Spain Continues Its Fight Against Tourism With 10% VAT on Holiday Rentals From December 1

Spain has found a new lever to pull against the holiday let. From December 1, 2026, short-stay tourist rentals will pay 10% value-added tax, the same rate hotels already charge. Until now most of them paid none.

The change sits inside Royal Decree-Law 26/2026, a housing package Madrid pushed through while the country was posting another year of record tourist arrivals. Congress rejected the first version of the decrees in late September. The government simply approved them again on October 6, and with parliament dissolved ahead of the November 29 general election, ratification now goes to a standing committee where the left holds a majority.

Who pays

The rule is fairly tight. It covers furnished accommodation rented to the same guest for 30 nights or fewer, as long as the property isn't the owner's own home. Rentals that come with hotel-style services (cleaning during the stay, linen changes, a reception desk) were already taxed at 10%, so nothing changes for them.

Everyone else goes from zero to ten. A week in a Seville flat that cost €1,000 could cost €1,100 if the owner passes the whole tax on, and most will try. Some owners will also find themselves registering for VAT for the first time, with the paperwork that brings.

There are exceptions worth knowing. The Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla sit outside Spain's VAT territory, so the measure doesn't reach them. The Balearics are fully in. Around 26,000 holiday rentals on Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera fall under the new rate, and the regional government in Palma is weighing a challenge at the Constitutional Court.

The tax isn't the only stick

The VAT line gets the headlines, but the same decree hands town halls another tool. In areas officially designated as stressed housing markets, councils can add a surcharge of up to 50% on the IBI property tax for homes used as tourist accommodation. It isn't automatic. Each council has to adopt it through its own bylaws, which means Barcelona, Madrid, Málaga and the islands may move at very different speeds.

The package also tightens oversight of the booking platforms, with a sanctions regime aimed at Airbnb, Booking and the rest. That builds on the national registration number that every short-term listing in Spain already needs.

What Madrid is really after

The government's stated goal is housing. Rents in the big cities and on the coasts have climbed far faster than wages, and holiday flats are an easy target. Make short lets less profitable and some owners will move back to long-term tenants. That's the theory.

Critics doubt it works. A 10% charge that guests mostly absorb is unlikely to change an owner's maths in Palma or San Sebastián, where a summer week can out-earn a month of residential rent. The bigger effect may be on the margins: small owners with one flat who decide the admin isn't worth it.

For travellers the message is plainer. Spain wants visitors, just fewer of them in residential buildings and more of them in hotels. Over the past two years that has meant listing bans, licence freezes, cruise limits and tourist tax rises. December's VAT is one more step in the same direction.

If you're booking a Spanish apartment for this winter or next spring, check whether the quoted price includes IVA. Stays that start on or after December 1 are the ones in play.