Inheritance tax in Spain: the six months and the extension

The deadline to file Spanish inheritance tax is six months from the day of death. Not from the funeral, not from the day the will turns up, not from the day the heirs agree on who keeps the house. From the death. Article 67.1.a) of the tax regulation sets it, and every other date in the file hangs off it.

People inheriting from Italy tend to find out late, after three months of collecting paperwork across two countries, when they realise the clock started on day one.

The six months run while you hunt for documents

The tax office does not wait for the file to be complete. Completing it takes a while, especially with an Italian element in the middle.

The full certificado de defunción comes first. With it you request the certificado de actos de última voluntad, the certificate that says whether the deceased made a will in Spain and before which notary. That certificate is not issued until fifteen working days have passed since the death, counting neither the day of death nor Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. Only then comes the authorised copy of the will, or a declaración de herederos if there was no will.

If the person died in Italy, every Italian document needs a sworn translation and an apostille before it works in Spain. If they died in Spain as an Italian citizen, the mirror image happens on the other side. None of it stops the clock.

The extension exists, but you ask for it before month five

Article 68 of the regulation allows a six month extension. Three details decide whether it is any use.

The first is timing. The request goes in within the first five months of the filing period. Past the fifth month it is not granted, and the article says so without qualification.

The second is silence. If a month passes from the request with no notified decision, the extension counts as granted.

The third is the price. A granted extension starts running when the initial six months end, and it carries late payment interest for every day until the return is filed. In 2026 the Spanish late payment rate stands at 4.0625 %, the same as 2025, because the state budget is still rolled over. An extension buys time, it does not hand it over.

Filing late: a surcharge if you get there first

Filing late on your own initiative and filing late after the tax office has come asking are two different situations.

When the self assessment arrives before any formal demand, article 27 of the General Tax Act applies a surcharge of 1 % plus another 1 % for each full month of delay. At twelve months the surcharge settles at 15 %, and from there late payment interest is added, counted from the day after the ordinary deadline. That surcharge drops by 25 % when it is paid on time together with the tax due.

When the demand arrives first, there is no surcharge. There is a penalty procedure.

Litigation suspends the deadline, paperwork does not

This is where estates get lost. Article 69 of the regulation suspends the deadlines when litigation or a juicio voluntario de testamentaría is opened over the estate, and the count restarts the day after the court decision becomes final.

What suspends nothing is ordinary procedure, even when it passes through a court or a notary: opening the will, raising it to a public deed, drawing up the inventory to accept under benefit of inventory, non contentious jurisdiction proceedings with no opposition. These are necessary steps, not disputes. The deadline keeps running underneath.

Which rules apply when the heir is Italian

An heir who is not resident in Spain is taxed by obligación real, on Spanish situated assets only, and files form 650 with the national tax agency.

Which rules apply is set by the second additional provision of Ley 29/1987. If the deceased was resident in an autonomous community, the non resident heir applies that community's rules. If the deceased was not resident in Spain either, the rules are those of the community holding the highest value of the estate's Spanish assets; and where there are no assets in Spain, those of the community where the taxpayer lives.

The gap is wide. Regional reliefs for children and spouses reach 99 % in several communities and do not exist in the state rules. Until 2021 this right was written for residents of the European Union and the European Economic Area only; Ley 11/2021 extended it to residents of any state.

The Italian calendar runs on its own

The two deadlines do not talk to each other.

In Italy the dichiarazione di successione is filed within twelve months of the succession opening. For estates opened from 1 January 2025, Legislative Decree 139/2024 introduced self assessment: the heirs calculate the imposta di successione themselves and pay it within ninety days of the filing deadline.

Italy and Spain have no inheritance tax treaty. Spain has only three, with France, Sweden and Greece. What remains is the international double taxation relief in article 23 of Ley 29/1987, which works when Spanish tax is charged on worldwide assets, and the matching credit in Italy for anyone taxed there.

When it becomes time barred

Four years, counted from the day after the ordinary six month period ends. In practice four years and six months from the death, or four years from the end of the extension where one was requested.

Any action by the tax office notified to the taxpayer interrupts that period and restarts it from zero. Sitting and waiting for the limitation period with a property in the estate works badly: the Spanish land registry will not register the deed of acceptance without proof that the tax was paid, exempt or not chargeable, under article 33 of the same law.

If you have any doubts, Riondato & Partners is here to help

For over 45 years we have worked between Italy and Spain on estates with assets, heirs and notaries split across both countries, where one side's calendar does not forgive the other side's delays. If you have an estate open and you are not sure where you stand in the calendar, get in touch: we will go through the dates with you before they turn into a surcharge.

Sources

• Form 650, filing deadlines for non residents, Agencia Tributaria
• Royal Decree 1629/1991, Inheritance and Gift Tax Regulation (articles 67, 68 and 69), BOE
• Ley 29/1987 on Inheritance and Gift Tax (articles 23 and 33, second additional provision), BOE
• Ley 58/2003 General Tax Act, article 27, surcharges for late filing, BOE
• Certificate of Last Wills, Spanish Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes
• Legislative Decree 139/2024 and self assessment of Italian inheritance tax, Federnotizie