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Spanish Municipal Capital Gains Tax Calculator

Work out the plusvalía municipal, the tax a Spanish town hall charges when you sell, gift or inherit urban property. The calculator solves both methods the law allows, objective and real, and tells you which one costs less.

The property
The prices (optional)

Only for the real method and to prove there was no gain. Price against price: no notary, transfer tax or commission.

Plusvalía municipal payable
€600.00
Method applied
Real (art. 107.5)

The real increase in value is smaller than the objective base, so article 107.5 lets you be taxed on it instead. Asking for that, with the purchase and sale deeds, saves you €840.00 against an objective assessment.

What your town hall sets

These three come from your municipality's ordenanza fiscal. The statute only sets the ceilings: 30% rate, 15% reduction and 95% relief.

How that figure is built

Period of generation10 complete years
Coefficient applied (art. 107.4)0.12
Land value after the reduction€40,000.00
Base under the objective method€4,800.00
Real increase attributable to the land (40%)€2,000.00
Taxable base applied€2,000.00
Gross tax (30%)€600.00
Net tax payable€600.00

The calculator applies the MAXIMUM coefficient the law allows for each period, up to 0.4 at twenty years. These are the Royal Decree-Law 8/2023 figures: the increase in Royal Decree-Law 16/2025 was left without effect on 27 January 2026 when Congress refused to convalidate it. Your local ordinance may set lower coefficients.

Educational estimate. The exact amount depends on your town hall's ordenanza fiscal, which sets its own coefficients, rate, reductions and reliefs, sometimes differing by length of ownership. It does not replace the self-assessment or professional advice.

Video: how to use the calculator

1

What is taxed is the land, not the flat

The full name of the tax says it: increase in the value of urban land. It does not tax the flat or the house, but the ground they stand on. So the starting figure is not the sale price but the cadastral value of the LAND, which appears on your IBI bill. In a flat that value is usually a small fraction of the total cadastral value, and confusing the two is the quickest way to compute a tax several times larger than the real one. If the land counts as rural for IBI purposes, article 104.2 leaves it outside the tax altogether.

2

Objective method: cadastral land value times a coefficient

This is the default calculation. Take the cadastral value of the land at the date of transfer and multiply it by the coefficient for the complete years you owned the property. Years count whole, with no fractions, and the period is capped at twenty. If the sale happens before the first year is complete, the annual coefficient is prorated by complete months. The town hall may also reduce the cadastral value by up to 15% (article 107.2.a) and then applies its own rate, which the law caps at 30%.

3

Real method: what you actually gained, in the land’s share of it

The Constitutional Court struck down the objective method as the only option in 2021, and since then article 107.5 obliges the town hall to accept the real increase when it is lower. It is the sale price minus the purchase price, multiplied by the share the land represents of the total cadastral value. One detail worth being clear about: that comparison ignores the costs and taxes of the transaction, so no notary fees, no transfer tax, no agency commission. It is price against price.

4

You pay on the lower of the two, and the winner changes

The law does not make you choose blind: you may ask for the real method if it suits you. Where the property has appreciated a lot the objective method is usually cheaper, because the highest coefficient is 0.40 while the real gain may be far larger. Where the purchase was expensive and the sale barely exceeds it, the real method wins comfortably. The calculator shows both bases and marks which one applies, precisely because the answer differs case by case.

5

No gain, no tax, but you have to claim it

Article 104.5 puts a land transfer outside the tax where it is established that there was no increase in value. It is not automatic. Anyone relying on it must declare the transfer and produce the deeds of acquisition and of transfer. Fail to do so and the town hall will assess under the objective method, which never asks whether there was a gain or a loss. In an inheritance, the figure that stands in for the purchase price is the one declared for inheritance and gift tax.

6

Four variables are your town hall’s to set

The statute sets ceilings, not amounts. The rate (up to 30%), the reduction of the cadastral value (up to 15%), the inheritance relief for children, spouse or parents (up to 95%) and the coefficients themselves, which a local ordinance may set below the legal maximum, all come from your municipality’s ordenanza fiscal. The calculator applies the maximum coefficient the law allows and lets you enter the other three. Before filing, check those numbers against your own town hall’s ordinance.

7

The deadlines are short and article 110 sets them

Thirty working days from the transfer for transfers between living persons, that is a sale or a gift. Six months, extendable to a year on request, where the transfer is on death. In a sale the seller pays; in an inheritance or a gift, the person receiving pays.

Worked example

Example: a flat sold in 2026 after 10 years of ownership. Total cadastral value 100,000 €, of which the land is 40,000 €. Objective method: 40,000 × 0.12 (the 10-year coefficient) = 4,800 € of base, which at the 30% maximum rate is 1,440 €. Real method: bought for 195,000 € and sold for 200,000 €, so the gain is 5,000 €, of which the land takes 40%, or 2,000 €. Since 2,000 € is less than 4,800 €, article 107.5 allows that base instead: 600 €. Claiming the real method saves 840 € here.

Frequently asked questions

Did the plusvalía municipal coefficients go up in 2026?
No, and that is where the confusion comes from. Royal Decree-Law 16/2025 of 23 December raised them with effect from 1 January 2026, but Congress did not convalidate it and the Resolución de 27 de enero de 2026 left it without effect. Since 28 January 2026 the Royal Decree-Law 8/2023 coefficients apply again, the same ones as in 2024 and 2025. The identical sequence had happened a year earlier with Royal Decree-Law 9/2024.
Which cadastral value do I enter, the land or the total?
The land value for the tax itself, and the total only to split the real gain between land and building. Both are itemised on your IBI bill and in the Catastro online office. Enter the total cadastral value where the land value belongs and the result will come out far above what you actually owe.
Who pays the plusvalía municipal, buyer or seller?
In a sale the seller pays, because the seller is the one who realises the increase (article 106.1.b). In a gift or an inheritance the person receiving the property pays. There is one exception: where the seller is a non-resident individual, the buyer becomes substitute taxpayer and is liable for the payment.
Is plusvalía municipal payable on inherited property?
Yes, a transfer on death is within the tax and the heir pays it. But article 108.4 lets town halls grant relief of up to 95% of the tax where the property passes to children, a spouse or parents, and many municipalities apply that percentage to the deceased’s main home. Check your town hall’s ordinance and enter the relief in the calculator. The deadline here is six months, extendable to a year.
What if I sold at a loss?
Then there is no tax. Article 104.5 puts the transfer outside the tax where it is established that the land did not increase in value. But you have to declare it and produce the purchase and sale deeds: the town hall will not check on your behalf. Remember the comparison is price against price, without adding the costs and taxes you paid on the purchase.
How long do I have to pay it?
Thirty working days from signing for transfers between living persons, and six months extendable to a year for transfers on death (article 110.2). Many town halls require self-assessment, meaning you calculate and pay within that window yourself.
Why is my town hall charging less than this calculator shows?
Because the calculator applies the maximum coefficient the law allows and, unless you change the rate, the 30% maximum as well. Your local ordinance may set lower coefficients and a lower rate, often with different rates by length of ownership. Read the result as the legal ceiling on what you can be charged, then adjust it with your own municipality’s figures.
Can I reclaim a plusvalía already paid?
It depends why. If you paid under the objective method when the real one was lower, or where there was no gain at all, there is a route to request rectification of the self-assessment. Deadlines and prospects vary a great deal depending on whether it was a self-assessment or a town-hall assessment and on the date, so it is worth asking a professional before writing the refund off or counting on it.

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