What is the direct answer?
If it goes ahead, a 10% VAT on the price the guest pays either comes out of your margin or goes onto your price. Absorbed in full, it takes 9.09% off your revenue, and because your costs do not fall with it, it takes a much larger share of your profit: in our example, 30%. Passing it on fully means raising the guest price by 10%. Most owners will land somewhere in between, so model all three before 1 December.
Today, VAT-exempt: €2,400 revenue, €1,680 operating costs, €720 operating profit (30% margin). Absorb the VAT (same guest prices): revenue net of VAT €2,181.82, same costs, profit €501.82. Margin 23%. Profit −30.3%. Pass it on (prices +10%): revenue net of VAT €2,400 again, if bookings hold. Before any VAT you may be able to recover on your own costs. Ask your adviser.
Use your own records and verify the assumptions before making a decision.
Follow the workbook method and instructions →Many of the people who own holiday flats on the Costa del Sol, the Costa Blanca, the Balearics and the Canaries do not live in Spain, and the Spanish debate about tourist lets reaches them late and in fragments. This one moves fast. The government first published the VAT change on 30 September; Congress voted the decree down on 2 October; a new decree with the same tax content was published on 7 October. If it is validated, it applies to stays from 1 December, in the middle of booking season for winter sun.
This article does not tell you how to file VAT. It shows you how to measure what the change does to your rental's profit, so that your conversation with your adviser starts from numbers.
Apply this method to your own records: apply the method with the free calculator.
A clear definition of the metric or operating question.
A calculation you can reproduce with your own data.
The limits that prevent the number being misread.
Who would be affected?
According to the decree as published, from 1 December 2026 the VAT exemption would no longer apply to lettings of furnished dwellings when both of these are true:
- the stay is 30 nights or fewer, and
- the dwelling is not the landlord's habitual residence.
Those lettings would be taxed at 10%, the same reduced rate already used by hotels. Lettings that include hotel-type services, such as cleaning during the stay or laundry, were already taxed at 10% and stay that way.
| Situation | Today | From 1 Dec 2026, if validated |
|---|---|---|
| Holiday flat, stay of 7 nights, no hotel services | Exempt | 10% VAT |
| Holiday flat with hotel-type services | 10% VAT | 10% VAT |
| Furnished flat, stay of 45 nights | Exempt, if requirements met | Exempt, if requirements met |
| Rooms in the owner's own home | Exempt | Exempt |
The same decree also allows municipalities in stressed housing areas to apply a surcharge on the annual property tax (IBI) of homes used as tourist lets. That would be a fixed cost increase, separate from VAT.
What absorbing the VAT does to your profit
Prices on Airbnb and Booking.com are what the guest pays. If the 10% VAT has to come out of an unchanged price, the revenue you keep falls by 1 ÷ 1.10:
- €100 paid by the guest = €90.91 for you + €9.09 VAT.
That 9.09% of revenue comes straight out of profit, because cleaning, utilities, fees and the community charge do not shrink. At a 30% operating margin, a 9.09-point fall in revenue removes almost a third of the profit.
| Starting margin | Margin after absorbing 10% VAT | Profit change |
|---|---|---|
| 40% | 34.0% | −22.7% |
| 30% | 23.0% | −30.3% |
| 20% | 12.0% | −45.5% |
The lower your margin today, the harder it hits. If you do not know your margin today, that is the first number to get (how to calculate operating margin).
What passing it on does
To keep your revenue net of VAT unchanged, the guest price rises by 10%: €100 becomes €110. Whether that works depends on your market and your season. A 10% higher price in a busy coastal August may barely register. In a quiet January, it may cost bookings.
Two things soften the comparison:
- Your competitors face the same rule. Holiday flats in the same building and the same town would have the same 10% on stays of up to 30 nights.
- Hotels already charge it. The change narrows a price gap rather than opening a new one.
Before raising prices, check your break-even occupancy and minimum price with the new numbers. Your floor price goes up by the same logic.
