Non-resident tax in Orihuela Costa

The first thing to understand about owning in Cabo Roig, La Zenia, Playa Flamenca, Villamartín, Campoamor is that none of these names appears on an official tax document. Legally they are districts of Orihuela, a historic cathedral city on the Segura river some thirty kilometres inland, and the municipality as a whole has 84,560 registered inhabitants. The coastal strip, developed from the 1980s onwards along roughly sixteen kilometres between Punta Prima and Pilar de la Horadada, has become a town in its own right, with a municipal office in Playa Flamenca and the Zenia Boulevard shopping centre as its unofficial heart.

Foreign buyers dominate the coast. Owners from Netherlands, United Kingdom, Belgium, Poland are the most numerous. Throughout Alicante province foreigners make 43.3% of purchases, and on the Orihuela coast the proportion is widely considered higher still. Typical properties are townhouses and quad villas around the golf courses of Villamartín, Las Ramblas and Campoamor, apartments in La Zenia and Playa Flamenca, and detached villas with sea views in Cabo Roig. Agents quote an average asking price of €2,902/m² (September 2026); cadastral values are another world entirely, as the next section shows. Alicante-Elche (ALC) is the usual arrival point, under an hour by motorway; Murcia's airport at Corvera is an alternative for the southern estates.

Orihuela's last general revaluation of cadastral values took effect in 1994. That date sets the coefficient for the imputed income tax: municipalities revalued with effect from 2012 onwards use 1.1 % during the 2023–2026 tax years, the rest use 2 %, so Orihuela's valor catastral is multiplied by 2%. The age of the revaluation has a silver lining. Values fixed in the 1990s and applied to homes built since then are low compared with towns revalued recently, so the base is small even at the higher coefficient.

The average residential cadastral value in the municipality is €35,800 (Catastro, 2026). Multiplying by 2% and then by the 19 % rate for EU and EEA residents produces €136.04 of non-resident tax a year for a sole owner. Owners resident outside the EU and EEA, which since Brexit includes the UK, pay 24 %, or €171.84. The figure is due even if the house stood empty all year, because the law taxes the availability of the home, not its use. Your receipt, not the average, is the starting point: look for the valor catastral on the IBI.

An Irish owner in Villamartín is an EU resident and keeps the 19 % rate. A British owner cannot deduct community fees or repairs and generally reports the home on the foreign pages of the Self Assessment, claiming relief for the Spanish tax. A US owner is also taxed at 24 % and, if a Spanish account holds more than a token balance, may have FBAR and Form 8938 filings to consider. For income year 2025 the Modelo 210 can be filed on any day of the following calendar year; from the 2026 income year the window will be 1 April – 31 December of the year after, under Orden HAC/623/2026.

Orihuela has delegated the collection of its IBI to Suma Gestión Tributaria (Diputación de Alicante), by delegation of the Ayuntamiento, which sends the receipts for every property on the coast. The voluntary payment period usually falls 27 July – 8 October. Orihuela's urban IBI rate is 0.7%. Owners who are abroad for most of the year should set up a direct debit, accepted from a SEPA account in their home country, because a receipt that goes unpaid in the voluntary period attracts a surcharge automatically.

Besides the amount, the receipt carries the referencia catastral and the valor catastral, the base of your Modelo 210. If the paper went astray, the collector issues duplicates online to anyone with a digital certificate, and Fiscasa can obtain the cadastral details from the property's address.

Many homes around La Zenia and Villamartín are let for the summer. For those weeks you do not pay imputed income; it applies only to the days the house was at your disposal. The rent goes on its own Modelo 210, on an annual basis since 2024, with expenses deductible pro rata and a 19 % rate for EU and EEA residents, or 24 % of the gross for non-EU landlords.

Orihuela is in the Comunitat Valenciana, so a tourist let has to be listed in the regional tourism registry before the first advert goes online. Decreto Ley 9/2024 (August 2024) made that harder: the town hall must issue an urban-compatibility report, the registration expires after five years unless renewed, and renting to the same person for over ten days takes the let outside the tourist category. Add the national requirement, in force since 1 July 2025, to show the Registro Único de Arrendamientos number on every platform listing. An unregistered let can be fined; the regulation changes frequently, so check it before each season.

• Check the municipality on your paperwork: everything says Orihuela, never Orihuela Costa or the name of your urbanisation.
• First year: the imputed income is calculated from the day after the purchase deed, pro rata, and declared the following year.
• One return per owner: two names on the deed means two Modelo 210 filings, each with its own NIE and share.
• Catching up: Spain claims up to four back years. Regularising before any letter arrives costs a surcharge of 1 % plus 1 % per full month (15 % and interest beyond twelve months), cut by 25 % if the notice is paid on time.
• No fiscal representative is compulsory for EU and EEA residents declaring imputed income, and the AEAT accepts payment by transfer from abroad.