Selling a house in Marbella as a non-resident: taxes and getting the 3% back

When you sell a house in Marbella as a non-resident you pay two taxes: Non-Resident Income Tax (IRNR) on the gain, at 19% if you are resident in the EU or EEA and 24% if you are resident elsewhere, and the municipal plusvalía to the town hall. On top of that, the buyer withholds 3% of the sale price.

That withholding is not an additional tax. It is an advance payment of the IRNR. You get it back, in whole or in part, only when it exceeds the tax you actually owe, and you claim it with Form 210. The tax office (Hacienda) has six months to resolve the refund.

What taxes does a non-resident pay when selling a house in Marbella?

There are two: the IRNR on the capital gain, which goes to Hacienda, and the municipal plusvalía, which goes to the town hall. The 3% withholding is not a third tax; it is a payment on account of the first.

Item	Paid to	Basis	Rate	Deadline for the seller
IRNR (Form 210)	Hacienda	Gain: sale price minus purchase price and costs	19% (EU/EEA) or 24% (rest of the world)	3 months from the sale
Municipal plusvalía	Town hall	Cadastral value of the land and years of ownership, or the actual gain if lower	Set by each municipality, with a legal maximum of 30%	30 working days from the sale
3% withholding	Hacienda, paid in by the buyer (Form 211)	Full sale price	3%	1 month from the sale, the buyer’s responsibility

The rates and deadlines are those of the IRNR rules in force at the date of this article. Check them with your tax adviser before you sign.

How does the 3% withholding work?

The buyer deducts 3% of the sale price, not of the gain, and pays it to Hacienda in your name. You receive 97% at the notary’s office, and the 3% stays with Hacienda until you file your return.

The reasoning is simple: Hacienda wants to secure payment of a tax owed by someone who lives abroad. Because it is calculated on the whole price and not on the profit, the withholding and the real tax almost never match.

If you bought many years ago and the gain is large, the withholding falls short and you pay the difference. If you bought at a high price, renovated, or are selling with little gain, the withholding is too much and Hacienda refunds the excess.

It has a practical effect that is sometimes overlooked. On a sale of €2,000,000, the 3% is €60,000 that you will not have on the day of completion. If you are closing another purchase, factor it into your liquidity planning.

When and how do you get the 3% withholding back?

You claim it by filing Form 210 within three months of the sale. On it you declare the gain, calculate the tax, deduct the withholding and, if the result is in your favour, request a refund to a bank account.

To file it you need:

• Your NIE.
• The purchase deed and the sale deed.
• Invoices for the costs and renovations you want to deduct.
• The Form 211 receipt for the amount the buyer paid in.

Hacienda has six months to resolve the claim. If it takes longer, it pays default interest. You have four years to claim the refund, but there is no reason to wait: the money has been yours since the day of the sale. Confirm with your adviser that Hacienda will accept an account in your country of residence.

How much do you pay or recover? Three cases with figures

It depends on the gain and on where you are resident. The table shows three illustrative cases, with round figures invented for the example: they are not client data.

	Case A	Case B	Case C
Tax residence	EU/EEA	Outside the EU/EEA	EU/EEA
Sale price	€1,400,000	€1,400,000	€1,000,000
Gain after costs	€325,000	€325,000	€40,000
Applicable rate	19%	24%	19%
Actual tax	€61,750	€78,000	€7,600
3% withholding	€42,000	€42,000	€30,000
Result	You pay €19,750	You pay €36,000	You are refunded €22,400

In cases A and B the withholding is not enough and you pay the difference with Form 210. In case C the withholding is more than three times the tax and you recover most of it. The same property sold at the same price costs €16,250 more in tax if you are resident outside the EEA.

How long does Hacienda take to refund the withholding?

The reference is the legal deadline: six months from the day you file Form 210. Treat it as a maximum, not a promise. It depends on whether the file is complete, on the workload of the office, and on whether Hacienda asks for additional documents.

How is the gain you pay tax on calculated?

The gain is the sale price minus the acquisition value, with documented costs added on both sides. The more invoices you keep, the lower the base to which the 19% or 24% is applied.

• Purchase price as stated in the deed.
• Purchase costs: transfer tax, or VAT and stamp duty, notary, land registry and administrative fees. In Andalucía, transfer tax on a resale home is 7%.
• Improvements and renovations invoiced in your name. Routine maintenance repairs do not count.
• Selling costs: agency fees, energy certificate and other costs of the transaction, if you can document them.

The most common mistake is not keeping the invoices for a renovation done ten years ago. Without an invoice, Hacienda will not accept it.

The exemptions you hear about in Spain, such as reinvestment in a main home or the one for over-65s, require the property to have been your main residence. If it was a second home, they do not apply. If your situation is different, check it with your adviser.

What is the municipal plusvalía, and do you pay it if you sell at a loss?

It is a town hall tax on the increase in the value of the land during the years you owned the property. If you can show from the deeds that you sold for less than you paid, you do not pay it.

Since 2021 it has been calculated in two ways, and the lower result applies: an objective method based on the cadastral value of the land and a coefficient according to years of ownership, or the actual gain. The rate is set by each town hall, with a legal maximum of 30%.

The amount varies enormously from one property to another. On a large plot in Benahavís, with a lot of cadastral land value, the figure looks nothing like that for an apartment in a town centre. The rate and any reductions are set by each town hall in its own tax bylaw, so the figure has to be requested from yours before you finalise any numbers.

It is paid within 30 working days of the sale, which is a short window. Often the lawyer handling the transaction files it; ask before signing, because if nobody takes charge the deadline is missed.

Can you avoid the 3% withholding?

Not automatically. The withholding is mandatory for the buyer. In some cases you can ask Hacienda before the sale to limit the withholding to the estimated tax, if you expect the real tax to be much lower.

You have to submit the calculation and wait for authorisation. It is not always granted, and it does not always arrive in time for the signing date.

If your gain is small or there is a loss, raise it with your adviser as soon as you decide to sell, not the week of the notary appointment. If you are already about to sign, the realistic course is to accept the withholding and claim it back afterwards with Form 210.

Do you also pay tax in your country of residence?

It depends on the country. As a general rule, Spain taxes the sale of a property located in Spain, and your country of residence may require you to declare it. Double taxation treaties usually allow you to deduct what you paid in Spain, but each treaty and each country works differently.

Two practical points. The tax in your own country may be higher or lower than the Spanish one, and the final result depends on the difference. And the dates do not coincide: your local return is filed on a different calendar. Speak to an adviser in the country where you file before you sell, because the best moment to sell sometimes depends on it.

What should you do before putting the house on the market?

Gather the documents and work out the tax before setting the price. The price you want to receive is not the price you keep, and the difference depends on the gain, your residence and the withholding.

1. Locate the purchase deeds, the renovation invoices and the receipts for costs.
2. Ask a tax adviser for an estimate of the tax using your real figures.
3. Ask your lawyer for the estimated municipal plusvalía.
4. Ask who will file Form 210 and when.
5. If you need liquidity at signing, plan for it now: the withholding takes 3% from you that day.

If you are weighing up a sale, on the sales page we explain how we approach valuation and going to market. Before setting a price, we work out the net figure with your numbers and tell you what you keep after tax. If the sale does not make sense for you at this moment, we tell you that too.

This article is general information, not tax advice. The figures in the cases are illustrative and the rules change, so have your case reviewed by a tax adviser before you sign.