Three questions to take to your adviser
- Can I recover VAT on my costs? Being subject to VAT may allow a business to deduct VAT charged on related costs, such as cleaning invoices, supplies or platform fees, subject to the rules that apply to you. That could offset part of the impact. How much depends on your situation, and it is the most important question to ask.
- How do bookings confirmed before 1 December for later stays work? Specialists note the decree has no specific transitional regime for VAT, so the general rules on when VAT becomes due and on advance payments apply. Do not assume either way.
- How should VAT appear in each platform? Whether VAT is included in the nightly price or added as a separate tax can change what the platform's commission is calculated on. Check each platform's settings with your adviser before 1 December.
Model it before 1 December
- Take your last 12 months: revenue, operating costs and operating profit per month.
- Calculate the "absorb" scenario: revenue ÷ 1.10, same costs.
- Calculate the "pass on" scenario: same revenue net of VAT, and estimate how many bookings you might lose.
- Calculate a middle scenario, for example a 5% price increase.
- Look at the winter months separately; that is where margins are thinnest.
- If stays of more than 30 nights are an option for you, compare them too (short-term vs mid-term this winter).
Explore related questions
Clear answers, without the jargon
Is the 10% VAT on Spanish holiday lets already in force?
The decree that contains it, Real Decreto-ley 29/2026, has been in force since 8 October 2026, and the VAT change would apply from 1 December 2026. The decree still has to be validated by the Diputación Permanente of the Congress within 30 days of its approval, expected in early November. If it is not validated, it lapses.
Does it apply to all holiday rentals?
As drafted, it applies to furnished stays of up to 30 nights in a home that is not the owner's habitual residence. Longer stays and rooms in the owner's own home are outside the new rule. Lettings with hotel-type services were already taxed at 10%.
I live outside Spain. Does it affect me?
The rule depends on where the property is and how it is let, not on where you live. Non-resident owners of holiday lets in Spain should ask their Spanish adviser how it applies to them.
Should I raise my prices now?
Model the scenarios first, and wait for the validation decision before changing prices on stays from 1 December. Raising prices early on dates that may stay VAT-exempt would cost bookings for nothing.
Will Airbnb or Booking.com collect the VAT for me?
Do not assume so. VAT on accommodation is the landlord's obligation unless a specific rule says otherwise. Ask your adviser and check each platform's guidance.
References you can check
Sources checked October 18, 2026. Worked examples and review methods are our own.
- Spanish Official Gazette: Royal Decree-law 29/2026 of 6 October — Official text checked for the measure's scope, reduced rate and dates.
- Notarías Barcelona, "Real Decreto-ley 29/2026: novedades fiscales en vivienda, alquiler y plusvalía" — status, validation by the Diputación Permanente, scope — Source checked for the article.
- Escura, "El alquiler turístico y de corta estancia tributará al 10 % de IVA" — table of cases and transitional note — Source checked for the article.
- Forbes España, "Gobierno impone IVA del 10% a pisos turísticos y recargos en el IBI" (first decree, 30 September 2026) — Source checked for the article.
- elDiario.es, "El Gobierno impone un 10% de IVA a los pisos turísticos y permitirá que los Ayuntamientos dupliquen su IBI" — Source checked for the article.
- Dylan Tarín, "Cae el decreto de vivienda: el IVA del 10% a los pisos turísticos no llega (de momento)" (2 October vote) — Source checked for the article.
- Wolorent, "Nuevo decreto de vivienda 2026: qué está en vigor" (29 November election) — Source checked for the article.
How this guide was prepared
The margin table applies a 10% VAT to an unchanged guest price and holds costs constant, before any recoverable VAT on costs. Real effects depend on your tax position, your prices and demand. Hostpartner is an operational analysis tool and does not provide tax or legal advice. Confirm your obligations with a qualified adviser in Spain.
Run your scenarios on your real numbers.
The free Hostpartner calculator shows monthly revenue, costs, operating profit and margin for up to seven properties. It does not calculate VAT: record accommodation income without the VAT you collect for the tax authority, and you will see your operating profit under each scenario.
- Built for 1–7 properties
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What the Hostpartner calculator measures and which inputs you need
Operating margin