Non-resident tax: Valencia and Costa del Azahar

This is the stretch of Mediterranean where the foreign owner is the exception. Peñíscola and Oropesa del Mar have the highest proportions of second homes of any town in this programme, yet most belong to families from Madrid, Zaragoza and Valencia itself; Cullera, Gandía and Benicàssim follow the same rhythm of beach apartments at El Faro, Playa de Gandía or Las Villas that fill in August and empty in September. Foreign buyers take a modest share of purchases in both Valencia and Castellón provinces, a fraction of what Alicante records, and the regional statistics put Dutch, British and Belgian buyers first, ahead of Polish, Ukrainian and German purchasers.

Valencia city breaks the pattern. Flats in Ciutat Vella, Ruzafa, El Cabanyal and on the Patacona seafront are bought by Europeans and Americans who want a large, liveable city rather than a resort, and many combine their own stays with letting. Oliva, between Gandía and Dénia, is the other international spot, its Oliva Nova golf and beach resort drawing Dutch, German and British owners.

Oliva is the only municipality of the 7 whose cadastral values were revised with effect from 2012 or later: its ponencia de valores dates from 2014, so Oliva owners use the 1.1 % coefficient for the 2023–2026 tax years. Everywhere else the values are older and the coefficient is 2 %: Cullera's revision dates from 1996, Gandía's from 1997, Valencia city's from 1998, Peñíscola's from 1999, Oropesa del Mar's from 2002 and Benicàssim's from 2007.

An old revision is not bad news in itself, because the 2 % is applied to values that have barely moved in decades, whereas Oliva's recent values are higher. What never changes is the mechanics: each owner declares the imputed income for their share on Modelo 210, it accrues even when the flat stayed shut, and the rate is 19 % for EU and EEA residents and 24 % for everyone else. A British owner of a Valencia flat has paid 24 % without deductions since Brexit; an Irish owner pays 19 %.

No regional or provincial agency dominates here, which is unusual in Spain. Valencia city collects its own IBI through the Ayuntamiento's tax department, with a spring window; Cullera, Oliva, Benicàssim and Oropesa del Mar also run their own collection offices, Cullera and Benicàssim with summer periods. Gandía has handed the task to the Diputació de València's tax service, and Peñíscola to the Diputación de Castellón, whose summer "third period" includes the IBI. Gandía, Oliva and Oropesa publish their dates each year on the collector's sede electrónica, so check before travelling. Every office accepts direct debit, and the receipt it issues is where you read the valor catastral for your Modelo 210.

The whole coast is in the Comunitat Valenciana, where a tourist let must be entered in the regional tourism registry before it is advertised. Decreto Ley 9/2024 tightened the system in August 2024 with a compulsory municipal urban-compatibility report, five-year registrations and a rule that lets of more than ten days to one tenant are no longer tourist lets. Valencia city and several resorts impose their own planning conditions on top, so a flat that could be let in Ruzafa a few years ago may not be registrable today; check the current municipal position. The national register number (Real Decreto 1312/2024) has been required in adverts since July 2025. For the Modelo 210, rented days are excluded from the imputed income and the rent is declared annually on its own form.

• Valencia airport is the gateway for the whole province; Castellón airport has a thinner schedule, so Peñíscola, Benicàssim and Oropesa owners often fly into Valencia or Barcelona.
• A Valencia flat used partly by its owner and partly let needs both calculations every year; Fiscasa splits the days from the booking records.
• Buying in late summer means a short first year: the imputed income runs from the day after completion, pro rata.
• No representative is required for EU or EEA residents, and payment from a foreign account by transfer to the AEAT has been possible since 2023.