What Is IRNR? Non-Resident Income Tax in Spain: Modelo 210 and Rates

Spain’s non-resident income tax, known by its Spanish initials IRNR (Impuesto sobre la Renta de No Residentes), applies to anyone who earns income from a Spanish source without being a tax resident in Spain. The most common trigger is owning Spanish property, but rental income, capital gains on a sale, Spanish dividends and interest, and pensions paid from Spain all fall inside the same regime. You report and pay through a form called Modelo 210, filed with the Agencia Tributaria, at rates that generally run 19% for residents of the EU or EEA and 24% for residents of everywhere else.¹

Who Counts as a Non-Resident

Spain draws the line at 183 days. Spend 183 days or fewer inside the country during a calendar year and you are generally treated as a non-resident for tax purposes.² Every day of physical presence counts, whatever the reason for the visit.

Days are not the only test. Spain also looks at where the center of your economic interests sits. If most of your income, assets, or professional activity is based outside Spain, that reinforces non-resident status. The reverse matters too: if your spouse and minor children live in Spain, the tax agency can presume you are a resident even when your day count is below the threshold. The classification is worth getting right, because residents pay a different tax entirely, the IRPF, on progressive rates that can run well above the flat IRNR rates.²

What Income Spain Taxes

Property You Own but Don’t Rent

This one surprises people. If you own residential property in Spain and either keep it for your own use or leave it empty, the Agencia Tributaria treats the ownership itself as a taxable benefit and charges you on a fictional “imputed income” even though no cash has changed hands. The taxable base is a percentage of the property’s cadastral value (the valor catastral printed on your annual IBI receipt): 1.1% if that value has been revised within the last ten tax periods, or 2% if it hasn’t.³ You then apply your IRNR rate to that base.

If you bought partway through the year, you prorate the imputed income for the months you actually owned the property. The same logic applies if you rent the property for part of the year: imputed income only covers the months the property sat empty or was in personal use.

Rental Income

Every euro of rent from a Spanish property is taxable under IRNR, whether the lease is long-term residential, short-term vacation, or anything in between. The treatment splits hard along one line: EU/EEA residency.

Live in the EU or EEA and you can deduct expenses directly related to the rental before the tax is calculated. Allowable costs include mortgage interest, IBI, insurance, repairs and maintenance, property management fees, and a depreciation allowance on the building. You pay 19% on what’s left.¹

Live outside the EU/EEA and you pay 24% on the gross rent with no deductions at all. Mortgage payments, repairs, and management fees can eat most of the income and you still owe tax on every euro collected. For the same property with the same costs, the effective burden on a U.S. resident can be far heavier than on a French one.

Selling Spanish Property

A sale triggers capital gains tax under IRNR. The gain is the difference between your acquisition cost and the sale price, and you can factor in documented costs such as notary fees, transfer tax paid at purchase, and the invoiced cost of major improvements. The rate on the gain is 19% regardless of where you live.¹

A wrinkle worth knowing before you sign: the buyer is legally required to withhold 3% of the total sale price and remit it directly to the Agencia Tributaria on your behalf, using Modelo 211.⁴ The 3% is a deposit against your final tax, not the tax itself. If your actual gain is smaller than the withholding (or if you sold at a loss), you file Modelo 210 to claim the difference. Refund claims can be lodged from February 1 of the year following the sale, and you have four years from the end of the filing period to submit them.⁵ You will need the withholding certificate and proof of the bank account where you want the refund paid.

Dividends, Interest, and Other Financial Income

Spanish-sourced dividends and interest are taxed at 19% for all non-residents.¹ Spanish banks and companies typically withhold this at source, so many non-residents never file a separate Modelo 210 for these. Where a double-taxation treaty allows a lower rate, you need to supply residency documentation up front, otherwise the payer applies the full domestic rate and you have to chase a refund afterward.

Spanish-Source Pensions

Pension income paid from a Spanish source to someone living abroad is taxed on a progressive scale, not the flat IRNR rate:¹

Up to €12,000: 8%
€12,000 to €18,700: 30%
Above €18,700: 40%

The rates work in tiers, so only the portion above each threshold takes the higher percentage. Treaties often override these numbers for government pensions by assigning exclusive taxing rights to one country, so it’s worth checking the specific agreement between Spain and your country of residence.

The Rates in One Place

The standard IRNR rates, pulling the categories above together:¹

General rate, EU/EEA residents: 19% on net income (expenses deductible on rentals)
General rate, all other countries: 24% on gross income (no expense deductions on rentals)
Dividends and interest: 19% for all non-residents
Capital gains on asset transfers: 19% for all non-residents
Pensions: progressive scale from 8% to 40%

How Treaties Change What You Actually Owe

Spain has tax treaties with dozens of countries, and they can meaningfully change the bill. The most common benefit is a reduced withholding rate on dividends. The Spain–U.S. treaty, for example, caps Spanish withholding on dividends at 15% for most shareholders instead of the standard 19%. Some treaties reduce or eliminate Spanish tax on interest entirely, and EU residents may qualify for full exemptions on bank interest under EU directives.

To claim treaty benefits, you generally need a certificate of tax residency from your home country’s tax authority. U.S. taxpayers obtain IRS Form 6166, a letter on Treasury Department stationery confirming U.S. tax residency, by filing IRS Form 8802.⁶ Other countries issue their own equivalents. Without the certificate, Spanish payers withhold at full domestic rates and you have to file for a refund.

