Purchase and sale of vehicles: taxes

The following taxes are charged when a vehicle is purchased in Spain:

• Value added tax (VAT)
• Registration tax: special duty on some forms of transport (IEDMT)
• Tax on transfer of property and documented legal acts, which is devolved to the Autonomous Communities. 

The payer of the registration tax (IEDMT) must submit a tax declaration using form 576.

This is except in cases where the person is not liable for the tax or when an exemption applies, in which case form 05 or form 06 must be submitted.

IEDMT forms must be submitted before definitively registering a vehicle.

When a vehicle enters into service or use in Spain, if definitive registration has not yet been applied for in Spain, then it must be done within 30 days after the vehicle begins to be used in Spain.

This deadline will be extended to 60 days when such a vehicle is used in Spain as a consequence of the transfer of the owner’s usual residence to Spanish territory, as long as the exemption for this reason is applicable.

Intra-EU acquisitions of new vehicles made by businesses or professional traders, and also by private individuals, are subject to this tax.

In the case of used vehicles, only acquisitions made by businesses, professionals or legal persons that do not act in such a capacity are subject to the tax, as long as the transferor delivers it within the scope of a business or professional activity.

The taxable amount of VAT consists of the total amount of the consideration of transactions that are subject to the tax, including all duties and charges of any kind to which the taxed transactions may be subject, except for VAT itself and the special duty on some vehicles.

In general, the VAT tax rate for vehicles is 21%.

The VAT tax rate for vehicles for persons with reduced mobility is 4%.