When buying a property there are two main taxes than can be paid.
In general terms IVA, Impuesto sobre el Valor Anadido (Valued Added Tax) is levied on purchases of new, first hand, first deed properties. It will be charged at 7% of the purchase price. (16% if it is commercial). ITP,= Impuesto sobre Transmisiones Patrimoniales is levied where IVA is not. ITP is charged at 7% of the purchase price.

In addition, when buying a new property 1% stamp duty must be paid.
PLUS VALIA TAX (Incremento del Valor de los Terrenos de Naturaleza Urbana)
As well as the property transfer taxes (IVA and Derechos Reales as referred to earlier) another tax is payable, known as Plus Valia, based upon the increase between the previous value of the ground that the house, building is build on. of the price the terrain.
When selling and you owned the property more than 1 year you must pay Plusvalia to the local authorithy. Incremento del Valor de los Terrenos de Naturaleza Urbana This is a tax stipulated by the Local Authority for the increase of the plot and calculated after the amount of years the vendor owned the property. You see the terrain-value on the local property tax receipt / pay-slip (IBI- Impuesto de Bienes Inmuebles) “Valor de Suelo” As a purchaser is important to see to that this is paid, specially if the vendor is non-resident, because this tax follow the house, not the person.
The simplest and best way to ensure that the Vendor pays the Plus Valia is to agree with him in the contract that the tax will be deducted from the purchase price.

OTHER COSTS OWNING A PROPERTY:
Electricity: Btw 0,05 and 0,15 € pr KWH
Water: btw 0,2 and 0, Eur pr m3 depending on supplier and town.
Telephone € /0,03€ min local 0,20 € Europe. These are the “Telefonica” prices. It is money to save by using other alternatives as for instance EUROMARKET DIGITAL, etc
Butane Gas: aprox 12€ per 12.5 Kg bottle
Solicitour- tax advisor, aprox 120- 200 Eur a year per couple.depending on the cluded services.
Community fee
Depending on the services and the property type.(parabolic, elevator, garage or community parking, security, etc.) Generally it is between 3 and 500 Euro a year for a 3 bed normal townhouse with pool, gardens and some illumination.

Insurance:
Depending on what to cover, if it’s a flat in a building, the building itself is covered by the community, so you only insurance the furniture etc.
Normally the insurance costs is between 100 and 200 for a , 2- 3oo for a 3 bed townhouse and about. 400 for a villa. The life insurance if having a mortgage is higher.
General taxes; For residents this is a tax on their world wide assets declared with their income tax. For non-residents it is a tax on their and is declared on a 214 form. The tax rate increases on a sliding scale from 0.2% to 2.5% depending on the value.

Selling AND WITHOLDING TAXES
A non- resident, who sells his property in Spain is liable to pay the tax on capital gains (CGT). The capital gain is determined by deducting the cost of the original purchase from the cost of the sale.
The cost of the purchase is calculated by taking the purchase price of the property and adding all directly associated costs (eg: taxes, notary fees, land registry fees, legal fees). An inflationary coefficient is then applied to the resulting amount, the coefficient depending on the year of the purchase and the year of the sale, however the property must have been acquired at least one year before the sale.
The cost of the sale is calculated by taking the sales price of the property and deducting all directly associated costs (eg: taxes, legal fees, estate agents commission).
The difference between these costs will be the capital gain on which the tax have to be paid, currently 18%. It is important to remember that the purchaser of the property is obliged to retain 3% of the sales price at the moment the Title Deeds are signed over, this payment to be lodged with the tax Authorities, on account of the vendors CGT liability on a 211 form.
If the 3% retention is lower than the actual CGT liability, then the difference must be paid by the vendor to authorities within 4 months of the sale.
If the 3% retention is higher than the actual CGT liability, then the difference can be claimed back from the tax authority and that is made filling in a form, (212) , done by your tax advisor.