Non-resident tax in Torrevieja

Two salt lagoons, one pink and one green, frame Torrevieja and give it the microclimate that has drawn northern Europeans since the first urbanisations went up in the 1970s. The municipality counts 98,533 registered residents, but the real figure swells every summer and every Christmas as owners return to La Mata, Los Balcones, Punta Prima, Torreta and the dozens of other estates spreading inland from the N-332. Owners from Netherlands, United Kingdom, Belgium, Poland make up the bulk of the foreign community. In Alicante province as a whole, 43.3% of home purchases are made by foreigners, which gives an idea of the scale.

What people own here is modest and practical: two-bedroom bungalows with a shared pool, duplexes on linear estates around Torreta and Los Balcones, apartments along Playa del Cura, Los Locos and La Mata. Many were bought by couples in joint names, and quite a few have already passed to the next generation. In September 2026, resale prices averaged €2,561/m², a figure that has little to do with the cadastral value behind your tax. The nearest airport is Alicante-Elche (ALC), roughly forty-five minutes up the motorway.

Non-resident tax on a home that is not let is charged on a notional income, which is why the Spanish call it renta imputada. It is due whether you spend six months in Torrevieja or never come at all. The percentage applied to the valor catastral is 2% here: the municipality's last general revaluation, the ponencia de valores, dates from 2004, earlier than 2012, so the town does not qualify for the 1.1 % granted for 2023–2026 to municipalities revalued from 2012 onwards, and the general 2 % applies instead.

Here is the sum for an average home. The Catastro statistics for 2026 put the mean residential cadastral value in Torrevieja at €55,300. Applying 2% gives the taxable base; at the 19 % rate for EU and EEA residents the annual tax is €210.14 per owner holding the whole property for the whole year. At 24 %, the rate for residents outside the EU and EEA, it becomes €265.44. Two owners at fifty-fifty each declare half. Always start from the valor catastral on your own IBI receipt rather than from an average or a purchase price.

British owners, by far the largest group in Torrevieja, have paid 24 % since Brexit with no expenses allowed, and they normally include the property in the foreign section of their UK Self Assessment with credit for the Spanish tax. An Irish owner stays at 19 % as an EU resident. An American owner pays 24 % and should remember FBAR and Form 8938 if a Spanish account pays the bills. Returns for income year 2025 are accepted throughout the following calendar year; for the 2026 income year and after, the filing window becomes 1 April to 31 December of the next year under Orden HAC/623/2026.

Torrevieja does not collect its own IBI. The town has delegated collection to Suma Gestión Tributaria (Diputación de Alicante), by delegation of the Ayuntamiento, which issues the receipts, runs the direct debits and operates a local office. The usual voluntary payment window is 27 July – 8 October. The urban IBI rate applied in Torrevieja is 0.4%. A direct debit, possible from a SEPA account in your home country, spares you the surcharge that follows an unpaid receipt while you are away.

For the Modelo 210, the receipt is more than proof of payment: it states the valor catastral that forms your base and the referencia catastral that identifies the property. Lost it? Duplicates are available online from the collector, and Fiscasa can also look the cadastral data up from the address.

When your bungalow is let, the imputed income shrinks to the days it was not let, and the rent is taxed separately, also through Modelo 210. EU and EEA landlords may deduct expenses in proportion to the let days and pay 19 % on the result; UK, Swiss and other non-EU landlords pay 24 % on the gross rent. Rental income has been declared on a single annual return since 2024.

Torrevieja is one of the Valencian towns that adds its own planning limits to the regional regime. The Comunitat Valenciana requires every tourist let to be on the regional tourism registry; since Decreto Ley 9/2024 that means a municipal urban-compatibility report, a registration valid for five years, and the rule that renting more than ten days to one tenant is not a tourist let. Nationally, all short-term listings have needed a Registro Único de Arrendamientos number since 1 July 2025. Fines for unregistered lets are real, and the rules keep moving, so verify the current position before advertising.

• Newly bought: your liability runs from the day after completion, pro rata. A purchase in September means a small first return, filed the following year.
• Joint ownership: each name on the escritura files its own Modelo 210 for its own share; a couple files two.
• Years never declared: the tax office can claim four years back. Regularising voluntarily costs 1 % plus 1 % per full month of delay (15 % and interest after a year), and the surcharge drops by 25 % when you pay within the deadline on the notice.
• Representation: EU and EEA residents need no fiscal representative; payment from abroad by transfer to the AEAT has been possible since 2023.
• Timing: many owners deal with the autumn IBI receipt and the Modelo 210 during their October stay, with the deed, NIE certificates and past filing receipts kept in one folder.