Rental income tax in Spain for non-residents (2026): rates, expenses and the new April deadline

Last checked against official sources: 11 October 2026 · 9-minute read

If you live outside Spain and let your Spanish home – to holidaymakers or a long-term tenant – you pay Spanish non-resident income tax on the rent through Modelo 210. The rules haven't changed much, but the calendar has: rent earned in 2026 is declared from 1 to 20 April 2027.

Rates: 19% or 24%

What matters is your tax residence, not your nationality: a German citizen living in London pays as a UK resident.

What counts as rental income

• The full amount the guest or tenant paid for the stay – including any cleaning fee charged to them – before the platform takes its commission. Your Airbnb or Booking.com payout is not the figure to declare.
• Amounts paid for things let with the home (furniture, parking space).
• Not included: VAT, the service fee the platform charges the guest, tourist tax collected for the region.

Income is allocated to the year in which it becomes due. A stay that starts on 28 December and ends on 3 January is a typical grey area – pick a consistent rule and keep the booking confirmation.

Deductible expenses – EU/EEA residents only

If you are resident in the EU/EEA you can deduct the expenses allowed by the Spanish Income Tax Act, as long as they are directly linked to the rental income:

• Mortgage interest on the loan used to buy or improve the property, and repairs and maintenance (painting, replacing a boiler). Together these two cannot exceed the gross rental income.
• IBI, rubbish tax and other local charges.
• Community fees (comunidad), home insurance, electricity, water, gas, internet.
• Platform and agency commissions, per-booking management fees, cleaning between guests (in full); an annual management or key-holder fee is a year-round cost.
• Legal costs of the rental contract.
• Depreciation: 3% a year of the higher of the purchase cost (price + purchase taxes and fees, without the land) or the cadastral value of the building. Furniture let with the home: 10% a year.

Pro-rata is where most people get it wrong. If the home was only let for part of the year, year-round costs (IBI, community fees, insurance, interest, depreciation) only count for the rented part. Costs that exist only because of a booking – the commission, the cleaning between guests – count in full. Improvements (a new kitchen, an extension) are not an expense of the year: they are added to the amount you depreciate. Keep invoices in the owner's name and a certificate of tax residence from your home country.

Worked example: a German owner's holiday let in 2026

Sole owner, resident in Germany. Flat bought for €210,000 plus €21,000 purchase costs. Cadastral value €85,000, of which €51,000 building (60%), values revised in 2019. Let for 120 nights in 2026.

The same flat owned by a UK resident: €15,000 × 24% = €3,600.00 on the rent, plus €627.60 × 24% = €150.62 imputed income.

Co-owners

Each owner is a separate taxpayer and files their own Modelo 210 for their share of income, expenses and imputed income – there is no joint return for rental income. If one spouse lives in Germany and the other in the UK, the same flat is taxed at 19% (net) for one and 24% (gross) for the other. From 2027 the form asks each owner for their ownership share and the number of days.

Deadlines

Since 2024 you can group a whole year in one return instead of one per quarter. Refund returns can be filed from 1 February of the following year. If you pay by direct debit, file by the 15th.

Other obligations to keep in mind

• Single Rental Register (NRUA): since 1 July 2025 short and seasonal lets advertised on platforms need a registration number, and an annual information return is filed every February with the Land Registry.
• Guest registration with the Interior Ministry (SES.Hospedajes) for tourist lets, and your region's tourist licence.
• VAT: Royal Decree-law 29/2026 would make holiday lets of up to 30 nights subject to 10% VAT from 1 December 2026. It still needs parliamentary ratification. If it passes, rental amounts are entered without VAT and you would need to register for VAT and file quarterly VAT returns (Modelo 303) – ask an adviser.
• Your home country: you also declare the rent there. Germany, for example, credits the Spanish tax against German tax under the 2011 tax treaty (art. 22).

Official sources

• Non-Resident Income Tax Act, arts. 24 (tax base; expenses for EU/EEA residents), 25 (rates), 27 (accrual): BOE-A-2004-4527
• Income Tax Act art. 23 and Income Tax Regulation arts. 13–14 (expenses, interest + repairs cap, 3% depreciation): BOE-A-2006-20764 · BOE-A-2007-6820
• Tax agency – non-resident manual, income from real estate: sede.agenciatributaria.gob.es
• Tax agency worked example on pro-rata and depreciation (Income Tax manual 2025): caso práctico
• Tax agency worked example, rental by a German resident: ejemplo arrendamiento
• Deadlines: Order HAC/56/2024 BOE-A-2024-1772 · Order HAC/623/2026 BOE-A-2026-13573
• Single Rental Register: RD 1312/2024 BOE-A-2024-26931 · Order VAU/1560/2025 BOE-A-2025-27116
• Royal Decree-law 29/2026: BOE-A-2026-20823
• Spain–Germany tax treaty 2011, art. 22: BOE-A-2012-10212