Challenging the Cadastral Reference Value and Expert Appraisal

Since 1 January 2022 (Ley 11/2021, de 9 de julio, Law 11/2021, of 9 July), the taxable base for properties in Property Transfer Tax (ITP) and Inheritance and Gift Tax (ISD) is not the price you pay or the value you declare: it is the reference value approved each year by the Directorate General for the Cadastre, unless the price or declared value is higher, in which case you are taxed on the higher amount (art. 10 of the Texto Refundido de la Ley del ITP y AJD, Recast Text of the ITP and AJD Law, and art. 9 of Ley 29/1987 del ISD, Law 29/1987 on ISD).

This value is calculated on a massive scale based on purchase prices reported by notarios (public officials who authorise legal documents) and does not consider the specific condition of your property: a pending comprehensive renovation, structural pathologies, illegal occupation, an old-rent lease or encumbrances that sink the market value. That is why there are cases where the reference value clearly exceeds what the property is truly worth and forces you to pay more tax than you should.

You can check the reference value of any property for free at the Electronic Headquarters of the Cadastre, referring to the date of interest, and download the motivation certificate with the data, modules and coefficients used in the calculation. That certificate is the first piece of the file: it allows you to detect errors in surface area, age or construction category and decide if it is worth challenging.

The law only allows you to attack the reference value at 2 moments (art. 10.3 of the Texto Refundido del ITP y AJD, Recast Text of the ITP and AJD Law): when requesting the rectification of your own self-assessment or when appealing the settlement that the Administration may issue to you. There is no direct appeal against the value published by the Cadastre.

The prudent route is to self-assess using the reference value (form 600 for ITP, 650 for inheritances, 651 for gifts), pay, and then submit a request for rectification of the self-assessment with a refund of undue income (art. 120.3 of the Ley General Tributaria, General Tax Law). You have 4 years and do not assume surcharges, interest or penalties. The regional Administration resolves this after a mandatory and binding report from the Directorate General for the Cadastre, which ratifies or corrects the value in light of the evidence you provide.

The risky route is to self-assess directly using the real value. The Administration will regularise the difference with late payment interest and may open a penalty file; you will then have 1 month to appeal that settlement in a motion to reverse or before the Regional Economic-Administrative Tribunal (TEAR), challenging the reference value with your evidence. It is only worthwhile in very rare cases and with a solid case.

Managora prepares and submits the rectification for you: we review the motivation certificate, organise the evidence of the real value and draft and register the document. The challenge does not accrue any tasa (official fee); you can see the updated amount of our fees in the procedure file.

The Constitutional Court made it clear in STC 13/2026: the reference value can be rebutted without any evidentiary limit, including expert reports. The key is to prove the market value of the property on the tax accrual date.

The most compelling evidence is an appraisal issued by a competent technician or an appraisal company approved by the Bank of Spain, referring to the accrual date. It is advisable to reinforce it with a dated photographic report, a report on the real condition of the property (pathologies, obsolete installations, need for comprehensive renovation) and any objective document: certificates, licences or files of ruin or technical inspection.

Market witnesses also work: comparable sales in the same area and period, and the deed itself when the price was agreed between independent parties. A sale between strangers, financed by a bank that appraised the property to grant the mortgage, is a powerful indication that the price reflects the market.

If the problem is a factual error (square metres that do not exist, wrong age, unreal construction category), in addition to challenging it, it is advisable to request the correction of the data before the Cadastre itself through the procedure for correcting discrepancies: once the data is corrected, the reference value falls by its base.

The contradictory expert appraisal (TPC) of art. 135 of the Ley General Tributaria (General Tax Law) serves to correct the value checks of art. 57: it is appropriate when the Administration checks the value with its own means, something that happens today with properties that do not have an assigned reference value, with assets other than properties (shares in unlisted companies, household goods, unique assets) and in taxes where the declared value is still checked. TPC is not possible against the reference value: it is not a value check but the direct application of the law (STC 13/2026).

The deadline to request it is that of the first appeal or claim that proceeds against the settlement issued with the checked values, generally 1 month. In ITP and ISD, the regulations also allow you to reserve the right to promote it when the notification does not sufficiently motivate the valuation and you report this in a motion to reverse or before the TEAR: in that case, the 1 month is counted from the finality of the resolution in the administrative channel. The mere submission of the request, or the reservation, suspends the execution of the settlement, the deadline to appeal and the penalty procedure. You do not need a guarantee.

The mechanics are regulated: once the administrative valuation is notified, you appoint an expert with suitable qualifications within 10 days, and they issue their motivated appraisal sheet within 1 month. If the difference between both valuations is equal to or less than €120,000 and, at the same time, equal to or less than 10% of your expert's appraisal, yours prevails and it ends there. If the difference exceeds any of those limits, a third expert is appointed from the lists sent by professional associations, chosen by public draw and correlative order; they have 1 month to value.

Costs and guarantees: you always pay your own expert. The third party may demand a provision for their fees by deposit within 10 days, and not depositing is equivalent to accepting the other expert's valuation. If the third party's valuation exceeds the value you declared by more than 20%, their fees are on your account; otherwise, the Administration pays them and your deposit is refunded. The result always moves between the declared value and the checked value: the TPC can never leave you worse off than the challenged settlement. Once the procedure is finished, the settlement must be notified within 1 month; if the Administration is delayed, late payment interest ceases to be demanded from that breach.

STC 13/2026, of 12 February (BOE of 19 March 2026), unanimously dismissed the question of unconstitutionality raised by the TSJ of Andalusia: the reference value as the taxable base for ITP and ISD is constitutional because it taxes values close to market values and, above all, because the system remains open to evidence to the contrary. The ruling does not annul anything paid: whoever has overpaid must challenge their specific case.

The same ruling settles the procedural debate: it confirms the criterion that several TSJs (Valencian Community, Canary Islands, Castile and Leon) had already been applying that contradictory expert appraisal is not possible against the reference value, and in return guarantees total freedom of evidence in the rectification, the motion to reverse and the economic-administrative claim, including expert evidence.

In the field of value checks, where the TPC does play a role, the Supreme Court has reinforced in 2025 (STS 813/2025, of 24 June, appeal 6908/2023, and STS 1147/2025, of 17 September, appeal 259/2024) the requirement that the Administration's expert visits the property or justifies in an objective and verifiable way why they do not do so: a poorly motivated check is annulled without the need to resort to the TPC, which is always optional for the taxpayer.

If the reference value has made you overpay, do not let it pass: the rectification period is 4 years and the refund arrives with late payment interest. Managora studies your case, organises the evidence and submits the challenge to the reference value for you. If yours is a value check, Managora drafts and submits the request or the reservation of the contradictory expert appraisal and accompanies you during the procedure; bear in mind that in the TPC you must hire and pay your own expert, and that you may have to deposit and, where appropriate, pay the fees of the third expert. Start the procedure from the corresponding file.