Wealth Tax in Spain: Complete Guide for Expats (2026)

What Is the Spanish Wealth Tax — and Why Your Region Matters

The Spanish Wealth Tax, or Impuesto sobre el Patrimonio, is an annual tax on your net wealth if you are a Spanish tax resident. It sits alongside income tax, which you pay through your Renta, and it is paid only when your global net assets cross certain thresholds.

The crucial thing every expat needs to understand first is that Wealth Tax is partially ceded to Spain's 17 autonomous communities. Each region can change the threshold, the rates, the rebates, and in some cases zero out the effective tax entirely. The region where you are fiscally resident — not the region where you hold your assets — is what determines the rules that apply to you. An expat living in Málaga and one living in Barcelona with identical balance sheets can face very different tax bills.

On top of the regional regime, the central government introduced the Solidarity Tax on Large Fortunes in late 2022. This was a deliberate response to regions that had 100% rebates on Wealth Tax, and it applies in parallel from €3,000,000 of net wealth upward. We cover it in detail later in this guide.

The Standard National Scale: €700,000 Threshold and Progressive Rates

Where a region has not set its own parameters, the national default rules apply. Under that scale:

You have a general personal allowance of €700,000.
Your principal residence is exempt up to €300,000 of value (per owner for jointly-held properties).
Rates rise progressively from 0.2% on the first bracket up to 3.5% at the top (above roughly €10.7 million of taxable base).
There is a combined-tax cap: Wealth Tax plus IRPF cannot exceed 60% of your income tax base. If it does, the Wealth Tax is reduced, though never by more than 80%.

These are defaults. Whether they are the rules that actually apply to you depends on your region of residence, which we turn to next.

How Your Region Changes the Answer

The variation between regions is dramatic. A simplified snapshot of the positions regions have adopted at different moments in recent years:

Madrid: applies a 100% rebate on the Wealth Tax liability. Effectively, there is no regional Wealth Tax to pay — though the Solidarity Tax now reaches high-net-worth residents anyway.
Andalucía: also applies a 100% rebate. Same dynamic as Madrid after the Solidarity Tax was introduced.
Catalonia: €500,000 threshold (instead of €700,000) and a higher top rate. Catalonia is currently one of the highest-tax regions.
Valencia: €500,000 threshold, higher rates than the national scale.
Balearic Islands: €3,000,000 threshold, aligning with the Solidarity Tax. Effectively, residents only pay Wealth Tax at Solidarity-Tax levels.
Galicia, Murcia, Cantabria, La Rioja, Extremadura: various rebates or rate reductions have been in force at different points, often eliminating the effective Wealth Tax for most residents.
Basque Country and Navarra: separate foral regimes with their own Wealth-Tax-equivalent rules.

Regional rules change frequently and are politically sensitive. Before assuming the regime of your region, always confirm the current-year parameters — what applied in 2023 may have been amended in 2024 or 2025.

The Solidarity Tax on Large Fortunes

The Impuesto Temporal de Solidaridad de las Grandes Fortunas was introduced by Law 38/2022 at the end of 2022. Originally billed as a temporary measure, it has been extended and remains in force. It is a state-level tax, not a regional one, which is precisely why it was created: to neutralise the fact that residents in regions with 100% Wealth Tax rebates were paying effectively nothing.

Key mechanics:

Threshold: €3,000,000 of net wealth, with an additional €700,000 general allowance — so the effective exempt amount is €3,700,000.
Rates: 1.7% from €3–5m, 2.1% from €5–10m, and 3.5% above €10m (applied to the taxable base after allowances).
Wealth Tax credit: any regional Wealth Tax you already paid is credited against the Solidarity Tax. In regions with a 100% rebate, this credit is zero, which is exactly the design.
Residents and non-residents both covered: residents are taxed on worldwide wealth; non-residents on Spanish-situated wealth.

For high-net-worth expats considering residency in Madrid or Andalucía, the Solidarity Tax is the number that actually bites — not the regional Wealth Tax. Any planning conversation that stops at the regional rebate is missing the larger picture.

Exempt Assets: Home, Family Business, and Often-Overlooked Items

Beyond the general personal allowance, certain assets are excluded or partly excluded from the Wealth Tax base:

Principal residence: exempt up to €300,000 of value per owner.
Family business and qualifying company shares: fully exempt if the business meets certain conditions (the taxpayer must generally exercise management functions and receive more than half their income from the business, and the ownership threshold must be met individually or jointly within a family group).
Intellectual and industrial property rights created by the taxpayer when they remain part of their business activity.
Artwork, antiques, and similar items, when they are part of the public-domain regime or below certain value thresholds.
Household goods: generally exempt except for specific high-value items such as vehicles, boats, aircraft, art, jewellery and antiques above their own thresholds, which are taxable.
Qualifying pension plans: Spanish pension plans with deferred access are excluded from the base.

