If your UK limited company, or any foreign company, owns a flat or villa in Spain that nobody rents, you may have been told it must file a Modelo 210 every year for “imputed income”. For a company, that charge does not exist. Here is what the rules say, and what your company does have to pay and file.
Short answer
No imputed income tax for companies. Spain’s yearly charge on homes that are empty or used by their owner applies only to individuals (article 13.1.h of the Non-Resident Income Tax Law). A foreign company that does not rent out its Spanish property has no imputed income to declare. Rent, a sale, local taxes and, for a few jurisdictions, a special levy are a different matter.
Why the charge does not apply to companies
Non-resident individuals who own a Spanish home they do not rent out pay tax on a notional income: a small percentage of the property’s cadastral value, declared on Modelo 210. The law that creates this charge limits it to taxpayers who are individuals, and the Tax Agency’s own manual for non-residents says the same. A company pays the same non-resident tax on other income, but this particular income is not attributed to it.
In practice, a company holding a holiday home that sits empty, or that is used now and then by the people behind it, does not file a yearly Modelo 210 for imputed income. If it has been doing so, it may have paid tax that was not due: see “Common mistakes” below.
What a company with a Spanish property does pay or file
If the property is rented out
Rent is taxed in Spain through Modelo 210, filed by the company or by someone acting for it. Companies resident in the EU, Iceland, Norway or Liechtenstein pay 19% and can deduct expenses under Spanish corporate tax rules. Every other company, UK companies included since Brexit, pays 24% on the gross rent, with no expenses deducted. Short-term holiday lets also need the regional tourist registration and the national rental register number.
If the company is resident in a non-cooperative jurisdiction
Spain charges a special levy of 3% of the property’s cadastral value every year (Modelo 213, accrued on 31 December and filed in January). It only affects companies resident in a jurisdiction on Spain’s list of non-cooperative jurisdictions, and even then there are exemptions, for example for companies with a genuine business in Spain. The United Kingdom and the EU countries are not on the list. The list was updated in June 2026 and Gibraltar was taken off it; if your company is in Gibraltar, ask us whether a return is still due for 2026.
Local taxes and charges
Like any owner, the company pays the council property tax (IBI) and the local refuse charge. These are billed by the town hall or the provincial tax office, not by the Tax Agency.
When the company sells
The buyer keeps back 3% of the price and pays it to the Tax Agency (Modelo 211). The company then declares any gain on Modelo 210 at 19%, and can ask for the difference back if the 3% was more than the tax due. Selling also triggers the municipal tax on the increase in land value (plusvalía municipal).
Its tax number and electronic mailbox
The company keeps its Spanish tax number (officially NIF, still widely called CIF). Companies, foreign ones included, must receive Tax Agency notices electronically, and a notice left unopened for 10 days counts as delivered: any deadline to reply starts running anyway. Someone needs to be able to open that mailbox.
What the shareholders may owe
The company and its shareholders are taxed separately. Since the end of 2022, non-resident individuals who own shares in a company whose assets consist mainly of Spanish property can be liable to Spanish Wealth Tax on those shares. There is a general allowance of €700,000 per person, so most single holiday homes stay below it, but it is worth checking if the property is valuable or the shareholders own other Spanish assets.
In the UK, the free use of a company-owned home by directors or their families can have its own tax consequences. That is a question for your UK accountant.
Common mistakes we see
- Filing imputed income for the company “just in case”. Tax paid that was not due can usually be claimed back for the last four years.
- Assuming a UK company does not have to declare its Spanish rent. It does, at the rates above.
- Mixing up company and personal returns: the company’s rent on a director’s personal Modelo 210, or the other way round.
- Nobody watching the company’s electronic mailbox, so a request or a penalty is read when it is too late to answer it.
- Losing track of who can act for the company in Spain, or of where its power of attorney is.
Not sure what your company should be filing?
We get your company’s Spanish tax number, its first digital certificate and its electronic mailboxes, and look after its Spanish tax filings for a year, all remote and by email. If your company already has its number but nobody is watching its mailbox, tell us what it owns and we’ll tell you what applies.
Sources
- Agencia Tributaria, non-residents manual: imputed income from urban property
- Agencia Tributaria: income from rented property (in Spanish)
- Agencia Tributaria: special levy on property of non-resident entities (Modelo 213) (in Spanish)
- Order HAC/649/2026, updated list of non-cooperative jurisdictions (Spanish Official Gazette, 27 June 2026)
- Agencia Tributaria: Modelo 211, 3% withholding when a non-resident sells (in Spanish)
- Agencia Tributaria, Wealth Tax manual: non-resident taxpayers (in Spanish)
General information, updated on 3 November 2026. It does not replace advice on your specific case.