Taxes when Buying Property in Tenerife

The main tax most buyers pay when buying resale property in Tenerife

For most resale property purchases in Tenerife, the key tax is property transfer tax, commonly referred to as ITP. In practical terms, this is the main tax most resale buyers need to budget for on top of the purchase price.

The figure most buyers will hear in Tenerife is 6.5%, and that is the number that usually matters for straightforward resale budgeting. The Canary tax system is the relevant regional framework here.

What ITP means in practice

In plain English, ITP is the tax that usually applies when an existing property is transferred from seller to buyer. For Tenerife buyers looking at resale apartments, townhouses or villas, this is usually the tax they need to understand first.

It is one reason serious buyers should use a buyer costs calculator early and not leave the real numbers until they are emotionally committed to a property.

For most straightforward Tenerife resale budgeting, buyers usually work on 6.5% transfer tax. That is the practical headline number most people need when they are still working out what they can buy safely.

Related page: Tenerife Buyer Costs Calculator

When and how ITP is paid

ITP is a self-assessed tax. The buyer, or in practice their lawyer or gestor acting on their behalf, is responsible for filing and paying it after completion. Two practical points are worth knowing:

• Filing deadline: 1 month from the date of the notarial deed (escritura). Miss the deadline and surcharges plus interest can apply.
• Filing route: ITP in the Canary Islands is filed via Modelo 600 with the Agencia Tributaria Canaria, the regional tax authority — not AEAT, which handles national taxes such as Modelo 210.

For most non-resident buyers this is handled by the lawyer or gestor who took the purchase through to completion. It is still worth understanding the deadline and the form name, so you can confirm with your representative that it has been filed on time and ask for the proof of payment for your records.

How the money moves at the notary and after

One of the most useful things to understand before completion day is what is actually paid at the notary, and what is paid afterwards. Buyers often assume the entire purchase price is handed to the seller on signing day. In a non-resident sale, it is not.

At the notary, the seller receives the purchase price minus any of the following that apply:

• 3% non-resident retention on the purchase price, where the seller is non-resident in Spain. The buyer holds this back and pays it to AEAT after completion via Modelo 211.
• Plusvalia retention, where the seller is non-resident. The buyer holds this back and pays it to the local town hall after completion.

ITP is a separate matter. It is the buyer’s own tax, not a retention from the seller. The buyer holds the ITP amount alongside the retentions and pays it to the Agencia Tributaria Canaria via Modelo 600 within 1 month of signing, as covered above.

On a typical non-resident-to-non-resident purchase at €300,000, the flow looks like this:

• The buyer arrives at the notary with the full completion fund: €300,000 purchase price + 6.5% ITP (€19,500) + 3% retention (€9,000) + plusvalia retention + notary, registry and legal fees.
• At the notary, the seller receives €300,000 minus the 3% retention minus the plusvalia retention. The ITP amount stays with the buyer, who is responsible for paying it separately.
• Within 1 month of signing, the buyer (or the buyer’s lawyer or gestor acting on their behalf) files and pays the ITP, the 3% retention via Modelo 211, and the plusvalia at the town hall.

Why new-build purchases are different

New-build property tax in Tenerife: A normal new-build purchase from a developer is normally taxed at 7% IGIC plus 0.75% AJD, giving a combined tax figure of 7.75% of the purchase price, before notary, land registry, legal and mortgage-related costs.

New-build purchases in Tenerife are not taxed the same way as resale purchases. The two main differences come down to IGIC, the Canary Islands indirect tax, and AJD, the stamp duty on the notarial deed. Together they sit at a different overall rate to the resale ITP figure most buyers start with.

Under Canary IGIC legislation, the first delivery (primera entrega) of a completed building by the promoter is subject to IGIC. Subsequent transfers are treated as exempt and fall under ITP instead, which is why a resale apartment is taxed under the 6.5% ITP framework while a new-build purchase from the developer sits under IGIC.

For new-build (obra nueva) residential property in the Canary Islands, buyers usually budget on:

• IGIC at 7% on the purchase price. IGIC is the Canary Islands indirect tax framework and replaces mainland Spanish VAT (IVA), which is 10% on residential new-build. The 7% figure is the general IGIC rate normally used for standard residential new-build purchases that are not covered by protected housing or other reduced-rate categories.
• AJD at 0.75% on the purchase price. This is the stamp duty on the notarial purchase deed that accompanies an IGIC purchase, set at the Canary general rate for notarial documents. It is not the same as the AJD on a mortgage deed, which since 2019 is paid by the lender, not the buyer.