Expats often over-declare by forgetting the principal residence exemption or by including qualifying pension rights that should not be in the base. They also under-declare by ignoring art, jewellery, and second-home content, which are taxable.

Non-Residents and Expats Under the Beckham Law

Non-residents pay Wealth Tax only on Spanish-situated assets: real estate in Spain, Spanish bank accounts, shares in Spanish companies, and similar rights. The general €700,000 allowance applies to non-residents too since 2021 (previously it did not, which was ruled discriminatory by the CJEU).

Expats under the Beckham Law are a special case. They are physically resident in Spain but taxed as non-residents for most tax purposes during the regime. For Wealth Tax, this means they are taxed only on Spanish-situated wealth, just like non-residents. Combined with the Modelo 720 exemption, this is one of the most valuable — and underrated — benefits of the regime for expats with substantial assets abroad.

Once the Beckham Law window ends (typically after six years), the taxpayer becomes a standard Spanish tax resident for wealth purposes, and worldwide assets enter the base. This is often missed in planning: the gear-shift happens automatically.

How Wealth Tax Is Calculated Step by Step

Value every asset at the rule-prescribed value on 31 December. Real estate: highest of cadastral value, purchase value, or administrative valuation. Listed shares: market price on 31 December. Funds: the applicable NAV. Bank balances: the greater of 31 December balance or last-quarter average.
Subtract allowed debts actually related to the acquisition of declared assets, with documentation.
Apply the exempt-asset rules: principal residence up to €300,000, qualifying family business, qualifying pension rights, and so on.
Subtract the personal allowance for your region (€700,000 by default, €500,000 in Catalonia and Valencia, €3,000,000 in the Balearics, and so on).
Apply the regional rate scale to the remaining base.
Apply regional rebates (100% in Madrid and Andalucía, various in other regions).
Check the combined-tax cap (Wealth Tax + IRPF cannot exceed 60% of your taxable income base).
Separately compute Solidarity Tax if your net wealth exceeds €3,000,000, crediting any regional Wealth Tax already paid.

When and How to File (Modelo 714 and Modelo 718)

Wealth Tax is declared on Modelo 714, filed during the same campaign as the Renta (Modelo 100) — typically between early April and the end of June of the year following the tax year. The Solidarity Tax is declared on Modelo 718, usually in July.

Filing is exclusively online via the Agencia Tributaria e-office. You need:

A digital certificate, electronic DNI, or Cl@ve PIN.
Your full asset inventory as of 31 December.
Your Modelo 720 data if applicable — the values must be consistent.
Supporting valuations for real estate, art, jewellery, and private businesses.

If you are not required to file (your base is below the regional threshold and your gross assets are below €2 million), you generally do not submit Modelo 714. Above either line, you must file even if the net tax is zero after allowances.

Planning Levers That Are Still Legal

Aggressive avoidance around Wealth Tax has been progressively closed down, and Hacienda treats artificial structures harshly. A short, conservative list of levers that remain legitimate:

Choice of region of residence, if you are genuinely free to choose — this is the single biggest lever. Residency must be substantive, not postbox, and Hacienda scrutinises it.
Qualifying family-business exemption, when the substance and conditions are genuinely met.
Qualifying pension plans within the Spanish pension framework.
Valuation discipline: applying the correct rule-based value rather than over-declaring.
Legitimate debt deduction, documented and linked to declared assets.
Life-cycle planning around the Beckham Law window: realising gains or restructuring holdings before Beckham ends and worldwide wealth enters the base.

What is not a plan is moving assets just before year-end, shuffling holdings through foreign structures without substance, or relying on aggressive residency changes that Hacienda can rebut under the tie-breaker rules described in our tax residency guide.

Common Pitfalls for Expats

Assuming regional rebates zero the tax. The Solidarity Tax now catches most high-net-worth residents even in 100%-rebate regions.
Ignoring Modelo 720 consistency. Wealth Tax and Modelo 720 are cross-checked.
Mis-valuing real estate. Using cadastral value alone can under-declare; you must take the highest of cadastral, purchase value, or administrative valuation.
Forgetting non-financial assets: art, jewellery, collector vehicles, and second-home furnishings above thresholds are taxable.
Ignoring foreign pensions. Foreign pension rights with cashable value are generally taxable (unlike qualifying Spanish pension plans).
Forgetting to stop filing when you leave. You remain resident for the full year of departure in most cases.

How Noburo Helps

Noburo prepares your Wealth Tax (Modelo 714) and, where applicable, your Solidarity Tax (Modelo 718) alongside your Renta and Modelo 720. We run the regional rule set that applies to you, apply the exempt-asset rules, check the 60% combined-tax cap, and cross-check your numbers across the three filings so Hacienda sees consistent figures.

If you are on the Beckham Law and approaching the end of your window, talk to us a year ahead of the transition — this is the single moment where thoughtful planning has the largest legitimate impact on your future Wealth Tax exposure.