IBI tax in Spain: how much do you pay, and why does it differ by municipality?

Of all the running costs of a house in Spain, the IBI is the most predictable and the least understood. Everyone pays it. Almost nobody knows how the figure is arrived at.

And then you hear that someone with a similar house in the next municipality pays half. Or double. That is often true, and the reason has nothing to do with luck.

Below: how the sum works, what the law allows, why a cut in the rate can push your bill up, and how to look up your own figures instead of guessing them.

What the IBI is and who pays it

The Impuesto sobre Bienes Inmuebles is the municipal property tax. Your town hall levies it, keeps the proceeds, and within limits sets the rate itself.

Who pays. Whoever owns the property on 1 January of the tax year. Not the tenant, not whoever lives there. Buy in March and that year’s bill is still in the seller’s name, although the amount is usually apportioned at the notary. Ask about that explicitly.

Including if you do not live here. Non-residents pay exactly the same. Registration at the town hall plays no part; ownership does.

It is separate from national tax. This is a common mistake: seeing the IBI leave your account and assuming you are done. As a non-resident owner you must also file annually with the Spanish tax office, even with no rental income.

That second track is set out in full in our guide to non-resident property tax. This article covers only the municipal side.

The sum: cadastral value times rate

Two numbers decide your bill, and they come from two different authorities.

The valor catastral is the cadastral value of your property. The Catastro, a national body, sets it on the basis of land, construction, floor area, age and location. It usually sits below market value, but how far below varies enormously.

The tipo de gravamen is the percentage your municipality applies to it. The council sets that each year in its ordenanza fiscal.

Bill = cadastral value times rate. Nothing else. No bands, no allowance, no deduction for using the place yourself.

A worked example. On a cadastral value of 90,000 euros, a rate of 0.75 percent gives you roughly 675 euros a year. At 0.90 percent it is 810 euros. Same house, same year, a hundred and thirty-five euros apart purely because of the municipality.

Note that this is the main arithmetic. Your bill may carry other items alongside it, such as the refuse charge, which arrives in the same envelope but is a separate levy.

What the law allows: 0.4 to 1.10 percent

Municipalities cannot do as they please. The framework sits in the Spanish local finance act, the consolidated text enacted by royal legislative decree 2/2004.

For urban property, which covers virtually every home, the minimum is 0.4 percent and the maximum 1.10 percent. If your municipality says nothing, 0.4 percent applies automatically.

For rural property the limits are 0.3 and 0.90 percent.

For bienes de características especiales, a separate class covering things like motorways and power stations, the default rate is 0.6 percent and a differentiated rate may run between 0.4 and 1.3 percent.

And there is a penalty charge. The law lets municipalities add a surcharge of up to 50 percent of the net bill on homes that stand permanently empty. Whether your municipality applies it, and how it establishes vacancy, differs; that is in the local ordenanza.

The spread between 0.4 and 1.10 percent is almost a factor of three. That already explains part of the differences you hear about.

Why the rate on its own tells you nothing

This is where nearly every comparison goes wrong. A municipality with a low rate can work out dearer than one with a high rate, because of the other number in the sum.

The ponencia de valores. That is the general valuation exercise in which the Catastro resets the cadastral values of an entire municipality. How long ago that happened varies hugely. In some villages the values date from the 1990s; in others they have just been revised.

What that does. If the ponencia is thirty years old, cadastral values are low and the rate can sit high without the bills hurting. When that exercise finally happens, the values jump and the rate has to fall sharply to keep the bill level.

The practical lesson. When comparing municipalities, do not ask only about the percentage, ask about the year of the last ponencia. Two municipalities on the same rate can differ by a factor of two in what you actually pay.

Benitatxell: four cuts, and bills that still went up

An example from very close by, decided this week.

On Monday 2 November 2026 the council of El Poble Nou de Benitatxell cut the IBI rate from 0.80 to 0.75 percent. Seven votes in favour from Més Benitatxell, three abstentions from RED Benitatxell, and the PP councillor absent.

It is the fourth cut since 2019. That sounds like a council sparing its residents year after year, and the reason is more specific.

