Spain has put a 10% VAT charge on holiday lets of 30 nights or fewer, and it starts on 1 December 2026. The rule sits in Article 7 of Royal Decree-law 29/2026, which the cabinet approved on 6 October, which the Official State Gazette published the next day, and which has been in force since 8 October. It arrives later, on the first guest invoice raised in December.
Two weeks ago the same charge looked dead. Congress rejected the September housing package, tourist-let VAT included, on 2 October, and the government came back five days later with a replacement text. For an owner letting a holiday home in Spain, or for the estate agents who advise one, the question is no longer whether the charge exists. It is what has to be filed, by when, and which bookings fall outside it.
What Changes on 1 December for Holiday Lets
Article 7 rewrites the exemption in Article 20 of the VAT law and moves these lettings into the reduced rate in Article 91. Until now a holiday let was exempt from VAT unless the owner supplied hotel-style services such as cleaning or laundry. From 1 December 2026 the letting of a furnished apartment or house is excluded from the exemption when either the landlord agrees to provide hotel-type complementary services, restaurant, cleaning and laundry among them, or the stay for the same tenant does not exceed 30 nights. That second condition is the one that catches an ordinary short-term rental.
Once the letting is inside the VAT net it sits in the reduced rate, and the reduced rate that covers hotel accommodation in Spain is 10%. That rate matters because it is a compromise. The government had floated 21% in September and dropped it, which is the history the law firm Larraín Nesbitt sets out in its guide to the change on idealista/news. A week booked at €1,200 now carries €120 of VAT, and the owner decides whether that comes out of the price or sits on top of it.
The 30-Night Rule and Which Lets Stay Exempt
What counts is the length of the stay for one tenant, not the length of the season. A guest booked for three weeks is caught, and the same flat let to four different guests for a week each is caught four times over. Only a stay that runs beyond 30 nights for the same person falls outside the new rule, and the same decree tightens the tenancy law around seasonal lets, so the advice reaching owners is to document a longer let properly rather than leave it informal.
One exception is written into the law in plain terms. Where the home being let is the landlord’s own habitual residence, the letting stays exempt, whether the owner rents out a single room or the whole property. That is the case to check first, because an owner who lets the flat they live in has not been caught by this at all.
| Letting | VAT from 1 December 2026 |
|---|---|
| Furnished home, stay of 30 nights or fewer for the same guest | 10% on the guest invoice |
| Furnished home, stay of 30 nights or fewer, and it is the owner’s main home | Exempt |
| Stay of more than 30 nights for the same guest | Outside the new VAT rule |
| Any letting where the owner supplies hotel-style services | 10% on the guest invoice |
The Paperwork a Short-Let Owner Has to File
A letting inside the scope of VAT turns the owner into a VAT taxpayer, and that comes with obligations that outlive the booking. It means registering for the tax, raising invoices that show it, and filing the quarterly return. That first return covers December 2026 and is due in January 2027. An owner who is not resident in Spain already files an annual non-resident income tax return for the property, and the VAT return is an addition to that filing rather than a replacement for it.
Once enrolled, the return is due every quarter whether the property was let or not, which is the part that catches owners who only rent for a few weeks a year. Four windows, all fixed:
- January to March: filed in the first 15 days of April
- April to June: filed in the first 15 days of July
- July to September: filed in the first 15 days of October
- October to December: filed in the first 15 days of January
Spain’s tax agency keeps its VAT pages and filing windows in English, and the return itself is filed online. An owner who has been treating the flat as a private asset with a few summer weeks in it is the one who has the most to change before December.
What Municipalities Can Add to the IBI Bill
The decree reaches the annual property tax as well. Article 8 changes the local finance law so that councils in a stressed residential market area may add a surcharge to the IBI on residential property used as tourist accommodation, up to 50% of the tax due, up to 100% where the owner holds two or more such homes and up to 150% where the owner holds four or more. Each council sets it by tax ordinance, and it applies to tax periods beginning after 8 October 2026.
That one is a power rather than a national charge, so the answer depends on the town. It matters most where councils have already declared a stressed market, which in practice means the large cities and the busiest coastal municipalities, and it lands on owners with several holiday properties before it lands on someone with one. That article also reworks the surcharge regime for homes left permanently empty, with different conditions inside and outside those stressed areas.
A Checklist for Estate Agents With Holiday-Let Clients
Most clients who call about this are the ones who let a second home for a few weeks a year and have never registered for anything. Five checks before you quote a rental yield:
- Establish whether the client is resident in Spain and whether the home is their habitual residence. A main home that is partly let stays exempt; a second home on the coast does not.
- Count the nights: the 30-night test runs per guest, so a summer let to one family for a month sits outside the charge while five separate weekly bookings do not.
- Add the VAT to the pricing model before the season is sold. A 10% charge absorbed out of a €1,200 week is €120 of income gone, and it is easier to price in now than to explain in January.
- Budget for four returns a year, not one. The quarterly filing continues in the months the property stands empty.
- Ask the council, not the national rule, about the IBI surcharge, and ask about any regional tourist-let registration the property still needs.
Why the Date Matters More Than the Rate Itself
Two dates sit either side of 1 December and both can still move the story. Congress has to ratify the decree within 30 days of publication, which puts that vote in the first days of November, and the September package failed exactly that vote on 2 October. Spain then votes in a general election on 29 November 2026, called under Royal Decree 806/2026 and set out in the electoral calendar the Central Electoral Board publishes. A decree-law that falls takes its tax with it, which is why the rate is worth quoting to a client and the date is worth checking again in November.
A second change arrives on the same day, from the same text. Article 10 resets the maximum coefficients councils apply to land value when they work out the municipal capital gains tax on a sale, running from 0.17 for land held under a year to 0.30 at 20 years or more. Anyone selling Spanish property in December is caught by that one, not only the owners who let.
Questions Agents Ask About the Holiday-Let VAT
These are the five that come up as soon as a client hears about the charge.
Does the 10% VAT apply to every holiday let in Spain?
No. It applies where the stay for the same guest is 30 nights or fewer, or where the owner supplies hotel-style services, and it does not apply where the home being let is the owner’s own habitual residence. A second home let for a fortnight at a time is the case the charge is aimed at.
When does the charge start, and when is the first return due?
VAT has effect from 1 December 2026, so December stays are the first ones it reaches. The first quarterly return covers that month and falls due in January 2027, and after that the filing continues every quarter of the year.
What happens to a booking of more than 30 nights?
It stays outside the new VAT rule. One catch: the same decree tightens the rules around seasonal lets, so a longer letting has to be documented as a long-term or a seasonal let rather than left as an informal arrangement, and lawyers advising owners expect that paperwork to be checked.
Can the charge still be withdrawn?
Yes, and it has been withdrawn once already. Congress has to ratify the decree within 30 days of publication, in the first days of November, and the September package that carried the same tourist-let VAT failed that vote on 2 October. With a general election on 29 November, the vote is worth watching before a client signs a long rental management contract.
Where can I read the rule myself?
Article 7 of Royal Decree-law 29/2026 is published in full on the Official State Gazette, and the consolidated VAT law it amends sits beside it. The tax agency’s own pages carry the return and its filing windows.