How resale and new-build compare at the same price

The cleanest way to see the difference is to put both purchases side by side at the same price. On a property at €300,000:

Notary, land registry and legal costs are broadly comparable on top of either purchase. The €3,750 difference at this price is purely the tax framework, not the rest of the buying costs.

If you are looking seriously at obra nueva, build the budget on this 7.75% basis, not on the 6.5% resale figure. The two transactions sit on different tax frameworks and should not be planned as if they behave the same way.

The annual non-resident ownership tax (Modelo 210)

If you are a non-resident owner, there is an annual tax position to deal with even if the property is not rented out. This is not part of the one-off acquisition tax bill. It is part of the cost of owning the property each year, filed through Form 210 (Modelo 210) in the Spanish non-resident tax system.

The principle behind it is that AEAT treats a Spanish property held by a non-resident as generating an imputed income each year, whether or not the property is actually let. The owner pays tax on that imputed figure annually.

How the calculation works

For property that is not rented out, the imputed income tax is calculated in three steps:

1. Take the catastral value (valor catastral) of the property. This is found on the IBI bill and is typically 30% to 50% of market value in South Tenerife.
2. Apply the imputation percentage to get the imputed income for the year:
   • 1.1% if the catastral value has been revised within the last 10 years
   • 2% if it has not been revised in the last 10 years

   Most South Tenerife properties fall into the 1.1% bracket, but it is worth checking on your specific property.

3. Apply the tax rate to the imputed income:
   • 19% for EU and EEA residents
   • 24% for non-EU/EEA residents, including UK residents post-Brexit

Worked example: €300,000 apartment in South Tenerife

Take a representative case. A €300,000 apartment in Los Cristianos with a catastral value around €100,000, where the catastral was revised within the last 10 years:

That is the annual figure, before any gestoría fee for handling the filing. If the catastral value on your specific property is higher, or if it has not been revised in the last 10 years and the 2% imputation rate applies, the figure scales accordingly.

Modelo 210 is filed per owner, not per property

This is the part most buyers miss. The Modelo 210 obligation falls on each owner individually, on their share of the property. Two registered owners on the título means two separate filings every year, not one.

Take the same €300,000 apartment owned 50/50 by a UK couple. Each owner files their own Modelo 210 on their 50% share of the imputed income:

• €1,100 imputed income × 50% share = €550 each
• €550 × 24% = €132 per owner per year
• Total household tax: €264 per year, the same as a sole owner — but two separate filings, and usually two separate gestoría fees.

Where ownership is split between an EU and a non-EU resident, for example an Irish citizen and a UK citizen buying jointly, each owner is taxed on their share at their own residence rate. The two halves are not blended.

Filing deadline

For property that is not rented out, Modelo 210 for a given tax year is filed annually, with a deadline of 31 December of the following year. Imputed income for 2025 must therefore be filed and paid by 31 December 2026. Most non-resident owners use a gestor or accountant to handle the filing. Typical professional fees run between €100 and €200 per owner per year, sometimes more for complex situations.

If the property is rented out, the regime changes. The owner files Modelo 210 quarterly on actual rental income, EU/EEA residents can deduct allowable expenses, non-EU residents cannot. The wider rental cost picture is covered on Ongoing Costs of Owning Property in Tenerife.

Related page: Ongoing Costs of Owning Property in Tenerife

Why buyers often get confused about taxes in Tenerife

Buyers often hear broad shorthand such as “allow 10%” without really understanding what sits inside it. That can be useful as a rough planning rule, but it is not the same as understanding which costs are one-off buying costs and which are ongoing ownership costs.

The most common confusion points are:

• thinking the purchase price is the real budget
• not understanding that resale and new-build purchases are taxed differently
• treating annual non-resident tax as if it were part of the purchase bill rather than an ownership issue
• assuming all generic Spain guidance applies neatly to Tenerife without checking the Canary tax framework

There is also one technical point worth being aware of. In some cases, Spanish tax rules can look at a reference value rather than the declared purchase price. That is not something most buyers need to build into a quick budgeting calculation, but it is one reason tax rules should not always be treated as a simplistic headline-price question.

Quick tax summary

• For most resale purchases in Tenerife, the key tax buyers budget for is 6.5% transfer tax in the Canary framework.
• New-build purchases should not be treated the same way as resale purchases because the tax structure is different under the Canary indirect tax framework.
• Non-resident owners face an annual Modelo 210 imputed-income tax filing on the property. EU/EEA residents pay 19% on the imputed income; UK and other non-EU residents pay 24% post-Brexit. The filing is per owner, not per property.
• ITP is filed via Modelo 600 with the Agencia Tributaria Canaria within 1 month of the notarial deed; Modelo 210 is filed with AEAT annually by 31 December of the following year.