Spain Capital Gains Tax: 19% and the 3% Sale Retention

Quick answer: Spain taxes the gain on a property sale, not the sale price. Residents pay on a progressive savings scale from 19% up to 28%; non-residents pay a flat 19%. When the seller is non-resident, the buyer withholds 3% of the price as an advance and pays it to the tax office. A separate municipal tax, plusvalía, hits the same sale. Model both before you accept an offer.

Foreign owners on the Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol often plan the purchase carefully, then meet the exit taxes only at the notary table. This guide explains how capital gains tax works for residents and non-residents, how the 3% retention reduces your cash at completion, and how plusvalía overlaps with the state tax. For the entry side of the ledger, pair this with the cost of buying property in Spain hub, and for return math read the Spain rental yield guide.

How capital gains tax works on a Spanish sale

Capital gains tax in Spain falls on the profit rather than the sale price, and non-residents pay a flat 19% where residents run a sliding savings-base scale from 19% to 28%. A 3% retention is withheld at completion on non-resident sales as a payment on account. It applies when you transfer a property, calculated as the sale value minus your adjusted acquisition value. The rate set depends on whether you are tax-resident in Spain, and the gain is taxed in the year of the sale.

Element	What it means	Why it matters
Taxable base	Sale value minus adjusted purchase cost	You are taxed on profit, not on price
Acquisition value	Price paid plus purchase taxes and fees	A higher basis lowers the gain
Transfer value	Sale price minus selling costs	Agent and legal fees reduce it
Resident rate	Savings scale 19% to 28%	Progressive by size of gain
Non-resident rate	Flat 19% on the gain	No progressivity

The headline number a buyer or agent quotes is rarely the figure the tax office uses. Your gain is reconstructed from deed values and documented costs, so the paperwork you kept on purchase day directly cuts your tax years later.

Insider tip: collect every receipt that raises your acquisition basis from the day you buy, not the day you sell. Transfer tax, notary, registry, legal fees and documented capital improvements all count. Owners who reconstruct this years later routinely lose deductions they were entitled to.

CGT for residents: the savings-base sliding scale

Spanish tax residents declare property gains inside the savings base (base del ahorro) of their annual income tax return. The scale is progressive, so different slices of the gain are taxed at rising rates. The bands below reflect the standard 2026 savings scale; confirm the current figures with your gestor before you file, because budgets revise them periodically.

Gain slice (EUR)	Marginal rate	Note
Up to 6,000	19%	Lowest band
6,000 to 50,000	21%	Most mid-size gains land here
50,000 to 200,000	23%	Larger coastal gains
200,000 to 300,000	27%	High-value villas
Over 300,000	28%	Top band

Because the scale is progressive, only the slice inside each band pays that band’s rate. A resident with a 55,000 gain does not pay 23% on the whole amount; the first 6,000 pays 19%, the next 44,000 pays 21%, and only the final 5,000 reaches 23%. That structure rewards splitting disposals across tax years where the timing genuinely suits your plans.

Methodology: the resident scale applies to the savings base as a whole, so a property gain stacks with dividends and interest in the same year. Timing a sale across a tax year can therefore change the marginal band, which is a planning point residents have and non-residents do not.

CGT for non-residents: flat rate and the 3% retention

Non-residents are taxed under the Impuesto sobre la Renta de no Residentes (IRNR) at a flat 19% on the net gain, with no access to the progressive bands. The defining feature for non-residents is the 3% retention applied at the moment of sale.

Feature	Non-resident seller	Resident seller
CGT rate	Flat 19% on gain	Sliding 19% to 28%
Retention at sale	3% of price withheld	None
Filing form	Modelo 210	Annual Renta
Filing window	About 4 months	Annual return
Main-home reliefs	Generally no	Yes, if habitual home

The flat 19% looks simple, but the 3% retention changes your cash position at completion. You receive the sale price minus that 3%, and you only recover any excess after filing. For non-EU sellers, confirm your exact treatment with a Spanish tax adviser, because residence and tax-treaty status affect the final position.

Buyer scenario: on a €400,000 sale the buyer withholds €12,000 as the 3% retention and pays it to the Agencia Tributaria on the seller’s account. If the actual CGT liability is lower, the seller reclaims the difference, and that refund routinely takes months rather than weeks.

Exit costs deserve modelling at the same time as entry costs, because together they set the holding period a purchase needs. Acquisition runs 10% to 13% over the price, so €30,000 to €39,000 on a €300,000 property. On the way out, the 3% retention removes €9,000 from the completion proceeds pending assessment, plusvalía municipal is charged on the land value by the town hall, and agency commission is customarily the seller’s cost. A property therefore has to appreciate meaningfully before a sale returns the original capital, which is the practical argument against treating a Spanish purchase as a short-term trade. On a €300,000 property, entry and exit together commonly absorb 13% to 16% of the price, or €39,000 to €48,000, before any gain is counted at all.

