Tax advisor in Marbella for expats and non-residents — comprehensive Spanish tax compliance on the Costa del Sol

Tax advice in Marbella for expats: the full picture for international residents and property owners

No other location in Spain presents the combination of international diversity and fiscal complexity found in Marbella and the surrounding Costa del Sol municipalities. The Golden Mile, Puerto Banús, Sierra Blanca, Nueva Andalucía, and the private estate of La Zagaleta collectively host a community drawn from dozens of countries, each bringing their own domestic tax history and obligations that must be mapped and managed alongside their Spanish requirements.

BMC’s tax practice on the Costa del Sol serves the full range of international clients: from the British retiree with a Marbella apartment and a UK pension, to the German entrepreneur who has relocated their business to Spain, to the Scandinavian high-net-worth individual with a multi-property portfolio and complex wealth tax exposure. Our approach begins with understanding the complete picture before advising on any part of it.

Our Marbella office and our Málaga team work together to provide on-the-ground tax compliance for expats across the entire Costa del Sol.

Non-resident tax obligations on the Costa del Sol

Non-resident property owners on the Costa del Sol have Spanish tax obligations regardless of whether they visit Spain at all. These obligations exist by virtue of owning Spanish property and generate filing requirements that most non-residents are unaware of until they receive a penalty notice from the AEAT.

IRNR (modelo 210) — what every Marbella property owner must file

The most important obligation for non-residents who do not rent their property is the annual modelo 210 IRNR return for imputed income — a tax on deemed rental income calculated as a percentage of the cadastral value of the property. Many non-resident owners in Marbella, Estepona, Nerja, and Fuengirola have historic years of unfiled returns. BMC manages voluntary regularisation of these situations, bringing clients into full compliance and mitigating penalties where possible.

For those who do rent their Marbella property — whether to long-term residents or short-term holiday guests via Airbnb or similar platforms — quarterly modelo 210 filings are required, with rental income taxed at 19% (EU/EEA residents) or 24% (non-EU residents, including UK nationals post-Brexit). Incorrectly treating this income as exempt, or filing under the wrong treaty provisions, are the two most common and costly errors we see among non-resident Marbella property owners.

Cross-border reporting challenges for Marbella expats

Expats who have established tax residency in Marbella face a different but equally complex set of obligations. As Spanish tax residents, they must declare worldwide income — including pensions, dividends, rental income from properties in their home country, and gains from foreign investment portfolios. The language barrier alone prevents many expats from understanding what is required of them: receiving a Spanish-language AEAT notification and not knowing whether it is routine or urgent is a situation BMC clients no longer face, as we act as your authorised representative and handle all correspondence on your behalf.

Form 720 (overseas assets declaration) is compulsory if you hold foreign assets exceeding €50,000 per category. The penalties for non-compliance or late filing are among the most severe in Spanish tax law. We advise all new Marbella tax residents to review their Form 720 obligations in the first year of residency — before the March 31 deadline.

Beckham Law in Marbella: a significant opportunity for expat professionals in 2026

For professionals, remote workers and entrepreneurs relocating to Marbella, the Beckham Law represents one of the most attractive tax opportunities available in Europe for internationally mobile individuals. The flat 24% rate on Spanish-source income, with worldwide income excluded from the tax base, can represent savings of tens of thousands of euros per year compared to the standard IRPF progressive scale. The regime lasts up to five years and must be applied for within six months of Social Security registration.

Who qualifies for the Beckham Law as a Marbella expat?

The 2023 Startups Law reform significantly expanded Beckham Law eligibility. As of 2026, qualifying individuals include:

• Employees transferred to Spain by a non-Spanish employer, or working remotely for a foreign company from Marbella
• Freelancers holding Spain’s digital nomad visa who earn at least 80% of income from non-Spanish clients
• Entrepreneurs founding a qualifying startup in Spain
• Highly qualified professionals (researchers, executives) invited by a Spanish entity

The application window is six months from Social Security registration — it cannot be extended. BMC manages the entire application process and advises on pre-arrival tax planning to maximise the benefit of the regime.

Marbella wealth tax and high-net-worth planning

Marbella and the wider Province of Málaga attract a significant number of high-net-worth expats. Andalucía has its own wealth tax structure, with a €700,000 net asset deduction per taxpayer and rates up to 3.5% on the highest bands. Careful pre-arrival structuring — combined with the Beckham Law’s exclusion of worldwide income from the Spanish tax base — can significantly reduce the total tax burden for newly arrived Marbella residents. Our advisors work with clients’ UK, German, Scandinavian and US advisors to coordinate the bilateral tax picture before and after relocation.

