If you rent out a flat, an apartment or a room for short stays, this is for you. Royal Decree-Law 29/2026 means that, from 1 December 2026, rentals of furnished homes for 30 nights or less will carry 10% VAT, even if you do not provide any hotel-type services. Until now, if there were no hotel-type services, these rentals were exempt, meaning they carried no VAT. Here is what you need to know:

What is changing?

Until 30 November

Exempt

No VAT, if you do not provide hotel-type services

From 1 December

10%

Stays of 30 nights or less by the same tenant, even without hotel-type services

Who is affected?

What matters is not whether the property is a holiday let or which platform you use, but how many nights the same tenant stays. So it affects:

Holiday flats and apartments (registered tourist homes with an HUT number), whether rented through Airbnb, Booking or directly.
Short rentals to students, posted workers or families, if the stay is 30 nights or less.
Owners who do not live in Spain and rent out a home here for short stays.

On the other hand, these remain VAT-free (as long as there are no hotel-type services):

Stays of 31 nights or more (what is known as a seasonal rental).
Long-term rentals of a home where the tenant lives.
Renting out part of the home where you usually live, for example a room in your house.

What if I already provide hotel-type services?

If during the stay you provide regular cleaning, change the sheets and towels regularly, offer breakfast or have a reception, the rental already carries 10% VAT today, whatever its length. This does not change. However, cleaning on arrival and departure, changing the linen between guests and maintenance are not considered hotel-type services. If this is your case and you are not charging VAT, talk to us as soon as possible.

How can you tell if your rental carries VAT?

Ask yourself these three questions, in this order. As soon as an answer leads to 10%, you can stop there:

Three-question flowchart to check whether a rental of 30 nights or less carries 10% VAT

Some examples

Case Until 30/11/2026 From 1/12/2026
Holiday flat, 4 nights, no hotel-type services No VAT 10%
Exactly 30 nights, no hotel-type services No VAT 10%
3 weeks to a student or a posted worker, no hotel-type services No VAT 10%
31 nights or more (seasonal rental), no hotel-type services No VAT No VAT
A room in the home where you live, 2 weeks, no hotel-type services No VAT No VAT
Any stay with regular cleaning during the stay 10% 10%
Long-term rental where the tenant has their home No VAT No VAT

Highlighted in orange: the cases that change from 1 December.

What will you need to do if your rental becomes subject to VAT?

For VAT purposes, you will be treated like a small business. In practice, you will need to:

Register with the Spanish Tax Agency (or update your registration, if you are already registered) using Form 036, the form used to declare that you carry out an activity subject to VAT. This must be done before the first stay with VAT, also if you do not live in Spain.
Issue an invoice for every stay, including 10% VAT, even if the guest does not ask for one, and keep a record of the invoices you issue and receive (the VAT record books).
File Form 303 every quarter (the VAT return). The first one will be for the fourth quarter of 2026, due by 30 January 2027, and will only include December stays. At the end of the year you will also need the annual summary and, where applicable, Form 347 (the annual return of transactions with third parties).
Declare the commissions charged by Airbnb, Booking and similar platforms. As these platforms invoice from another EU country, you will normally need to join the intra-Community operators register (ROI) and declare the VAT on these commissions yourself in Form 303 (this is known as the “reverse charge”), as well as filing Form 349.
Ask for expense invoices in your name and with your tax ID (NIF) (cleaning, electricity, repairs, furniture, commissions…) from 1 December. The VAT you pay on them can be deducted.
Keep up with the tourist tax: if it is a registered tourist home, remember that you must still collect and pay the Catalan tax on stays in tourist establishments to the Catalan Tax Agency (ATC). This does not change.

If the property belongs to more than one person (for example, a couple or siblings), talk to us before registering: you need to decide carefully how the VAT will be declared.

And what about booking prices?

You will need to decide whether to raise your prices or absorb the VAT. For example, for a €480 booking:

  • If you add VAT, the guest will pay €528 (€480 + €48 VAT).
  • If you keep the price, only €436.36 of the €480 will be yours and €43.64 will be VAT.

And on your income tax return?

Nothing changes. Even though you are treated as a “business” for VAT purposes, on your personal income tax return (IRPF) the rental is still declared as before, as income from real estate, as long as you do not provide hotel-type services or employ someone full-time to manage it. This means you will not have to make quarterly income tax prepayments (Form 130). The only difference is that the VAT you charge is not your income and the VAT you deduct is not an expense. If you do not live in Spain, the same applies to non-resident income tax.

Our advice

Check each rental now with the three questions. If any stay from 1 December will carry VAT, let us know in good time so we can register you before the first stay, decide how you will adjust prices for new bookings and ask for all expense invoices in your name.

If you have any questions about how this change affects you, contact us and we will advise you.