The 3% retention is your money. There is a deadline to claim it.
When you sell and you do not live in Spain, the buyer withholds 3% of the price. Of the price, not of the profit. If you sold at a loss, they withheld it just the same. That money only comes back if somebody files the modelo 210 properly and on time.
On a €250,000 sale, that is €7,500 withheld.
Work out my priceWhat is it going to cost you?
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1. How much does the property cost?
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Bracket 2/6over €150,000 and up to €250,000
2. What do you want us to do?
3. Shall we pay on your behalf? (optional)
By default we don't take your money: you pay everyone directly. Only if you ask us here do we handle the payments, with money on account held in a client account separate from ours, and every payment comes with its receipt.
Our fees
€955.90VAT included
You will also have to pay
None of this is ours: you pay it directly to whoever it is owed to, unless in step 3 you ask us to pay it on your behalf.
- Plusvalía municipal (local land-value tax)
- if agreed
- Cancellation of charges
- at statutory rates
The plusvalía municipal is paid by the buyer, as substitute taxpayer, because you do not live in Spain: you only bear it if that is agreed in the contract. Cancelling the mortgage involves a notary and the Land Registry, at statutory rates. And the 3% they withhold from you is not a cost: it is an advance, and it is claimed back with the modelo 210.
Check before you hire
On this coast there have been cases of people claiming to be abogados (Spanish lawyers) when they were not. Checking is free and takes a minute: do it with us, and do it with anyone else.
Registered, practising abogado (Spanish lawyer)
Eloy Becerra Daly, membership number 108020 at the Colegio de la Abogacía de Madrid (Madrid Bar Association). The register is public.
Professional indemnity
The collective policy of the Madrid Bar Association (ICAM) with CASER: €330,000 per claim. If there is a mistake, there is an insurer behind it.
Ask us first
Who files which tax, and when
In a sale with a non-resident seller there are three filings, and the notary files none of them for you. Two are the buyer's. One is yours, and it is precisely the one that gets money back to you. If nobody files it, nobody tells you.
- 3% withholding: modelo 211
- The buyer. They deduct it from the price and pay it to the tax office.
- One month from the date of the deed.
- Capital gain: modelo 210
- You, the non-resident seller. This is where the refund is claimed.
- Four months from the deed: the buyer's month, plus three.
- Plusvalía municipal (IIVTNU)
- The buyer, as substitute taxpayer, because you do not live in Spain. It can be passed on to you if that is agreed.
- Thirty working days from the date of the deed.
The piece of paper without which you do not get paid
The modelo 211 has a copy for the non-resident transferor — that is you, the seller. Without it you cannot evidence the withholding when you claim the refund. You ask the buyer or their gestoría (the admin agency handling the paperwork) for it, and you agree it at the deposit stage, not on the day of the signing.
What papers are needed
Nothing exotic, but without one of them there is no signing. And if the house is still in the name of parents who have died, first there is an inheritance to accept and register at the Registro de la Propiedad (Land Registry). That takes months. Start there.
- The original purchase deed
- An up-to-date nota simple from the Land Registry
- A valid NIE and passport
- Energy performance certificate
- Declaración responsable of second occupation (the town hall habitability statement)
- The latest IBI receipt
- Certificate that the community fees are up to date
- Mortgage balance certificate
The questions you came here with
How long it really takes
The tax office has six months to decide, counted from the end of the filing period, or from the day you file if you are late. After that, late-payment interest runs in your favour unless the delay is down to you. We do not give you a date: we file it properly and we chase it.
I sold at a loss
The 3% is worked out on the price, not on the gain. You bought in 2007, you sell for far less and they withhold it just the same. The modelo 210 is filed anyway, declaring the loss, and everything withheld is claimed back. If the land value did not go up either, the plusvalía municipal is not due, but that has to be proved.
The years you did not declare
If you kept the house empty, every year called for a modelo 210 on imputed income, even though you did not take a euro. Almost nobody knows this. The tax office can review the four years that are not time-barred, and in practice the refund gets stuck if they are missing. You put those right first and get paid after.
Selling without travelling
You do not have to come over. You grant a power of attorney for this act before a notary in your own country, with the Apostilla de La Haya (Hague Apostille) and a sworn translation. Or at the Spanish consulate, which saves the apostille. By video call is possible too, but it calls for Spanish electronic identification: ask about it first.
You sold years ago and never got the money
We will look at it. If nobody filed the modelo 210, your 3% is still sitting with the tax office and it can still be claimed. The right is time-barred after four years, counted from the day the deadline for paying over the withholding runs out. Give us the date of the deed and we will tell you whether you are in time.
Give us the date of your deed
A registered abogado (Spanish lawyer) looks at your case, tells you what can be recovered and how much time you have left. The calculator gives you a fixed price before you commit to anything. No salesperson behind it, no discovery call.
Work out my priceIf you are buying here as well
The other side has traps of its own: the ITP transfer tax with its modelo 600, the charges that turn up at the Registro de la Propiedad (Land Registry) once you have already paid the deposit, and deadlines nobody tells you about. It is all explained on the buying page.
Go to the buying page