Published on August 8th, 2010 - Updated: November 6th, 2013

Who is liable to pay the taxes and the notary on a property transfer in Spain

Frequently asked question:

In Spain, who (the buyer or the seller) is liable to pay the notary and taxes after a property purchase, and how much do they amount to ?

This question is answered by a law of dispositive application, i.e. when nothing else has been convened between the purchaser and the seller, the law disposes:

• the municipal “plusvalía” (added-value) tax is paid by the seller; it is a tax charged by the Town Hall, and its amount varies according to the place, up to a few thousand euros.
• the tax due on the profit made in the transaction (difference between the original purchase price and the declared selling price) also has to be paid by the seller. The rate also varies according to many factors, but usually amounts to 21%.

All the other purchase costs, in particular the property transfer tax (I.T.P. or impuesto de transmisión patrimonial, 10% in the Valencia province), the notary and the property register have to be paid by the buyer. Altogether, those costs generally amount somewhere between 11.5 and 12% of the sale price, (including the above mentioned 10%).

When a property agent is involved in the transaction, his / her commission in most of cases is included in the sale price, and paid by the seller.

However, as mentioned above, the parties are free to agree another partition of the purchase costs.

On another hand, should the seller be non-resident in Spain, then the buyer has the obligation to withdraw 3% of the selling price mentioned on the notary deed and to pay this amount to the Revenue Service on behalf of the seller, as a deposit related to taxes probably due after the sale. The notary often settles this formality. The Revenue Service will reimburse a possible over charged amount after some three to five months.

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