What came before it. In 2024 the Gerencia Territorial del Catastro de Alicante carried out an update of the ponencia general. Values in this municipality had not been revised since 1994. Thirty years. When that catch-up came, cadastral values shot up, and the council promised to lower the rate in stages to absorb it. The mayor describes an approach de forma progresiva aimed at una sostenibilidad económica.

And here is the point the local press makes itself: a lower rate does not guarantee that everyone pays less. Your bill also depends on your own cadastral value, which may have risen by more through the same revision than the rate has fallen.

At the same council meeting, investment in resurfacing and repairing streets went up to 420,000 euros.

Note that we could not establish from which tax year the 0.75 percent applies. That is in the notice published in the Boletín Oficial de la Provincia. Do not assume it affects the very next bill.

Looking up your own figures, in three steps

There is no point guessing when you can simply check. You need three sources.

1. Your cadastral value. It is on your last IBI bill, and otherwise in the Sede Electrónica del Catastro. With a digital certificate or Cl@ve you can see the full record for your own property, including the split between land and building. You need the referencia catastral, which is also in your deed.

2. Your municipality’s rate. That is in the ordenanza fiscal reguladora del IBI, which every municipality publishes. Search the name of your town plus “ordenanza fiscal IBI”. The legally binding version is the one in the Boletín Oficial de la Provincia de Alicante.

3. Who collects. Across most of the province SUMA, the tax office of the Diputación de Alicante, collects on the municipality’s behalf. A number of towns do it themselves, among them Alicante city and Xàbia. That determines where you go and which dates apply.

Why you have to do this yourself. Comparison sites listing rates by municipality do exist, but their figures are often years old and contradict each other. We found no reliable, current list and therefore reproduce no table from them. Your own municipality’s ordenanza is the only answer that holds.

Paying: when, how, and what you can automate

The dates differ by municipality, and that catches new owners out every year.

Municipalities collected by SUMA. In 2026 the second voluntary payment period ran from 27 July to 8 October. If you want a new direct debit to apply to that period, set it up well in advance; count on at least a fortnight before the deadline.

Alicante city. There the voluntary period for IBI and the refuse charge ran from 15 March to 30 June 2026. A completely different point in the year from the SUMA municipalities.

Direct debit is the sensible choice. Automatic collection from a Spanish account rules out the scenario where you miss the bill and a surcharge is added. It takes one action, once.

Pay late and a recargo follows. How far it climbs depends on how overdue you are and whether collection has moved into the enforcement stage.

Accounts differ on instalment plans and discounts for direct debit, and we found no official confirmation; ask SUMA or your own town hall.

Frequently asked questions about the IBI

I never received a bill. Does that mean I need not pay? You do. The obligation does not depend on the letter arriving, and that is exactly the trap with an address abroad. Check with SUMA or your town hall that the property is in your name and the right address is on file. An unreceived bill still progresses to enforcement.

How much is normal? That depends entirely on your cadastral value and your municipality. The band the law allows is 0.4 to 1.10 percent, almost a factor of three.

My municipality is cutting the rate. Will I pay less? Not necessarily. If cadastral values were revised at the same time, your bill can still rise. Benitatxell is the clearest example.

Can I appeal the cadastral value? A new ponencia can be challenged, within deadlines. It is worth it mainly when the recorded details of your property are wrong, for instance the floor area or year of construction. Have a gestor or lawyer look at it.

Do I pay more as a non-resident? No. For the IBI it makes no difference.

Can my municipality charge extra on an empty house? The law permits a surcharge of up to 50 percent on permanently unoccupied homes. Whether yours applies it is in the local ordenanza.

Is the IBI part of the costs of buying? No. That guide covers what you pay on the day of the deed; see what comes on top of the purchase price. The IBI is an annual cost that starts afterwards.

One standing cost you can actually do something about, unlike the IBI: which electricity contract suits your household.

About the authorLeonie

Leonie lives on the Costa Blanca. She writes about daily life on the coast: the markets, the walks and everything you only discover once you actually live here.