How to Pay Your ITP

Rental laws which came into effect on 6th March 2019 set ITP on long term rentals to 0%. However, you still have to file the return even though there’s nothing to pay! ITP should still be paid on rental contracts shorter than 12 months.

ITP stands for Impuesto sobre Transmisiones Patrimoniales – which equates to Transfer Tax. There are various forms of ITP, but this article is concerned with paying the ITP when renting property in Spain.

By law when you rent a property in Spain you have to pay the ITP tax. It’s a once only payment when you sign a new rental agreement. Tax cannot be paid in Spain unless you have your NIE number, so you must get that first.

ITP is 0.5% of the total rent for the full term of your contract. Therefore, if your rent is €1,000 per month and your contract is for three years, your ITP will be €180.

You have 30 days from the date of your rental contract to pay the ITP. If your payment is late, interest will be added.

To pay your ITP in Barcelona you need to go to the tax office (Agència Tributària de Catalunya) on Passeig de la Zona Franca 46 and request form 600. Or, you can download Form 600 here and complete it before you go:
http://etributs.gencat.cat/web/.content/documents/05_doc_models/arxius/600_ES.pdf

Tax Office Passeig Zona Franca

The Tax Office on Passeig de la Zona Franca

 

If you need help to complete the form, take a ticket from the ticket machine as you enter the office. If you select ‘Información’ you will be called to the counter when it’s your turn and you can request form 600 and help with completing it.

On the form, the code used for ITP tax paid for renting a property is: AUR. This is written where it says: Tarifa.

The code for Tipo de Bien differs depending on what type of property you’re renting. A flat is HP, a house is HU, but they will advise you of these codes at the tax office.

Please note that English is not spoken at the tax office. If you don’t speak Spanish or Catalan, I advise you to find someone to go with you who can.

One page of the form has to be completed in duplicate and one page has to be completed four times. You will be given all the pages you need.

Once everything is completed you need to go to a bank and pay the amount due. There is a Sabadell bank several hundred meters along Passeig de la Zona Franca (on the same side of the road). If you have a Banco Sabadell account you can pay with a Sabadell debit or credit card. Otherwise, you must pay the due amount in cash. The bank will stamp your ITP form 600 as paid.

Go back to the tax office at Passeig de la Zona Franca 46 and take another ticket. This time you need to select ‘Prestaciones‘, with the second option as ‘1 – 3 documentos‘.

Show your Form 600 with the paid stamp. You also need to present your original rental contract as well as a photocopy of your rental contract. The clerk will fix stickers to either the photocopy or the original contract (it seems to vary) as confirmation that your ITP is paid.

I have known a case were the person paying didn’t have a photocopy of the rental contract with them, and the clerk affixed the paid stickers to her Form 600 rather than the original contract, and advised her to keep the form with the contract as proof of payment.

Tax Office BarcelonaTo summarise, you need:

  • Form 600
  • Your original rental agreement
  • A photocopy of your rental agreement
  • Your original NIE
  • You may not be asked for it, but it’s always good to have your photo ID on you (passport).

Impuesto sobre Transmisiones Patrimoniales – Additional comments:

It is possible to pay ITP on behalf of someone else. However, you must have the original rental contract and the original NIE of the title holder of the rental contract. You only need the NIE of one of the title holders if the contract is in more than one name.

An American client of mine advised me that she was asked to show her Empadronamiento when she paid her ITP. I’ve not known of anyone else who was asked for this.

The person who is fined if the ITP is not paid is the owner of the flat being rented. However, I’m starting to see a clause appear in rental contracts now that states that if the tenant does not pay the ITP and the owner is fined by the Tax Office, then the tenant is liable to pay that fine as well as the outstanding tax and interest.

Whilst it’s been possible in the past to rent a property in Barcelona without having your NIE, this ITP tax means that’s now very difficult. Many smaller fincas (estate agents) still don’t ask for the ITP to be paid, but this is becoming less and less common all the time.

 

Agència Tributària de Catalunya, Passeig de la Zona Franca 46

The nearest metro is either Fira on the L9 line that goes to the airport, or Ildefons Cerdà on the FGC line. Both are a bit of a walk from the Tax Office and a bus might be a better way of arriving.

Opening hours:
Mon – Fri: 8.30am – 2pm
Tue: 8.30am – 4pm
Jul to Sept, 15 Dec to 10 Jan, Easter: 8.30am – 2pm

 

2 Responses to How to Pay Your ITP

  1. Flore 20/12/2016 at 6:19 pm #

    Hello!

    I have just gone through paying the ITP, and I have a couple of remarks on your article:
    The link you provide to the form is wrong, that form, even if it is a modelo 600, is not valid in Catalunya.
    You have to get the form from the agencia tributaria de catalunya website, not the global one. (http://etributs.gencat.cat/es/programes_d_ajuda_models_i_formularis/models/impost_sobre_transmissions_patrimonials_i_actes_juridics_documentats/)
    Going to Zona Franca is also optional, you can fill everything yourself (if you are renting a regular flat, it is pretty easy), go directly to the bank and then simply register you paid in an office closer to you (Carrer de Joan Miró, 19 is one, near Vila Olimpica).
    This presents the advantage of being faster, and involves no queuing, except maybe at the bank depending when you go.

    Hope this can help others!

    • movingtobarcelona.com 03/01/2017 at 4:57 pm #

      Thank you very much for the information. You were right about the form, and I’ve now updated my link in the post.