The 3% retention explained

The 3% retention (retención) is Spain’s mechanism for collecting tax from sellers who live abroad and might otherwise leave without settling. By law, the buyer of a property from a non-resident must withhold 3% of the agreed purchase price and pay it directly to the Agencia Tributaria.

Step	Who acts	Form
Withhold 3% of price	Buyer	Held at completion
Pay 3% to tax office	Buyer	Modelo 211
Receive proof of payment	Seller	Copy of Modelo 211
File the real gain	Seller	Modelo 210
Reclaim or top up	Seller	Within about 4 months

Two outcomes are possible. If your actual CGT is higher than the 3% already paid, you settle the difference on Modelo 210. If your actual CGT is lower, or you sold at a loss, you reclaim the excess. Refunds can take months, so treat the 3% as locked-up cash rather than a final cost. The buyer keeps the receipt because, without proof the 3% was paid, the property can be charged for the unpaid amount.

Insider tip: if you sold at a genuine loss, you still suffered the 3% retention at completion, and the only way to get it back is to file Modelo 210 and claim the refund. Sellers who skip the filing simply donate the 3% to the Spanish treasury.

The 3% retention is the mechanism that makes a non-resident sale different from a resident one at the notary table. The buyer withholds 3% of the agreed price and pays it directly to the tax office on Modelo 211 against the seller’s capital gains liability, so the seller receives 97% at completion regardless of whether any gain was actually made. On a €300,000 sale that is €9,000. Where the real liability is lower, the difference is reclaimed afterwards on Modelo 210, which takes months rather than weeks. Plusvalía municipal on the land value is payable separately and is also the seller’s charge in an ordinary resale. Together the two deductions can absorb a five-figure sum from proceeds a seller expected to receive in full at the notary.

Plusvalía municipal: the second exit tax

Plusvalía municipal, formally the IIVTNU, is the second exit tax and it is charged by the town hall rather than the state. It falls on the increase in cadastral land value over your holding period, is calculated separately from CGT, and is payable by the seller within 30 days of the deed. It is a town-hall tax on the increase in the urban land value during your ownership. It is charged on the land (suelo) component, not the building, and it sits with the seller by default. This is why a single sale can trigger two exit taxes: state CGT and municipal plusvalía.

Plusvalía feature	What sellers should know
Who pays	Seller by law; rarely shifted in contract
Tax base	Rise in urban land cadastral value over ownership
Calculation	Objective coefficients or real gain, pick the lower
If no land gain	No plusvalía is due after the 2021 reform
Reform sensitivity	Coefficients update, so treat figures as time-stamped

Spain’s Constitutional Court struck down the old plusvalía formula in 2021. Today a seller computes the tax either by applying municipal coefficients to the cadastral land value or by proving the actual land gain, and pays whichever is lower. If the land did not rise in value, no plusvalía is owed. For exit planning, the key point is that CGT and plusvalía are separate bills filed in different places, so your net proceeds depend on both. The entry-side overview of plusvalía lives in the cost of buying property hub.

Red flag: a sale budget that accounts for CGT and forgets plusvalía. They are separate taxes, assessed by separate authorities, on separate bases. Ask the town hall for an estimate before you agree a price, because the figure varies by municipality and by holding period.

How to calculate your taxable gain

The taxable gain is not sale price minus purchase price. It is adjusted transfer value minus adjusted acquisition value, which means the 10% to 13% you paid on entry raises your basis and the selling costs reduce your proceeds. Getting this wrong overstates the gain by tens of thousands. It is adjusted transfer value minus adjusted acquisition value, and both sides carry documented costs that work in your favour.

Adds to acquisition value (basis)	Reduces transfer value
Purchase price on the deed	Estate agent commission
ITP or IVA paid on purchase	Independent legal fees on sale
Notary and registry fees	Plusvalía paid by the seller
Independent lawyer on purchase	Energy certificate and admin
Capital improvements with invoices	Other documented sale costs

The single most common error is failing to keep invoices. Repairs and routine maintenance do not count, but genuine capital improvements (a new kitchen, a pool, an extension) do, provided you can prove them with proper invoices showing IVA. The purchase taxes you paid on entry, often 10% to 13% of price as set out in the cost guide, are added to your basis and can cut your eventual gain by tens of thousands of euros.

Checklist for your basis: the deed purchase price, transfer tax or IVA paid on entry, notary and registry fees, legal fees, documented capital improvements with invoices, and on the exit side the agency commission and any legal costs of sale. Each one reduces the taxable gain.

