A property in Mallorca that sits empty, or that is used only in summer, still generates income subject to tax in Spain. It is not actual income but imputed income, and the non-resident owner must self-assess it every year through the modelo 210. The obligation is a silent one, with no prior notice and no reminder from the authorities, and it is among those most often discovered years later in the form of an assessment plus surcharges. Orden HAC/623/2026 has now changed the filing deadlines, so the calendar many owners had committed to memory no longer holds.
Income that exists even when the property earns nothing
Article 13.1.h) of the consolidated Non-Resident Income Tax Act, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 5/2004, brings into charge the income imputed to individuals who own urban property in Spain that is neither used in a business nor let. Article 24.5 refers to the personal income tax rules for the purpose of quantifying it.
The taxable amount is 1.1 per cent of the valor catastral (the cadastral value assigned by the Spanish land registry authority) where that value has been revised and has taken effect in the previous ten tax periods, and 2 per cent in all other cases. The figure is apportioned by the number of days of ownership in the year and by each owner's share, so that a married couple owning fifty per cent each files two returns rather than one.
The rate follows the country of residence, not nationality
Article 25.1.a) sets a general rate of 24 per cent, reduced to 19 per cent for residents of another European Union member state and of Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein. The distinction carries real weight in the Balearic Islands, where German, Austrian or Dutch owners taxed at 19 per cent sit alongside British, Swiss or United States owners taxed at 24 per cent.
No deduction of any kind is allowed against imputed income. The tax is computed on the gross imputed amount, whatever the service charges, local taxes or financing costs the property may carry.
The new deadlines under Orden HAC/623/2026
Orden HAC/623/2026, of 12 June, published in the Official State Gazette of 23 June, moves the opening of the filing period for imputed income from 1 January to 1 April of the calendar year following accrual, while keeping 31 December as the closing date. Payment may be set up by direct debit between 1 April and 23 December.
The change does not affect imputed income for 2025, for which the filing period remains the whole of the 2026 calendar year. It applies for the first time to imputed income for 2026, which must be declared between 1 April and 31 December 2027.
Where rental income gives rise to tax payable, the filing period becomes the first twenty calendar days of April of the year following accrual, whether the income is declared separately or on an aggregated basis. It is worth recalling that, for income accruing from 2024 onwards, the aggregation period for rental income ceased to be quarterly and became annual.
The order also approves a new schedule itemising deductible expenses for let property and creates entries for the number of days and the ownership share. These changes to the content of the form apply to returns filed from 1 January 2027, irrespective of when the income accrued.
Where the property is let for part of the year
Letting does not replace imputation; it displaces it only for the days on which the property is actually let. The remaining days continue to generate imputed income, so a single year may call for two returns of a different nature. Residents of the European Union, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein may deduct from their rental income the expenses provided for under the personal income tax rules, provided those expenses relate directly to the income obtained and are apportioned over the letting period, in accordance with article 24.6.
Common mistakes
Four recur constantly. Filing a single return for a married couple or a household, when each co-owner must file separately. Using the valor de referencia (the reference value set by the cadastre for transfer tax purposes) instead of the cadastral value, which is the figure the rules use for imputation. Leaving out annexes that have their own cadastral reference, such as a garage or storeroom, since these count as separate properties for this purpose. And assuming that the absence of a notice means the absence of an obligation, when failure to file triggers the surcharges under article 27 of the General Tax Act and, once a formal request has been issued, a penalty as well.
Practical implications and conclusion
Imputed income rarely produces a large liability, but a sustained failure to declare it does. Because the obligation is annual, non-compliance accumulates year after year until the limitation period expires, and it tends to surface at the worst possible moment, which is the sale of the property or the administration of an estate, when the buyer, the notary or the co-heirs ask for evidence that the owner's tax position is in order.
Three points deserve review before each year end: whether the cadastral value has been revised, since that determines whether the rate applied is 1.1 or 2 per cent; whether the ownership share on the land register matches the one declared; and whether the property was let on any day of the year, which requires the return to be split. With the new deadlines, anyone in the habit of filing in January will also need to reset the calendar from the 2026 income onwards.
Lex·on assists non-resident owners with their Spanish non-resident income tax obligations from Palma de Mallorca and Manacor, including the regularisation of open years. If you hold a property in the islands, we can review your position before the tax authorities do.
Source: articles 13.1.h), 24.5 and 25.1.a) of the consolidated Non-Resident Income Tax Act (Royal Legislative Decree 5/2004) and Orden HAC/623/2026, of 12 June.
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This article is for information purposes only and reflects the administrative position in force on the date of publication. It does not constitute legal or tax advice and does not replace an individual analysis of each case.