Why Marbella expats choose BMC as their tax advisor

Working with a tax advisor who operates solely in Spanish creates real risks for Marbella’s international community. AEAT notifications go ununderstood. Deadlines are missed. Treaty provisions that could reduce the tax bill are not applied. BMC serves Marbella expats in English (and German, French and Swedish for key client segments), with advisors who understand not just Spanish tax law but the interaction with the tax systems of the countries our clients come from.

We provide fixed-fee annual retainers for expat tax compliance — covering IRPF or IRNR filings, Form 720, modelo 210 for property owners, and ongoing access to our advisory team throughout the year. For new arrivals, we offer a structured onboarding package that covers the first-year compliance calendar, Beckham Law application, Form 720 review and a 90-minute consultation to map the full tax picture.

For related services, see our non-resident income tax (IRNR) page and our Beckham Law & expatriate regime service.

Capital gains tax on Marbella property sales: what non-residents need to know

Property disposals in the Marbella market frequently involve substantial gains — the combination of long ownership periods, property appreciation along the Costa del Sol, and exchange rate movements creates a capital gains tax liability that can be significant and must be planned carefully.

The 3% retention mechanism. When a non-resident sells a Spanish property, the buyer is required by law (Art. 25.2 LIRNR) to retain 3% of the agreed sale price and pay it to the AEAT within one month of the transfer. This retention is a payment on account of the non-resident seller’s capital gains tax liability, not the final tax itself. The seller then files a Modelo 210 within three months of the completion date, calculating the actual capital gain and either receiving a refund (where the actual tax is less than the 3% retained) or paying the shortfall.

Calculation of the capital gain. The taxable gain is the difference between the net sale price (after deducting agency commissions, notary, and registry fees of the sale) and the acquisition cost (original purchase price plus purchase expenses — notary, registry, ITP or VAT, and improvements). Non-residents who acquired their property before 2007 historically benefited from inflation correction coefficients that reduced the nominal gain, but these were abolished. The current calculation uses historic nominal values without inflation adjustment.

EU/EEA vs non-EU sellers. Capital gains tax for non-residents on the sale of Spanish property is levied at 19% for EU and EEA residents, and 19% for non-EU residents under the current general LIRNR rate for capital gains (Art. 25.1.f LIRNR — note that the previous distinction between 19% for EU and 24% for non-EU no longer applies to capital gains, though it still applies to other types of IRNR income). The applicable double tax treaty may allocate taxing rights over the gain to Spain or to the seller’s country of residence, with implications for how the gain is reported in the home country.

Municipal capital gains tax (Plusvalía Municipal). In addition to IRNR, the sale of urban property triggers the Impuesto sobre el Incremento de Valor de los Terrenos de Naturaleza Urbana (IIVTNU) — commonly known as Plusvalía Municipal. This is a separate local tax levied by the Marbella or Benahavís town council on the increase in land value during the ownership period. Following a Constitutional Court ruling in 2021, the tax can no longer be levied when there has been no increase in land value. The calculation methodology changed significantly in 2021, and BMC verifies the correct calculation in each transaction.

Inheritance and gift tax on Marbella property: the Andalucía advantage

One of the most significant tax changes benefiting Marbella property owners in recent years has been Andalucía’s progressive reduction of Inheritance and Gift Tax (Impuesto sobre Sucesiones y Donaciones — ISD). In 2021 and 2022, Andalucía effectively eliminated ISD for close relatives (spouses, descendants, ascendants) for most estates through a 99% tax rebate on the Andalucía ISD liability.

For non-residents inheriting Spanish property (for example, a UK-based child inheriting a Marbella apartment from a non-resident parent), the analysis is more complex. Following EU Court of Justice case law and the Supreme Court ruling, non-EU residents can now apply the most favourable regional ISD rules (in this case, Andalucía) to their Spanish estate rather than being subject only to the less favourable national scale. This ruling substantially reduces the ISD exposure of non-EU nationals inheriting Spanish property — but the application requires expert management to ensure the correct regional rules are applied.

BMC manages the full inheritance process for non-resident beneficiaries: obtaining the NIE for inheritance purposes, managing the Spanish estate declaration, applying the Andalucía ISD rules, and coordinating with UK solicitors or other home-country advisors to ensure the estate is managed holistically. We also advise on pre-death gifting strategies where tax-efficient inter-generational transfers of Marbella property are a priority.