ITP (Impuesto de Transmisiones Patrimoniales) is the number one cost when you buy a resale property. Two or three rules are enough to understand it, including one that almost no foreign buyer knows.
The principle
ITP is a regional tax paid by the buyer when buying a resale property (for new-builds, VAT applies instead). Each autonomous community sets its own scale. Catalonia applies a progressive scale: around 10% on the part of the price up to €600,000, with higher rates above that, the scale having been tightened for the most expensive transactions and for buyers who own many properties. For the vast majority of purchases on the Costa Brava, remember 10%.
The rule nobody tells you: the reference value
Since 2022, the Spanish tax authorities have published a reference value (valor de referencia) for every property, based on the cadastre. ITP is calculated on the sale price or on this reference value if it is higher. In practice: you brilliantly negotiate a property down to €250,000, but if its reference value is €280,000, the tax is calculated on €280,000. We check this value before every offer: it is part of the real cost of the property.
In practice
- Declared and paid within a month of signing the deed.
- The gestoría handles the formalities; the funds must be available from the signing.
- Reduced rates exist for some profiles (young buyers of a main home, large families), rarely applicable to non-residents.
ITP cannot be negotiated, but it can be anticipated. A budget that includes it from the start, reference value included, holds no nasty surprises.
