Currently, for the majority of people who are considering acquiring a property in Spain as a Non- Resident in this country, the best and simplest way is to purchase as a natural person, and not through a company. As a result, in the case of a sale 21% capital gains tax will be payable (from 1st January 2012, before that it was 19%), as opposed to the 25% or 30% payable if the sale is made by a company.
However, in the case of high value properties, should the owner die, the inheritance tax payable in Spain by the heirs could be very high. In many cases the heirs are forced to sell the inherited property in order to pay the inheritance tax. Appendix 1 shows the rates of Tax on Inheritance and Gifts, applicable to inheritances between Non-Residents, although the final amounts could increase according to the degree of kinship and the heirs’ own previous wealth.