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Form 211: the 3% withholding

Buying property in Spain from a non-resident obliges the BUYER to withhold 3% of the price and pay it in on form 211. It is not a tax: it is a payment on account of the seller’s tax, which is why it is often too much. This tool works out how much to withhold and by when, whether the seller gets part of it back, and what the property answers for if nobody files it.

The base is the agreed consideration of article 25.2, meaning the price, not the reference value.
3% withholding
€9,000.00
Handed to the seller
€291,000.00
Last day to pay it in
16 April 2026

One month from the deed of 16 March 2026: the last day to file form 211 and pay the withholding is 16 April 2026, at the tax office for the area where the property is.

  • If you do not pay it in, article 14.5 of the regulation leaves the property answering for the amount, and the registrar notes it in the margin of the entry with the sum it answers for.
  • The form has three copies and one is the seller's: article 8.2 of the Order makes you hand it over, and without it the seller cannot evidence the payment on account on their form 210.
1

The buyer withholds, and the obligation is the buyer’s

Article 25.2 says «the acquirer shall be obliged to withhold and pay in 3 per cent». It is not an errand the seller delegates or something the notary settles: the person liable is the one buying. If they do not, the same paragraph leaves the transferred property answering for the amount, and article 14.5 of the regulation has the land registrar record it in the margin of the entry, stating the sum the property answers for. It therefore shows up on a nota simple.

2

It is not a tax, it is a payment on account, and it has a break-even point

The 3% is computed on the price and the real tax is computed on the gain, at the 19% set by letter f) of paragraph 1 of the same article 25. Unlike letter a), that letter draws no line between residents of the European Union and everyone else: 19% is the gain rate for any non-resident. Setting the two equal gives an exact proportion, 3 divided by 19, which is 15.7895% of the price. If the gain falls below it the withholding overshoots and money is left over; above it, money is short.

3

One month for the buyer and three more for the seller

Article 14.3 of the regulation gives the buyer one month from the date of the transfer, and it is filed at the tax office for the area where the property is, not where the buyer lives. Article 14.4 gives the seller three months «counted from the end of the period established for paying in the withholding», so the two clocks chain rather than run together. A month runs date to date under article 30.4 of Act 39/2015, and if the month of expiry has no equivalent day, as happens with a 31 January, it expires on the last day of the month.

4

And that form 210 is filed even when it is a refund

This is the sentence that changes the advice. Article 5.a) of Order EHA/3316/2010 says self-assessments on property transfers are filed «regardless of the result of the self-assessment» within that three-month period. For every other refund on the same form 210, article 5.c).3 allows four years from the end of the withholding period and does not even let you file before 1 February of the following year. Same form, same tax, and here the window is four months.

5

There are only two ways out, and neither is a tax treaty

Article 14.2 of the regulation lists exactly two cases in which the buyer does not withhold: the seller evidencing liability to Spanish personal or corporation tax by a certificate issued by the tax administration, and contributing the property to the incorporation or capital increase of a company resident in Spain. A double-tax treaty is not on that list, not least because a gain from property situated in Spain is taxed in Spain. And the seventh additional provision makes the point from the other side: even where the gain is exempt through reinvestment in a main home, its paragraph 3 orders the withholding applied «equally».

6

The property answers for the lesser of two amounts

The charge everyone cites has a cap that almost nobody cites with it. Both article 25.2 and article 14.5 of the regulation say, in the same words, that the property answers «for the payment of the lesser of that withholding or payment on account and the corresponding tax». So on a sale at a loss the property answers for zero, even where thousands were never paid in, because the tax is zero. And on a sale with a large gain the charge stops at the 3%, it does not climb to the whole tax.

7

The same purchase loads the buyer under three different acts

And two of them draw the line in different places. Article 25.2 reaches any taxpayer without a permanent establishment, individual or company. Article 106.2 of the consolidated Local Finances Act makes the buyer the substitute taxpayer for the municipal plusvalía only «where the taxpayer is a natural person not resident in Spain». And article 10.2 of the consolidated Transfer Tax Act computes the ITP on the greater of the reference value and the price, while the 3% is computed on the agreed consideration alone. Buying from a non-resident company means withholding and no substitution; buying from a non-resident individual means both.