Worked example: a 400,000 euro non-resident sale

The worked example below is the question most foreign owners ask: an EU non-resident who bought, held, and is now selling. It runs the 3% retention, the 19% flat rate, the adjusted basis including 10% entry costs, and the plusvalía alongside, so the two exit taxes appear together rather than separately. It covers an EU non-resident who bought a resale flat, held it, and sells at a profit. All figures are illustrative; confirm your own numbers with a Spanish tax adviser.

Line	Calculation	Amount (EUR)
Original purchase price	Paid in 2019	300,000
Purchase costs added to basis	ITP and fees, about 10%	30,000
Adjusted acquisition value	Basis total	330,000
Sale price	Agreed in 2026	400,000
Selling costs	Agent 3% plus legal	15,000
Adjusted transfer value	Net of selling costs	385,000
Taxable gain	385,000 minus 330,000	55,000
CGT at 19% (non-resident)	55,000 times 19%	10,450
3% retention at sale	400,000 times 3%	12,000
Refund due on Modelo 210	Retention minus CGT	1,550

In this case the 3% retention (12,000) is larger than the actual CGT due (10,450), so the seller reclaims 1,550 after filing. Plusvalía municipal is a separate bill on top, depending on the land-value rise and the local coefficients. Had the seller not added the 30,000 of purchase costs to the basis, the gain would have been 85,000 and CGT would have jumped to about 16,150, a 5,700 difference created purely by good record-keeping.

Resident version of the same gain

A resident with the identical 55,000 gain is taxed on the progressive savings scale rather than a flat rate.

Gain slice (EUR)	Rate	Tax (EUR)
First 6,000	19%	1,140
6,000 to 50,000 (44,000)	21%	9,240
50,000 to 55,000 (5,000)	23%	1,150
Total resident CGT		11,530

The resident pays about 11,530 against the non-resident’s 10,450, but the resident faces no 3% retention and can offset the gain against capital losses elsewhere in the savings base. Residence cuts both ways, so the better position depends on your wider tax picture and the investment strategy behind the holding.

Methodology: the example holds the property, the holding period and the price constant and shows both exit taxes together. Substituting your own municipality changes the plusvalía line materially; substituting your tax residency changes the CGT line. Neither changes the method.

Exemptions and reliefs

Reliefs in the Spanish CGT system are almost all tied to habitual residence, which excludes most foreign owners of a second home by definition. Reinvestment relief, the over-65 exemption and the main-home rollover all require the property to be your primary residence. They are tied to habitual residence, which means they help residents far more than non-resident investors.

Relief	Who qualifies	Effect
Main-home reinvestment	Residents selling habitual home	Gain exempt if reinvested in a new main home
Over-65 main home	Residents aged 65 plus	Gain on habitual home can be fully exempt
Pre-1995 coefficients	Long-held assets	Partial reductions on very old purchases
Loss offset	Residents	Losses net against other savings gains
Non-resident loss refund	Non-residents	Reclaim 3% retention if sold at a loss

If you are a non-resident buying purely for yield or a holiday home, plan on the flat 19% with no main-home shelter. If you are relocating to Spain and the property will become your habitual residence, the reinvestment and over-65 routes can remove the tax entirely on a future sale, which is a strong reason to align purchase timing with your residency plans.

Red flag: an adviser suggesting a non-resident second-home owner qualifies for reinvestment or over-65 relief. Those reliefs attach to a habitual residence. Claiming one you do not qualify for converts a tax bill into a tax bill plus penalties and interest.

Pros and cons of Spain’s CGT regime

Pros	Cons
Gain is taxed, not the full sale price	Two exit taxes: CGT plus plusvalía
Purchase costs lift your basis	3% retention locks up cash for months
Non-resident flat 19% is predictable	Non-residents miss main-home reliefs
Losses are refundable for non-residents	Refunds are slow to process
Residents enjoy reinvestment shelter	Progressive scale bites large resident gains
Documented improvements cut the gain	Lost invoices inflate the taxable gain

Red flags and seller checklist warnings

1. An agent who quotes net proceeds without subtracting the 3% retention is overstating your cash at completion.
2. A buyer who proposes skipping the 3% Modelo 211 payment exposes the property, and you, to a tax charge.
3. Treating repairs as capital improvements without invoices will not survive a tax review.
4. Assuming plusvalía is included in CGT, it is a separate municipal filing.
5. Selling at a loss and never filing Modelo 210 means you forfeit the 3% refund.
6. Forgetting that purchase taxes are part of your basis inflates the taxable gain.
7. Non-EU sellers assuming the EU 19% position applies without checking treaty status.

Five signals mean a Spanish sale is heading for an avoidable tax outcome, and each is fixable before you accept an offer rather than after. They share one cause: treating the headline gain as the taxable gain and the CGT bill as the only exit tax.

