds in a new main home, a reinvestment exemption may apply — subject to strict conditions and timing.
- Older-property treatment. Properties acquired long ago can benefit from transitional rules that reduce the taxable gain, depending on acquisition date and value.
- A genuine loss. If you sell for less than your total acquisition cost, there's no gain to tax — and the 3% withheld should come back in full.
Working out which apply, and evidencing them, is central to getting your tax right and your refund maximised. We assess every available relief as part of preparing your filing rather than defaulting to the headline figure.
Clearing Charges and the Mortgage
A clean sale needs the property to transfer free of charges, and non-resident sellers sometimes forget what's still registered against it. If there's an outstanding Spanish mortgage, it's typically redeemed at completion from the proceeds and formally cancelled at the registry — and the cancellation itself has a cost and a process. Old charges that were repaid years ago but never formally removed from the registry also need clearing, or they'll snag the sale.
Equally, unpaid IBI, community fees or utility debts attached to the property have to be settled, because the buyer's side will check, and arrears can hold up or reduce your proceeds. Part of getting you sale-ready is reviewing the nota simple for exactly these issues and resolving them in advance, so completion day is clean and the money reaches you without deductions you weren't expecting.
Timing and Getting Ahead of It
The single most useful thing a non-resident seller can do is start early — ideally before the property even goes on the market. The reason is that the things which delay or diminish a sale are almost always the slow, document-heavy ones: obtaining an energy certificate, tracking down the original purchase deed and improvement invoices from years ago, regularising unfiled annual tax, or clearing an old charge off the registry. Tackled at leisure, these are routine; left until a buyer is waiting at the notary, they create pressure and can cost you the sale or a chunk of your proceeds.
There's a tax-timing dimension too. The four-month capital gains window and the 30-day plusvalía deadline start at completion, and the refund of over-withheld 3% can take months to come back — so understanding the cash-flow picture in advance helps you plan, especially if you're relying on the proceeds for something else. A short review before you list means you go to market clean, complete smoothly, and know roughly when the refund will follow.
The Bottom Line
Selling Spanish property as a non-resident is entirely manageable, but it rewards getting two things right: keeping the tax office satisfied (the 3% retention, the capital gains filing within four months, the plusvalía within 30 days) and claiming back what's yours (the over-withheld 3%, plus every relief and cost that reduces your gain). The sellers who lose out are the ones who treat the 3% as simply "tax paid" and never file to reclaim it, or who arrive at the notary with undeclared years or uncleared charges.
Handled properly — ideally by someone acting for you who can complete by power of attorney and chase your refund through the tax office — selling becomes a clean, remote process that returns you the maximum you're entitled to. If you're thinking of selling, the best first step is a conversation before you go to market, so the paperwork and the tax position are sorted in advance rather than under time pressure at completion.
Frequently Asked Questions
Capital gains tax on your profit (declared on Modelo 210 within four months of completion), the plusvalía municipal to the town hall (generally within 30 days), and the 3% retention the buyer withholds and pays to the tax office as an advance against your capital gains tax. Where the 3% exceeds the tax due, you can reclaim the difference.
When a non-resident sells, the buyer must withhold 3% of the price and pay it to the tax office (via Modelo 211) within one month of completion, as an advance against the seller's capital gains tax. It's calculated on the price, not your actual gain, so it's often more than the tax you owe — meaning a refund is frequently due.
Often, yes. If your actual capital gains tax is less than the 3% withheld — common where the gain is small, nil or a loss — you can reclaim the difference through the capital gains Modelo 210 filing. It's not automatic; the claim must be made and then chased, as the tax office can take several months and may request documents. We handle this for you.
Broadly, the sale price less your acquisition cost and allowable expenses — the purchase taxes and fees you paid, the costs of buying and selling, and invoices for capital improvements. Keeping this paperwork is important, because without it you may be taxed on a larger gain than is fair. We calculate it properly and apply any reliefs you're entitled to.
Plusvalía municipal is a local town-hall tax on the increase in the land value between purchase and sale, generally payable within 30 days of completion. The amount depends on local rates and how long you owned the property, and in some cases (such as no real increase in value) it may be reduced or not due — which must be handled correctly rather than assumed.
No. The process — documents, contracts, tax filings and the refund claim — can be handled remotely, and completion at the notary can be done on your behalf under a power of attorney, which we arrange. Many non-resident sellers complete the entire sale from their home country, in English, with one point of contact.
Typically the title deed and a recent nota simple, proof of your purchase costs and improvement invoices, an energy performance certificate (legally required to sell), up-to-date IBI and community-fee receipts, your NIE and ID, and evidence your annual non-resident filings are current. We gather these and resolve anything outstanding before completion.
It's common and needs handling before or alongside the sale, because undeclared imputed-income years frequently surface during the process and can delay completion. We regularise the outstanding years so your position is clean, which keeps the sale on track. Dealing with it proactively is far better than having it emerge at the notary.
After the capital gains Modelo 210 is filed, the tax office reviews the position and repays any refund due — in practice often several months, and sometimes longer if they request supporting documents. Having a representative to answer those requests promptly keeps it moving; left unattended, queries can stall the repayment indefinitely.
The sale taxes work similarly, but there are extra steps as an heir — the inheritance must be formalised and the property put into your name first, and the acquisition value for capital gains is generally the value declared for inheritance tax. We coordinate the probate and the sale together; see our inheriting property and probate guidance.