Treaties also protect you from being taxed twice on the same income. Where Spain taxes your Spanish rent or gain, your home country’s treaty usually obliges it to give you a foreign tax credit for the Spanish tax paid. The mechanics vary treaty by treaty.

Filing Modelo 210

Modelo 210 is filed through the Agencia Tributaria’s electronic portal, signed with either a Spanish digital certificate or the Cl@ve PIN system.⁵ Getting either credential from abroad can be awkward; a digital certificate usually requires an in-person visit to a Spanish government office or consulate. Many non-residents appoint a Spanish tax adviser (gestor) to file on their behalf. If you can’t file electronically, you can print the completed form and present it at a collaborating bank in Spain, which requires either a Spanish bank account or a cash payment at the branch.

Before you start, gather your NIE (foreign identity number), the referencia catastral of the property (a 20-character code on your IBI receipt), the cadastral value, your rental income and expense records, your purchase deed (and sale deed, if applicable), and any residency certificate needed to claim treaty relief.⁷

One Form Per Income Type

Each category of income takes its own Modelo 210 with a specific income-type code. Rental income, imputed income, capital gains, and dividends cannot be combined into a single return.⁵ Own a property you rent for half the year and leave empty the other half, and you file one Modelo 210 for the rent and a separate one for imputed income on the vacant months.

When Each Form Is Due

Deadlines depend on the income type:⁸

Imputed income on empty or personal-use property: filed annually, at any point during the calendar year following the tax year. For 2025 imputed income, you file at some point in 2026.
Rental income: for income accrued from January 1, 2024 onward, rental income from real estate can be grouped and filed annually by January 20 of the following year. Prior filings were quarterly, within the first 20 days of April, July, October, and January.
Capital gains from property sales: within three months after the one-month period following the sale, which works out to roughly four months from closing.
Refund claims, including recovery of the 3% withholding: from February 1 of the year after the sale, within four years of the end of the original filing period.

Do You Need a Fiscal Representative in Spain?

It depends on where you live. Residents of an EU or EEA country have no obligation to appoint a formal fiscal representative and can handle their filings themselves or hire a gestor informally.⁹

Residents outside the EU/EEA must designate a natural or legal person residing in Spain to represent them before the tax administration, and the appointment has to be made before the deadline for declaring the relevant income. That representative takes on joint liability for your tax obligations, which is why Spanish accountants often charge a separate fee for the role. The requirement also kicks in when the Agencia Tributaria specifically demands a representative based on the amount of income earned or the value of Spanish property held.⁹

Late Filing: Surcharges vs. Penalties

Missing a deadline is not catastrophic if you catch it yourself. File voluntarily before the Agencia Tributaria contacts you and you pay a surcharge rather than a penalty: 1% of the tax owed for each full month of delay, with no interest for the first 12 months. From month 13 onward, the surcharge becomes a flat 15% plus late-payment interest running from that point.

If the tax agency reaches you first with an inspection or notice, the voluntary surcharge disappears and penalties apply instead, starting at 50% of the unpaid amount for minor infractions and rising with severity. The two regimes are mutually exclusive: self-correct first, and you get the surcharge; get caught first, and you get the penalty.

If payment is still late after filing, enforcement surcharges apply in tiers: 5% if you pay before receiving a formal enforcement notice, 10% if you pay within the deadline in that notice, and 20% plus interest if you miss that deadline too. The Agencia Tributaria has four years from the end of the filing period to audit and claim unpaid IRNR, so old unfiled returns can resurface long after the fact.

Other Spanish Taxes That May Also Apply

IRNR is not the only obligation for non-residents who own valuable Spanish assets. Spain also charges a wealth tax (Impuesto sobre el Patrimonio) on the net value of assets located in Spain. Non-residents get a general €700,000 exemption, so wealth tax only bites once your Spanish assets exceed that figure.¹⁰ Rates and additional exemptions vary because non-residents can elect to apply the rules of the autonomous community where their highest-value property sits, and some regions are considerably more generous than others.

On top of the wealth tax, Spain has the Solidarity Tax on Great Fortunes for net assets above €3 million. Originally billed as temporary, it was extended indefinitely by Royal Decree-Law 8/2023. It applies the same €700,000 exemption, then taxes the excess above €3 million at 1.7%, 2.1%, and 3.5% in progressive brackets. Any wealth tax already paid in the same period is credited against it, so in practice the solidarity tax works as a top-up for high-value portfolios. Both taxes have their own forms (Modelo 714 for wealth tax, Modelo 718 for the solidarity tax) and their own deadlines, separate from Modelo 210.

1
Agencia Tributaria. Tax Rates for Income Tax for Non-Residents Without a Permanent Establishment
2
Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado. Spain Code BOE-A-2004-4527 – Ley del Impuesto sobre la Renta de no Residentes
3
Agencia Tributaria. Imputed Income from Urban Property for Personal Use
4
Agencia Tributaria. Withholding by the Purchaser of a Property
5
Agencia Tributaria. Form 210 – Non-Resident Income Tax – Instructions
6
Internal Revenue Service. Form 6166 – Certification of U.S. Tax Residency
7
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation. Foreigner Identity Number (NIE)
8
Agencia Tributaria. Income Tax Return for Non-Residents Without a Permanent Establishment
9
Agencia Tributaria. Representation and Joint and Several Liability in the Case of Non-Resident Income Tax
10
Agencia Tributaria. Non-Residents Wealth Tax Liability