The income tax campaign 2025 ended on June 30, but not all declarations have been definitively closed. The beach apartment, the family house in the village, or the small refuge in the mountains that is used during vacations also have tax consequences, even if they remain empty for a good part of the year and do not generate any income.
Second residences for personal use must be included in the IRPF. Not doing so may force the owner to pay the amount that was not collected, the corresponding surcharges or interest, and, if the error is discovered by the Tax Agency, a penalty that can reach 150% of the unpaid amount.
The omission of this type of property is one of the most frequent errors in the declaration, as explained by TaxDown, a source consulted by DEMÓCRATA. The risk of them going unnoticed is also decreasing: the Tax Agency cross-references the IRPF information with the data from the Land Registry and, when there is a rental, receives information from digital platforms about the owners, the properties advertised, and the amounts obtained.
The Tax Agency itself reminds in its income manual 2025 that an apartment on the beach used only during the vacation month generates an imputed income from real estate. The obligation, therefore, does not depend on the number of days the property is enjoyed, but on whether the taxpayer is the owner or usufructuary and the property remains at their disposal.
Correct before a letter from the Tax Agency arrives
The first step for anyone who has forgotten to include a second residence is to check if the omission modifies the result of the declaration. If it implies an additional amount to be paid or a smaller refund, the taxpayer must regularize their situation through the corresponding supplementary declaration.
The economic difference between voluntarily correcting the error and waiting for the Administration to discover it can be considerable.
When the taxpayer acts before receiving a requirement, the surcharge for late submission provided in Article 27 of the General Tax Law applies. This surcharge is 1%, to which another 1% is added for each full month of delay regarding the end of the voluntary deadline.
During the first twelve months, no late interest is required nor is a penalty imposed. If more than a year passes, the surcharge becomes 15% and interest begins to accrue from the day after the end of those twelve months.
The scenario changes if the Tax Agency gets ahead. The Tax Agency can initiate a verification procedure, recalculate the declaration, and claim the amount left unpaid along with the corresponding interest. It can also open a sanctioning file.
The penalty contemplated in the General Tax Law for failing to pay a tax debt generally starts at 50% of the unpaid amount and can rise to 150% when circumstances aggravating the infraction occur. The final figure depends on the amount, the taxpayer's behavior, the existence of concealment, and other circumstances of the case. Not every omission automatically leads to the maximum penalty, but waiting for the requirement eliminates the possibility of benefiting from the more favorable system of voluntary surcharges.
In simple terms, the same mistake can have a relatively low cost if the owner corrects it on their own initiative or result in a much higher bill if it is the Administration that discovers it.
The Tax Agency attributes income even if the house is not rented
A second home intended exclusively for the enjoyment of its owner must be included in the section corresponding to real estate not affected by economic activities.
In these cases, a non-existent rental is not declared. What applies is the so-called attribution of real estate income, regulated in Article 85 of the Personal Income Tax Law. It is a tax income attributed to the owner for having an urban property that does not constitute their habitual residence and that also does not generate income.
Generally, the attributed income is equivalent to 2% of the cadastral value. The percentage is reduced to 1.1% when the value has been revised through a general collective valuation procedure that came into effect from January 1, 2012, according to the applicable rules in Income 2025. The Tax Agency expressly collects both percentages.
The resulting amount is not the tax that is paid, but an additional income that is incorporated into the general taxable base and is taxed at the marginal rate corresponding to each taxpayer.
For example, a second residence with a cadastral value of 75,000 euros not revised would generate an imputed income of 1,500 euros. If the owner has a marginal rate of 30%, the approximate impact on their declaration would be 450 euros.
In this modality, ordinary expenses of the property cannot be deducted. The owner cannot deduct the IBI, community fees, insurance, repairs, or supplies merely for having the property at their disposal.
The imputation must be calculated taking into account the percentage of ownership and the number of days during which the property was available. If the property was acquired or sold in the middle of the year, or was rented for part of the year, the calculation is prorated.
What changes if it is rented during the summer
The tax treatment is different when the house is offered for rent for a few weeks. The income obtained must be declared as income from real estate capital and is integrated into the general base of the IRPF along with other incomes, such as those from work.
In this case, the year is fiscally divided into two periods:
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During the days when the property was rented, the income and deductible expenses related to the lease are declared.
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During the days when it was available to the owner, the imputation of real estate income is applied proportionally.
Among the expenses that can be deducted during the effectively rented period are the corresponding part of the IBI, the garbage tax, the community, insurance, certain supplies, financing interest, depreciation, and conservation and repair expenses. Only the part linked to the days of rental can be deducted, not the full annual expense if the property was rented for a few weeks.
Furthermore, tourist or vacation rentals cannot benefit from the reduction provided for certain leases intended to meet the tenant's permanent housing needs. Applying that reduction to a vacation stay constitutes another of the errors detected in this type of declaration.
Tourist rental, under greater scrutiny
The margin for hiding these incomes has been reduced with the implementation of new reporting obligations. Digital platform operators must provide the Tax Agency with data about the activities carried out by their users through model 238, derived from the European directive DAC7. The information includes the identification of the owner, the property, and the amounts paid or credited, as detailed by the Tax Agency.
In addition, there is the Annual Tax and Customs Control Plan for 2026. Its guidelines, published in the BOE last March, include among the priorities of the Treasury the control of tourist and seasonal rentals, especially those managed through platforms. The Agency contemplates both the analysis of digital information and in-person actions to detect rented properties whose incomes have not been declared. The measures are included in the Tax Control Plan for 2026.
"It is important to know how to correctly declare our residences, whether for personal use or if we have them rented. In the case of declaring them incorrectly, we face the payment of late interest or even a sanctioning procedure by the Treasury," warns Enrique García, CEO and co-founder of TaxDown.
The recommendation for anyone who now detects the absence of a second home in their declaration is not to wait. Voluntarily correcting the error does not avoid paying the corresponding fee, but it can prevent a relatively common oversight from turning into a considerable sanction.