Non-resident tax in Arrecife

Most visitors to Lanzarote see Arrecife only from the airport road. The island's capital, with 70,811 residents, is a port and administrative city: the Charco de San Ginés lagoon ringed with restaurants, the Castillo de San José housing César Manrique's contemporary art museum, the shopping street of León y Castillo and the one urban beach, Playa del Reducto, with its promenade towards the Gran Hotel. The areas that matter to foreign owners are Playa del Reducto, Charco de San Ginés.

Foreign owners here are rarely holidaymakers who bought a complex apartment. They are more often investors renting a flat to island workers, people who moved to Lanzarote and later left, or owners who prefer a real town to Puerto del Carmen's resort strip. Across the province of Las Palmas, foreign owners come first from Italy, Germany, United Kingdom, Poland. Foreign buyers account for around 21.7% of purchases in the province. Asking prices in Arrecife average €2,506/m² (September 2026); the non-resident tax, however, is calculated on the cadastral value.

The imputed income tax works the same way across Spain: the cadastral value on your IBI receipt is multiplied by a coefficient to produce a notional income, which is then taxed at 19% for EU and EEA residents and 24% for everyone else. What differs is the coefficient. Under the rule in force for tax years 2023 to 2026, municipalities whose values were revised by a general collective valuation with effect from 2012 onwards apply 1.1%; the rest apply 2%. Arrecife's last revision took effect in 2008, a few years too early, so the coefficient is 2%.

That combination is the least favourable one on the island: values revised recently enough to be relatively high, but not recently enough for the reduced coefficient. The average residential cadastral value in Arrecife is €77,200 (Catastro statistics 2026). Imputed income: €77,200 × 2%. Tax for an EU or EEA resident: €293.36 per year; for a UK, Swiss or US resident: €370.56. Both figures are for one owner holding the whole flat for the whole year. Co-owners split the base according to their shares and each file a Modelo 210.

The declaration for income year 2025 is filed during the following calendar year, at any time. From the 2026 income year, the window becomes 1 April – 31 December of the following year (Orden HAC/623/2026). The tax is due even if the flat stood empty, since it taxes a notional rather than an actual income, and no personal allowance applies. UK residents have paid 24% without deductions since Brexit; if the flat is let, the rent is normally also reported on the foreign pages of their Self Assessment, with credit relief for the Spanish tax. Irish owners stay at 19% as EU residents.

Arrecife's IBI, the local property tax, is collected by Red Tributaria Lanzarote (Cabildo de Lanzarote) - delegated collection. The voluntary payment period normally runs 20 July – 21 September. A direct debit from a Spanish account is the easiest way to avoid the surcharges applied once the voluntary period closes.

Your Modelo 210 is built on two numbers printed on this receipt: the referencia catastral, which identifies the flat, and the valor catastral, which is the tax base. Receipts can be downloaded from the collector's sede electrónica with a NIE and digital certificate. If the receipt has always gone to a tenant or an administrator, Fiscasa can retrieve the cadastral data from the address.

Long-term letting to island residents is the common pattern in Arrecife. For every day the flat is let, the imputed income disappears; it only covers the days the home was available to you. The rent is declared on a separate Modelo 210 for rental income, grouped annually since 2024 and, from the 2026 income year, filed between 1 and 20 April of the following year. EU and EEA residents deduct expenses pro rata and pay 19%; non-EU residents pay 24% on gross rent.

Holiday lets are regulated at regional and island level. A vivienda vacacional must be registered with the Cabildo de Lanzarote and display its registration number (Decreto 113/2015). The regional law on the sustainable tourist use of homes approved in 2025 lets municipalities zone and cap tourist homes, with acquired rights for homes already registered under conditions, so check the current island rules before advertising. Every short-term advert has needed a national rental register number since 1 July 2025, and platforms pass their data to the tax administration.

• Rented all year? You still file, but as rental income; the imputed income return only covers the days between tenants.
• Deposit and contracts: keep the lease and proof of rent received, since EU and EEA owners deduct expenses in proportion to the let period.
• Purchase year: the imputed income runs from the day after the deed, pro rata.
• Co-owners each file their own Modelo 210 with their own NIE.
• Catching up: the tax agency can claim four years. Voluntary late filing costs 1% plus 1% per full month of delay (15% plus interest after a year), reduced by 25% when paid within the deadline given.
• US owners: 24% rate, and possible FBAR or Form 8938 reporting for a Spanish bank account.
• Airport: Lanzarote (ACE) is about ten minutes from the city, so a yearly visit to collect post and check the flat is easy.