What this letter is
The modelo 210 is the return for the Impuesto sobre la Renta de no Residentes (IRNR) (non-resident income tax). It’s filed by people who don’t live in Spain but have income here: a rented-out flat, the sale of a property or a home they don’t rent out. Many foreign owners don’t know they must file it every year even if they make no money from the house. That’s why Hacienda sends letters: requerimientos (formal requests) asking you to file it, propuestas de liquidación (proposed assessments) with what it calculates you owe and, sometimes, an expediente sancionador (penalty proceedings).
How to read it: the key parts
| What you see in the letter | What it means |
|---|---|
| Órgano emisor (Delegación de la AEAT, Oficina Nacional de Gestión Tributaria) (issuing body) | Who is writing to you and whom you reply to. |
| Referencia and CSV (código seguro de verificación, secure verification code) | To check the letter is genuine and reply on the online portal. |
| Concepto: Impuesto sobre la Renta de no Residentes, modelo 210 (item) | The tax concerned. |
| Ejercicio or periodo (tax year or period) | The year (or quarter) missing or under review. |
| Referencia catastral (cadastral reference) of the property | The home for which the return is requested. |
| Tipo de renta: imputada, rendimientos del arrendamiento, ganancia patrimonial (type of income: deemed, rental income, capital gain) | Whether it’s for owning the home, renting it or selling it. |
| Importe (cuota, recargo, intereses) (amount: tax, surcharge, interest) | What Hacienda calculates, if it has already done so. |
| Plazo and pie de recursos (deadline and appeals footer) | How long you have and how to appeal. |
How the basics are calculated:
- Empty or personal-use home (deemed income): 1.1 % or 2 % of the valor catastral (cadastral value), with no deductible expenses.
- Rate: 19 % if you live in the EU or the European Economic Area; 24 % elsewhere.
What deadline you have
To file the modelo 210 without a prior letter:
- 2025 deemed income: throughout 2026, until 31 December 2026. For 2026: from 1 April to 31 December 2027.
- 2025 rental income with an annual return: from 1 to 20 January 2026. For 2026 rental income: the first 20 days of April 2027.
- Sale of a property: within the three months after one month has passed since the sale.
If you already have a letter, the deadline in it applies. For a requerimiento it is usually 10 working days from the day after notification.
What you can do
| Option | When it makes sense | What happens next |
|---|---|---|
| File the missing modelo 210 | If you didn’t file it | Hacienda may close the requerimiento or proceed with a surcharge or penalty. |
| Reply with the receipt | If you already filed it | You provide the receipt number and it’s closed. |
| Explain you didn’t have to file | If you were resident in Spain, rented through another route or no longer owned it | You provide evidence (residence certificate, deed). |
| Submit alegaciones (objections) to the proposed assessment | If the cadastral value, rate or period is wrong | They review before assessing. |
| Don’t reply | Never | They assess without your side and there may be a penalty. |
What happens if you do nothing
- Hacienda calculates the tax with its data and notifies you of a liquidación (assessment) with interest.
- It may open penalty proceedings for not filing.
- If you don’t pay on time, the providencia de apremio (enforcement notice) arrives with a surcharge and then embargo (seizure), for example of your Spanish bank account or a refund.
- Hacienda can review several years back, usually the last four.
Common mistakes
- Believing that if the house isn’t rented out there’s nothing to declare.
- Filing a single form for two owners: each owner files their own for their share.
- Forgetting the part of the year the house was rented and the part it wasn’t.
- Using the 24 % rate while resident in the EU, or vice versa.
- Waiting for the letter: filing earlier, even if late, is usually cheaper.
How to respond step by step
- Read the tax year, the property and the deadline.
- Go to the Agencia Tributaria online portal with a digital certificate, Cl@ve or the letter’s reference and find the procedure with the CSV.
- File any missing modelo 210 returns or gather receipts for those already filed.
- Reply to the requerimiento through the registro electrónico (electronic registry), attaching the documents. If you can’t do it online, use a registry office.
- Keep the filing receipt.
Referencia [número]. D./D.ª [nombre], NIE [número], en respuesta al requerimiento notificado el [fecha] sobre el modelo 210 del ejercicio [año], adjunto [justificantes de presentación / certificado de residencia / escritura de venta], que acreditan que [motivo].
Translation: Reference [number]. [Name], NIE [number], in reply to the requerimiento notified on [date] about modelo 210 for [year], I attach [filing receipts / residence certificate / deed of sale], which show that [reason].
Cartamiga tip: if you own a home in Spain and live abroad, check now whether you’re missing any modelo 210 from previous years. Filing it yourself before the letter arrives almost always costs less than a penalty.