Tax & Policy · 9 min read
If you have been following the headlines, you may have seen alarming talk of a "100% tax" on British buyers in Spain. It is the single most common worry we hear from UK buyers considering Andalucía. So let us lead with the reassuring truth, plainly stated: as of June 2026, this tax does not exist, was never voted on, and has been dropped from the latest housing package.
That is not spin or wishful thinking — it is the documented status of the measure. Below we explain exactly what was proposed, why it stalled, the one detail almost no headline mentioned (which makes off-plan a natural safe harbour), and the taxes that actually apply to a British buyer in Andalucía today.
On 13 January 2025, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez floated the idea of a 100% surcharge on the regional property transfer tax (ITP) for buyers who are both non-EU nationals and non-residents in Spain. In practice, that meant the measure was aimed squarely at buyers from outside the EU — including the UK since Brexit — who do not live in Spain.
It is important to be precise about two things the headlines flattened. First, it was a surcharge on top of existing transfer tax, not a flat "100% of the property price" levy — a distinction that matters enormously, and one many news reports lost in translation. Second, it was a proposal announced in a speech, not a law. There is a long road between a prime minister floating an idea and a binding statute.
That road was never travelled. According to reporting by Reuters in March 2026, the proposed surcharge never had a parliamentary reading, never went to committee, and was never put to a vote. The housing package published in January 2026 quietly dropped it altogether.
The reason is arithmetic. Sánchez governs with a minority, and the measure was blocked from both sides — it lacked the votes to advance. We are deliberately careful with our language here: the proposal is best described as stalled or shelved, not "dead." A future government could, in theory, revive some version of it. But the factual position today is that there is no such tax, no bill in progress, and no scheduled vote.
"The 100% tax was a headline, not a law. As of June 2026 it does not exist, was never voted on, and has been dropped from the latest housing package — but it would be dishonest to call it permanently dead. We track it so our clients don't have to."
Here is the part almost every headline missed — and it is genuinely reassuring for nervous non-EU buyers. The proposed surcharge was specifically a surcharge on ITP, the transfer tax that applies to resale (second-hand) properties.
New-build and off-plan properties are not taxed under ITP at all. They are taxed under IVA (VAT) instead. Because the proposed surcharge sat exclusively on top of ITP, new-build and off-plan purchases would have been exempt even if the measure had passed.
In other words, off-plan was always a natural safe harbour from this particular proposal. For a non-EU buyer who was genuinely worried about the surcharge, buying a new-build directly from a developer would have sidestepped it entirely — a structural feature of how Spanish property taxation works, not a loophole.
So if the 100% surcharge is not real, what does a British buyer in Andalucía actually pay? Here is the honest picture for 2026. These are the costs that matter when you budget for a purchase.
| Tax / Cost | Resale property | New-build / off-plan |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer tax (ITP) | 7% (Andalucía) | N/A — not applicable |
| VAT (IVA) | N/A — not applicable | 10% |
| Stamp duty (AJD) | N/A | ~1.2% |
| Total all-in buying cost* | ~12–14% | ~12–14% |
| Wealth tax (Andalucía) | ~Zero** | ~Zero** |
| 3% retention (on purchase) | Withheld from a non-resident seller | N/A |
| NIE number | ✓ Mandatory | ✓ Mandatory |
* "All-in" figure includes purchase tax plus typical legal, notary and registry fees. ** Andalucía applies a 100% deduction on regional wealth tax; the national "solidarity" wealth tax only bites on net wealth above €3 million.
A few of these deserve a sentence each. The 7% ITP on resales applies to everyone, EU or not — it is the standard Andalucían rate. On new-builds you pay 10% IVA plus roughly 1.2% AJD stamp duty instead. Either way, budget for total buying costs of around 12–14% once legal and registry fees are added.
The 3% retention is often misunderstood: when you buy a resale from a non-resident seller, the buyer is required to withhold 3% of the price and pay it to the Spanish tax authority on the seller's behalf, against the seller's potential capital gains. It is a seller-side obligation that you administer, not a tax on you. And wealth tax in Andalucía is effectively zero for the vast majority of buyers, thanks to the region's 100% deduction.
One more source of confusion worth clearing up. Spain's Golden Visa was abolished on 3 April 2025, so property purchase no longer comes with a residency route attached. But this cuts both ways — and mostly in the buyer's favour.
Buying property and obtaining residency are now fully decoupled. You can buy a home in Andalucía purely as an owner, with no immigration strings, or you can pursue residency through a separate visa route if you want to live there. The Non-Lucrative Visa (NLV) and the Digital Nomad Visa (DNV) both remain available and are, for most buyers, a better fit than the old investor visa ever was. The one universal requirement is a NIE number, which is mandatory for any property purchase regardless of whether you intend to live in Spain.
Strip away the tax scare and the picture for British buyers is, if anything, encouraging — and the data is worth getting right, because national and regional figures are routinely confused.
One figure deserves a clear caveat. You will often see +14.3% year-on-year house-price growth cited. That is a national figure from Tinsa — it is not a Costa del Sol or Andalucía-specific number, and it should never be presented as one. We flag it precisely because it is so often mislabelled.
"The honest summary for a UK buyer: the headline tax does not exist, off-plan was never even in scope, and the real costs — around 12–14% all-in — are knowable and plannable. The uncertainty was always more about news cycles than about Spanish law."
If the "100% tax" was the thing holding you back, the factual answer is that there is currently nothing to hold you back. The measure was never enacted, has been dropped from the January 2026 housing package, and even at its most aggressive would never have touched off-plan purchases. The taxes that genuinely apply are well-established, transparent and the same for residents and non-residents on the headline transfer rate.
None of that means buying in Spain is effortless — the NIE, the 3% retention mechanics, tax residency thresholds and the right visa route all reward careful, early planning. That is exactly the kind of thing a good buyer's agent and a Spanish gestora should handle so you can focus on the home.
Updated June 2026. Policy can change; we revise this page when it does. Figures are sourced from Reuters (March 2026), Tinsa, Taylor Wimpey España and official transaction data, as cited above.
This article is general information for British buyers and is not tax or legal advice. Always confirm your specific position with a qualified Spanish lawyer and a tax adviser (gestora) before committing to a purchase.
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