Spanish Inheritance Tax and accepting an estate: steps, deadlines and cost

When a person dies, their estate opens. Before touching a single asset, the heirs must obtain three certificates: the death certificate (from the Registro Civil, the Spanish civil registry), the certificate of last wills and the certificate of death cover insurance contracts (both from the Ministry of Justice).

The certificate of last wills tells you whether there was a will and before which notario (the Spanish public notary who authorises deeds) it was signed. If there was one, you request the authorised copy. If there was not, a declaration of heirs abintestato has to be processed before a notario, which determines who inherits under the Código Civil (the Spanish Civil Code).

Assets, rights and debts are then inventoried, the deed of acceptance and allocation of the estate is signed before a notario and, within the 6 months following the death, Inheritance Tax is paid. Managora chains all of these steps together for you.

Inheritance and Gift Tax (Impuesto sobre Sucesiones y Donaciones, ISD) taxes what each heir or legatee receives from an estate. It is governed by Ley 29/1987 and its regulations (Real Decreto 1629/1991), but it is devolved to the autonomous regions, which set their own reductions, rates and reliefs.

Each heir pays on what falls to them, not the estate as a whole. That is why one Modelo 650 (self-assessment) is filed per heir and a single Modelo 660 (declaration and inventory) for the whole estate.

It is paid in the autonomous region where the deceased had their habitual residence (that of the last few years). If the deceased or the heir were not resident in Spain, the competent body is the state tax agency (AEAT, the Spanish tax authority), through its non-resident office.

The bill depends on two things: your relationship to the deceased and the autonomous region. The law places heirs in four groups and applies a kinship reduction to what is inherited before the tax is calculated.

The closer the relationship, the bigger the reduction and the smaller the tax. Groups I and II (children, grandchildren, spouse, parents) are the most protected; groups III and IV (siblings, uncles and aunts, nephews and nieces, cousins, unrelated people) pay considerably more.

The progressive rate and a multiplier coefficient based on the group and the heir's existing wealth are applied to that reduced base. After that, many regions (Andalucía, Madrid, Comunidad Valenciana and others) apply reliefs of up to 99% of the tax due for groups I and II. You can see the estimated amount for your case on the Inheritance Tax service page.

Documents common to every estate: the full death certificate, the certificate of last wills, the certificate of death cover insurance contracts and the DNI (the Spanish national identity card) or passport of the deceased and of the heirs.

Depending on the title to inherit: the authorised copy of the will (if there was one) or the notarial deed of declaration of heirs abintestato (if there was not).

For the inventory and the tax: property deeds and nota simple extracts from the Registro de la Propiedad (the Spanish land registry), bank certificates of balances and securities as at the date of death, vehicle documents, IBI receipts (the annual local property tax) and proof of deductible debts and expenses (for example, last illness and funeral costs). Managora gathers and organises all of this documentation.

The deadline you cannot miss is the tax one: 6 months from the death to file Modelo 650 and Modelo 660. You can ask for an extension of another 6 months, always within the first 5 months of the initial deadline; the extension generates late payment interest.

The certificates of last wills and of insurance cannot be requested until 15 working days have passed since the death (not counting the day of the death). The declaration of heirs abintestato, where it is needed, adds a few weeks because of the public notice period before the notario.

If the estate includes urban property, the plusvalía municipal (the local tax on the increase in urban land value, IIVTNU) also has a deadline of 6 months, which can be extended. Filing late means surcharges and interest, so it is best to start as soon as possible.

Managora handles the estate from start to finish: it requests the death certificate, the certificate of last wills and the insurance certificate, locates the will or arranges the declaration of heirs abintestato with a notario, draws up the inventory of assets and prepares the deed of acceptance and allocation.

It then calculates and files Inheritance Tax (one Modelo 650 per heir and Modelo 660), requests the extension if that suits you, pays the plusvalía municipal and registers the assets in the heirs' names.

You provide the documents and sign; Managora takes care of the rest. You can start with the Acceptance of inheritance service page, the Declaration of heirs page or go straight to the Inheritance Tax page, where you will see the updated amount.