What is the plusvalía municipal?

It is the Impuesto sobre el Incremento de Valor de los Terrenos de Naturaleza Urbana (IIVTNU), a local tax councils charge on the increase in value of urban land when it is sold, inherited, or gifted. It is based on the land value, not the building.

How did the 2021 ruling change it?

In October 2021 the Constitutional Court struck down the old formula. Taxpayers can now choose the lower of two bases: the objective method (cadastral land value times an official annual coefficient) or the real gain on the land portion. If there is no real gain, no tax is due.

What is the objective method?

The objective base is the cadastral value of the land multiplied by an official coefficient set each year by the government for the number of full years owned. The council tax rate (up to 30%) is then applied to that base.

What is the real-gain method?

The real gain is the sale price minus the purchase price, multiplied by the share of the cadastral value that is land (land value divided by total cadastral value). If this base is lower than the objective base, you may use it instead.

What if I sold at a loss?

If you sold the urban land for the same or less than you paid, there is no taxable increase, so no plusvalía municipal is due. You must still declare the transaction and prove the loss with the deeds.

Spain Plusvalía Municipal Calculator

This tool estimates the Spanish plusvalía municipal (IIVTNU), the local tax councils charge on the increase in the value of urban land when you sell, inherit, or gift a property. Since the October 2021 Constitutional Court ruling you may pay tax on the lower of two bases. This is a planning estimate, not formal advice.

How it works

The tax applies to the land portion only, not the building. Two methods produce a taxable base:

Objective method. Base = cadastral land value × the official annual coefficient set for your holding period. This coefficient is updated yearly by the central government and capped per number of years owned.
Real-gain method. Base = (sale price − purchase price) × (cadastral land value ÷ total cadastral value). This isolates the gain attributable to the land.

You may use the lower of the two bases. The municipal tax rate (each council sets it, up to a 30% maximum) is then applied:

tax = min(objective_base, real_gain_base) × council_rate

If there is no real gain on the land, the tax is zero.

Example

Cadastral land value 60,000 EUR, coefficient 0.10 for the holding period, council rate 25%:

Objective base = 60,000 × 0.10 = 6,000.
Real gain on land, say, = 5,000.
Taxable base = min(6,000, 5,000) = 5,000.
Tax = 5,000 × 25% = 1,250 EUR.

Notes

Coefficients and rates vary by year and by municipality, so confirm your town hall’s current figures. The principal-residence exemptions and reductions for inheritances differ by region. All calculations run in your browser.