Red flag summary: no acquisition-cost receipts retained, plusvalía omitted from the sale budget, the 3% retention treated as the final liability rather than a payment on account, a relief claimed without habitual-residence status, and no town-hall estimate obtained before pricing.

Seller scenarios: a decision framework

If you are…	Prioritise	De-prioritise
Non-resident yield investor	3% retention cash flow and Modelo 210	Resident reliefs that will not apply
Relocating to Spain	Main-home reinvestment timing	Rushing a sale before residency
Long-term holder	Capital-improvement invoices for basis	Selling in a single high-rate band
Inherited owner	Stepped basis and succession advice	Generic non-resident assumptions
Loss-making seller	Filing to reclaim the 3% retention	Walking away from the refund

Checklist before you accept an offer

Step	Verify	Status
Acquisition basis	Deed price plus purchase taxes and fees	✓
Improvement invoices	IVA invoices for capital works	✓
Selling costs	Agent and legal fees documented	✓
3% retention	Modeled into net proceeds	✓
Plusvalía estimate	Town-hall calculation requested	✓
Modelo 210 plan	Filing window and adviser booked	✓
Residency status	Resident or non-resident confirmed	✓

Walk the purchase-side gates in the cost of buying property hub and the Spain property investment guide so your entry and exit numbers use the same basis.

Checklist: acquisition basis reconstructed with receipts, capital improvements evidenced by invoice, plusvalía estimated at the town hall, the 3% retention understood as provisional, your tax residency confirmed for the year of sale, and the reclaim timeline factored into your cash planning.

How this connects to the rest of the site

This page is the exit-tax layer for Spanish property. Entry costs and plusvalía basics live in the cost of buying property in Spain hub. Net return math lives in the Spain rental yield guide. Strategy and market context live in the Spain property investment guide. Inventory benchmarks sit on projects like Insur Scala and Kosmos.

Spain is sellable with honest math. Tax the gain, not the price; add every purchase cost to your basis; budget the 3% retention as locked cash; and remember plusvalía is a second, separate bill. Pair this guide with the rental yield guide when you underwrite a full hold-to-exit return.

Invest Spain Property field notes

The most expensive mistake we see on Spain Capital Gains Tax is budgeting the headline rate alone. Notary, registry and the annual non-resident filing sit outside it, and buyers who merge those lines lose track of what the hold period actually costs.

Check	What we see in 2026 files	Your action
IBI receipt	Cadastral value vs paid amount	Match seller recibo to catastro ref
NRIT / Modelo 210	Gross rent minus deductible costs	File quarterly or annual per advisor
Plusvalía / CGT	Municipality and hold period	Model exit before you buy

Closing verification checklist

The Spain Capital Gains Tax Property Guide for Investors closing list runs to six items, all of them obtainable before the first transfer. Budget 10% to 13% over the price for tax, notary, registry and independent legal work, keep the lawyer independent of the seller and agent, and treat every item below as a condition of the arras contract rather than an afterthought.

• Establish your residency status for the disposal year, as it sets the rate band and the filing route.
• Confirm the 3% retention applies, which the buyer withholds on a non-resident sale and pays via Modelo 211.
• Assemble the full acquisition cost base: purchase price, ITP or IVA, notary, registry and legal invoices.
• Collect improvement invoices with IVA, since only capital improvements (not repairs) raise the base.
• Model plusvalía municipal separately, because the same sale triggers both taxes.
• Check the double-tax treaty position in your home country before signing, not after completion.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the capital gains tax rate on property in Spain? +

Residents pay on the savings scale from 19% up to 28%. Non-residents pay a flat 19% on the net gain, not on the sale price.

How does the 3% retention work for non-resident sellers? +

The buyer withholds 3% of the price and pays it to the tax office on Modelo 211 as an advance. The seller files Modelo 210 within about four months to settle or reclaim.

Do residents and non-residents pay different CGT? +

Yes. Residents use the progressive 19% to 28% scale with main-home reliefs. Non-residents pay a flat 19%, face the 3% retention, and rarely qualify for residence reliefs.

Is plusvalía separate from capital gains tax? +

Yes. Plusvalía is a municipal tax on the rise in urban land value, paid by the seller alongside state CGT, so one sale can trigger two exit taxes.

How can I reduce my taxable gain? +

Add purchase taxes, notary, registry and legal fees plus documented capital improvements to your basis, and deduct selling costs such as agent commission and plusvalía.

When is the tax paid after selling? +

Non-residents file Modelo 210 within about four months. Residents declare the gain in their annual Renta. Plusvalía is filed separately at the town hall.

Does my gain include what I spent buying and renovating? +

Those costs lower your gain. Purchase taxes and fees plus genuine capital improvements with invoices raise your basis, which shrinks the taxable gain.