Worked example

A buyer acquires a flat on 16 March 2026 for 300,000 euros from a non-resident individual who paid 250,000 for it. They withhold 9,000, hand 291,000 to the seller and file form 211 before 16 April 2026 at the tax office for the area where the property is. With 3,000 euros of purchase costs and 9,000 of sale costs, the seller’s gain is 38,000 euros and the tax 7,220, so 1,780 is refunded and claimed on form 210 before 16 July, four months after the deed. Had the buyer paid in nothing, the property would answer for 7,220 and not 9,000, because the law takes the lesser of the two. And because the seller is a non-resident individual, that same buyer is also the substitute taxpayer for the municipal plusvalía.

Frequently asked questions

Who files form 211, the buyer or the seller?
The buyer. Article 25.2 of the consolidated act says «the acquirer shall be obliged to withhold and pay in 3 per cent», and article 8.3 of Order EHA/3316/2010 reserves the form to acquirers. The seller does not file the 211: they later file form 210 with their definitive tax, offsetting what was withheld from them.
What is the 3% computed on?
On the agreed consideration, meaning the sale price. Not on the Catastro reference value, which is what article 10.2 of the consolidated Transfer Tax Act uses to compute the ITP on the very same deed. The two bases commonly differ and both are correct, each for its own tax.
When is it due?
Within one month of the date of the transfer, says article 14.3 of the regulation, at the tax office for the area where the property is. A month runs date to date, so a deed of 16 March falls due on 16 April. If the month of expiry has no equivalent day the period expires on the last day of that month, and if that day is not a working day it is extended to the next one.
What if the seller sold at a loss?
The withholding is still made. What disappears is the tax, not the payment on account: article 14.2 exempts only two cases and neither of them is having lost money. The seller recovers the whole 3% by filing form 210, which in that case is a refund and must still be filed within the three months.
Does a double-tax treaty exempt me from withholding?
No. Article 14.2 of the regulation lists exactly two exceptions: a certificate of liability to Spanish personal or corporation tax issued by the tax administration, and contributing the property to the capital of a resident company. A treaty does not appear, not least because a gain from property situated in Spain is taxed in Spain.
What if the seller reinvests in another main home?
The withholding is still made. The seventh additional provision lets a resident of the European Union or the European Economic Area exclude the gain when reinvesting, but its paragraph 3 says «the withholding obligation laid down in paragraph 2 of article 25 shall also apply, as shall that of filing the return». If the reinvestment has already happened before form 210 falls due, it is taken into account when settling it.
What happens if the buyer does not withhold?
The transferred property answers for the payment, and the land registrar records it in the margin of the entry stating the sum it answers for. But the charge is capped at «the lesser of that withholding or payment on account and the corresponding tax», so its size depends on how much gain there was. The note is cancelled by lapse or by producing the receipt.
Do I have to give the seller anything?
Yes, and it is what makes the refund possible. The form has three copies and one is the «copy for the non-resident transferor»: article 8.4 of the Order says the acquirer, once the payment is made, shall hand a copy to the transferor, who will use it to evidence the payment on account when filing their own self-assessment. Without that paper the seller cannot prove what was already paid on their behalf.
Who pays the municipal plusvalía if the seller is a non-resident?
The buyer, as substitute. Article 106.1.b) of the consolidated Local Finances Act makes the transferor the taxpayer, but paragraph 2 makes the acquirer the substitute taxpayer «where the taxpayer is a natural person not resident in Spain». The rule reaches individuals only: buying from a non-resident company means withholding the 3% and does not move the plusvalía.
Are form 211 and form 210 the same thing?
They are the two sides of one transfer. The buyer files the 211 within a month with the 3%; the seller files the 210 three months after that period ends, with their real tax, and deducts what was withheld. That subtraction produces either a refund or a further payment, depending on whether the gain came out below or above 15.7895% of the price.

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Author: Thorben Rasmus Idel · Reviewed by: Nahar Geva · Last reviewed: