Claiming a tax refund from selling your Spanish Property

When you sell your Spanish property as a non-resident, you may notice that you only receive 97% of the sale proceeds—this is because the buyer is required to withhold 3% of the sale price and pay this over to the Spanish tax office on your behalf. Whether you make a profit or not, the tax office will use this method to collect tax from from selling your property as a foreigner.

If you made little to no profit, you may be able to claim this money back, but you will only have four months from the date of sale to do this by submitting a final tax return (Form 210). This can be submitted in person at the local Tax Office here in Spain, or online through the Agencia Tributaria website.

The following documents are required to file the final return:

  1. Copy of the Deeds (Escritura de Compraventa) for both the sale and purchase;
  2. Proof of withholding tax which is Modelo 211 (this is important, as this document contains a key reference number ‘numero de justificante‘ which must be stated in your refund reclaim);
  3. A schedule of the purchase and sales costs such as agency fees, Notary fees, and ITP
  4. In the event that there will be a tax refund to claim, you would also need to provide a bank statement (or similar document) from your country of residence which shows the name of the account holder and IBAN.

A digital certificate is required from the Agencia Tributaria if you wish to file this return yourself and to obtain one, a visit to your local Tax office in Spain is required with documents to verify your identify.

Once your tax return has been submitted, the Spanish tax office may take quite a while to review your submission and pay any tax back—the average time for refund payment ranges between 12 and 18 months.

Looking to claim a tax refund on the sale of your property? Leave it with us! With our accountants’ digital certificate we can file the return and deal with any necessary subsequent communication with the Tax Office on your behalf. Our charge for this service is 250 Euros + VAT. Feel free to contact us if you have any queries and we will get back to you as soon as possible.