Non-resident tax in Altea

Altea's old town, a knot of white lanes climbing to the blue-tiled domes of its church, has drawn painters and musicians for a century, and the municipality of 24,592 residents has kept a lower, calmer profile than Benidorm across the bay. Its foreign owners are spread across three very different places: the gated hillside estate of Altea Hills, with large villas and sea views, the inland village of Altea la Vella under the Sierra de Bernia, and the apartment blocks and townhouses between the pebble beaches of Cap Negret, La Roda and the Olla and the marina at Campomanes. Owners from Netherlands, United Kingdom, Belgium, Poland lead the foreign community.

Altea Hills in particular brought Norwegian, Dutch, Belgian and Russian buyers; the town centre and the seafront are shared between Spanish, French, British and Dutch owners. Across Alicante province, foreigners account for 43.3% of home purchases. Altea's average asking price is €3,504/m², measured in September 2026, among the highest in the area. The tram links Altea to Benidorm and Alicante; Alicante-Elche (ALC) is about an hour away.

Altea is a textbook case of unlucky timing. Its last general revaluation of cadastral values, the ponencia de valores, took effect in 2010, two years before the date that matters. For the 2023–2026 tax years, the 1.1 % coefficient goes to municipalities whose values were revised with effect from 2012 onwards; Altea missed it and applies 2 %, so 2% of the valor catastral is the base. But a 2010 revaluation also means values that reflect the boom years, and Altea's average residential cadastral value, €99,600 according to the Catastro statistics for 2026, is far above that of towns revalued in the 1990s.

Put together, the sum is: €99,600 × 2% = taxable base; × 19 % for an EU or EEA resident = €378.48 a year for one owner holding the whole property; × 24 % for a UK, Swiss, US or other non-EU resident = €478.08. A villa in Altea Hills will usually carry a much higher valor catastral than the average, so check your own IBI receipt rather than relying on these figures. The tax is due whether or not you used the house, since it is charged on a notional income, and each co-owner files separately.

For UK residents the Brexit effect is simple: 24 %, no deductions, and the home is reported again to HMRC on the foreign pages, with Foreign Tax Credit Relief for the Spanish tax. Irish and other EU owners stay at 19 %. US owners pay 24 %, and FinCEN's FBAR and IRS Form 8938 may apply to a Spanish account. The 2025 return may be lodged at any time in the next calendar year; for 2026 income onwards, Orden HAC/623/2026 restricts filing to 1 April – 31 December of the year after; and from 2027 the planned reform of the imputation may change the figures again.

Altea's IBI is a meaningful bill because the values are high, and it is collected by Suma Gestión Tributaria (Diputación de Alicante), by delegation of the Ayuntamiento. Voluntary payment is due 27 July – 8 October. The urban rate applied is 0.7%. A direct debit from a SEPA account abroad protects you from the surcharge on a receipt missed in the autumn.

The same receipt shows the valor catastral, your Modelo 210 base, next to the referencia catastral of the property. The collector's sede electrónica issues duplicates to owners with a digital certificate; otherwise Fiscasa can look up the cadastral data from the address.

If you let the villa for part of the year, the year splits in two. Own-use days carry imputed income; let days carry rental income, declared on its own annual Modelo 210 since 2024, at 19 % after pro-rata expenses for EU and EEA landlords and 24 % of the gross for everyone else.

Three regional requirements apply in Altea as everywhere in the Comunitat Valenciana: entry in the regional tourism registry before advertising; since Decreto Ley 9/2024 (August 2024), a municipal urban-compatibility report and a registration that lasts five years before renewal; and the rule that a let of more than ten days to one tenant is not a tourist let. On top comes the national Registro Único de Arrendamientos number, compulsory in platform listings since 1 July 2025. Altea's town hall may add planning conditions of its own, unregistered lets can be fined, and the rules change often, so check before you advertise.

• Bigger bill: the same coefficient applied to recent values produces more tax; the calculator above gives the exact figure from your valor catastral.
• Start date: the tax starts the day after the deed, pro rata, and is declared the following year.
• Shares: one Modelo 210 per owner, for his or her share, with his or her NIE.
• Arrears: the AEAT can claim four years; modest surcharges apply if you come forward first, 1 % plus 1 % a month for up to a year, then 15 % and interest, and prompt payment of the notice earns a 25 % reduction.
• Transfer: EU/EEA residents can file without a representative and pay the AEAT by international transfer, accepted since 2023.