Spain’s 100% tax on buyers from outside the EU never reached a vote. Since 6 October 2026, Congress has listed it as lapsed.

Picture this: a couple in New York who have spent a year looking for a villa in Marbella send the agency a short question: “Is it true that Spain charges buyers from outside the European Union 100%?” They read it in a 2025 headline. The agency replies that “it hasn’t been approved”, with no date and no link. The couple decide to wait and see. Another year goes by.

News about new taxes is widely read. News about taxes that never came to exist is barely written. In between sits a buyer with a question that nobody answers properly.

What was proposed.

On 22 May 2025, the Socialist parliamentary group registered in the Spanish Congress a bill to promote affordable rental housing, published in the Official Gazette of the Cortes on 30 May. Among other measures, it created a supplementary state tax on property transfers to non-residents of the European Union, with a rate of one hundred per cent of the property’s value, minus the transfer tax already paid.

Two details of the text drew less attention. First, the test was residence, not nationality. The tax would have applied to individuals and companies not resident in the European Union, so a buyer living in Switzerland, the United Kingdom or the United States was covered, whatever their passport. Second, it did not apply to purchases subject to VAT, such as a new home bought from a developer, unless they were exempt.

What happened next.

According to the Congress record, the bill had been waiting since September 2025 for its consideration debate in plenary, the first debate that decides whether a bill goes ahead. That debate never took place.

On 5 October 2026, the dissolution of the Cortes was signed, with a general election on 29 November. The Rules of the Congress state that once the chamber is dissolved, all pending business lapses, except matters for the Standing Committee. The official record of the bill now lists it as concluded, lapsed, since 6 October 2026.

What I do not know.

I do not know what the next Parliament will do, or whether anyone will propose a similar measure again. If they do, it will have to start from scratch. Nor can I tell you what taxes a particular buyer will pay: that depends on the region, the type of property and their tax situation. I am not a tax adviser or a lawyer, and this note is no substitute for that advice.

The blind spot: the headline is still alive.

A bill lapses. A headline does not. Someone searching today in English, German or Arabic for whether Spain taxes foreigners at 100% will probably find the 2025 news before the Congress record, because a bill lapsing is rarely news. The correct answer sits in a parliamentary record that hardly anyone checks.

That gap belongs to whoever explains it first, with a date and a source, in the buyer’s language. If nobody fills it, the 2025 headline keeps answering for you.

A 2025 headline does not lapse on Google. A bill does.

Where I stand.

I think an agency selling to buyers from outside the European Union should answer this question in writing, on a dated page in its clients’ languages: what was proposed, what happened, where to check it, and what the agency would do if things changed after the election. Without using fear to create urgency and without promising it will never come back. You do not win over a foreign buyer with fear or with promises. You win them over with the date and the source.

What I would check.

• Your team’s answer. What each person at the agency says today when asked this question, and whether everyone says the same thing.
• What is already published. Whether your website or blog published something about this tax in 2025 that nobody has updated.
• The languages. Whether the answer exists in your buyers’ languages: English, German, French, Arabic or Chinese, depending on your portfolio.
• The residence point. Whether your website explains that the test was where the buyer lives, not their passport.
• The date. Whether the page says when it was reviewed and that it will be reviewed again once the new Parliament is in place.

Where to start.

1. This week

   Write the answer

   A short text, reviewed by your tax adviser, that the whole team uses in the same way.

2. This month

   Publish it with a date

   On your website, in your buyers’ languages, with the official links.

3. After the election

   Review it

   When the new Parliament is constituted, check whether there is a new bill and update the page.

4. Every quarter

   Search for yourself

   Search for the question in your buyers’ languages and see which page answers first.

News that never happened can still cost money. A buyer from outside the EU read in 2025 that they would pay double. Perhaps nobody has told them since that Congress now treats the proposal as lapsed.

How many of your 2025 enquiries faded away without explanation? How many of those buyers could you write to tomorrow, with the date and the source? The question is not whether the headline was true. It is who tells them now that it no longer is.

If you would like me to review what a foreign buyer finds today when they ask about the taxes on buying in Spain, start with the Strategic Diagnostic. What to tell them about their specific case is for your tax advisers to decide, not a designer.