Non-resident tax in Málaga

For decades foreign buyers flew into Málaga and drove straight past it to Torremolinos or Marbella. That changed with the Picasso Museum, the restored Centro Histórico and the Soho district, and the capital of the Costa del Sol, 603,144 inhabitants strong, is now a destination in its own right. Non-resident owners hold flats in the pedestrianised Centro, in the old fishing quarters of Pedregalejo and El Palo with their chiringuitos, and increasingly in Teatinos, the university district where newer buildings offer parking and lifts.

The buyers are international in a way the resorts are not: British and Irish, Scandinavian, Dutch, German, Italian, French and a growing number of Americans, many of whom also work remotely from here. Across the province, foreign purchases are led by buyers from United Kingdom, Netherlands, Morocco, Belgium. Foreigners account for about 32.8% of provincial home sales. Asking prices in the city average €3,969/m² (September 2026). The airport, Málaga-Costa del Sol (AGP), is twelve minutes away by Cercanías train.

Owning a Spanish home that you do not let creates a notional income in the eyes of the Agencia Tributaria, and non-residents pay the imputed income tax on it through the Modelo 210. The income is a fixed percentage of the cadastral value: 2% in Málaga. The city's last general ponencia de valores took effect in 2009, so it misses the 2012 threshold that gives the reduced 1.1% coefficient, for the 2023 to 2026 tax years, to municipalities revised later; all others, Málaga included, use 2%.

With the municipal average residential cadastral value, €74,400 (Catastro statistics 2026), the base is €74,400 × 2%. For a resident of the EU or EEA, taxed at 19%, the non-resident tax is €282.72 per year; for a UK, Swiss, US or other non-EU resident, taxed at 24%, €357.12. Both figures are for one owner holding the whole flat for a full year, and a renovated flat in the Centro may carry a valor catastral well above the city average.

Use the value on your own IBI receipt. For income year 2025 the Modelo 210 is filed during the following calendar year; from the 2026 income year the window runs 1 April – 31 December of the year after (Orden HAC/623/2026). No deductions, no allowance, no minimum. UK owners have paid 24% since Brexit and may want to ask their adviser whether the flat belongs on the foreign pages of their Self Assessment return with credit relief; Irish owners pay 19% as EU residents; US owners pay 24% and should bear FBAR and Form 8938 thresholds in mind for a Spanish account.

The IBI on a Málaga flat is collected by Ayuntamiento de Málaga – Organismo Autónomo de Gestión Tributaria (Gestrisam). The voluntary payment period usually runs 1 April – 5 June · 3 August – 5 October. The urban rate is 0.45%. Direct debit avoids the surcharges that follow a missed voluntary period. The receipt shows the cadastral reference and the valor catastral, the two items the Modelo 210 needs; duplicates are available through the collector's sede electrónica with a digital certificate, and Fiscasa can retrieve the cadastral data from the address or the reference for owners without one.

Letting changes two things. The imputed income is charged only for the days the flat was not let, and the rent is declared on a separate Modelo 210, annually since 2024, at 19% net of pro-rata expenses for EU and EEA landlords or 24% gross for everyone else; from 2026 income the rental return is filed between 1 and 20 April.

Andalucía regulates tourist homes through Decreto 28/2016, amended by Decreto 31/2024 in February 2024: registration in the Andalusian tourism registry (RTA) before advertising, and the power for town halls to cap tourist homes by zone. Málaga city used that power in 2025 to restrict new tourist homes in its saturated districts, which include much of the Centro. Since 1 July 2025 the national rental register number (Real Decreto 1312/2024) is compulsory in adverts. Check the current municipal rule before buying with letting in mind.

• Register the purchase date: the imputed income starts the day after the deed and is prorated by days.
• Garage and trastero: separate cadastral references mean separate lines on the Modelo 210.
• Co-owners: one return each, for each share, with a NIE each.
• Late years: four years can be claimed; a spontaneous filing costs 1% plus 1% per full month (15% plus interest after a year), less 25% if paid when notified.
• Pay from abroad by bank transfer, accepted since 2023; EU and EEA residents need no fiscal representative.