I bought my Spanish property during the year: how many days do I declare?

The day the clock starts

Ownership changes on the date of the deed signed before the notary. Spanish imputed income begins on the following day. Nothing is due for the months before you owned the property, even if you had paid a deposit or held the keys during a reservation period.

A worked example

Fiona completes the purchase of an apartment in Torrox on 30 June 2025. The day after is 1 July, so she owned it for 184 days of a 365-day year (31 + 31 + 30 + 31 + 30 + 31). The cadastral value is €100,000 and the town applies 2%.

• Full-year imputed income: €2,000.
• Pro rata: €2,000 × 184/365 = €1,008.22.
• Fiona lives in Edinburgh, so 24%: €241.97.
• If she lived in Ireland, 19% would give €191.56.

In a leap year such as 2024, divide by 366 instead.

If you also let it in that first year

Some buyers rent the property out for a few weeks soon after completion. Those days are declared as rental income and taken out of the count. If Fiona had let the flat for 30 days in August, her imputed days would be 154 instead of 184.

When to file for the first year

The first return covers the purchase year and follows the normal calendar. For a 2025 purchase, the imputed-income return can be filed until 31 December 2026. For a purchase in 2026, the window is 1 April to 31 December 2027. See the Modelo 210 deadline.

Selling works the same way

When you sell, the imputed income stops with the sale. You declare the days of the year up to the transfer, then a separate return covers any capital gain. Buyer and seller each declare their own days, so the year is never counted twice.

A first year is also the moment to gather your documents: the deed, the cadastral reference, your NIE and the first IBI receipt. The calculator accepts a purchase date and works out the fraction for you.