Road tax when you buy, sell or scrap a car in Spain
Spanish road tax is annual and falls due on 1 January. Only three situations are pro-rated by quarter, and a sale is not one of them.
Road tax in the year you buy or scrap
Due that year
€44.25
| Quarters paid | 3 |
| Saving against the full amount | €14.75 |
A private sale is not pro-rated: the owner on 1 January pays.
Section 96 of the Local Finance Act states that the IVTM tax period is the calendar year and that the tax falls due on its first day, 1 January. So whoever is the registered owner that day pays for the whole year, even if the car is sold in February. The amount is only pro-rated by calendar quarter in three cases: first acquisition of the vehicle, when the period starts on the purchase date; permanent deregistration; and temporary deregistration after theft, from when it is recorded on the vehicle register. On first registration you pay the remaining quarters, including the one of registration: a car registered in May pays three quarters of the amount. On permanent deregistration you pay the quarters elapsed, including the one of deregistration. The DGT also refuses to transfer ownership if the previous year’s tax is unpaid.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
Which quarters are paid
| Month of registration or deregistration | First registration | Scrapped or stolen |
|---|---|---|
| January to March | 4/4 | 1/4 |
| April to June | 3/4 | 2/4 |
| July to September | 2/4 | 3/4 |
| October to December | 1/4 | 4/4 |
Some councils publish these amounts directly: GESTRISAM in Málaga gives the three-, two- and one-quarter amounts for every band, and Madrid does the same in its table. In Gipuzkoa, Donostia publishes a different amount for each month of the year, because the foral regime splits the tax differently.
Sales and change of owner
When you sell a car, the DGT transfer requires the previous year’s tax to be paid: if a bill is outstanding, the traffic office will not record the transfer. Councils report unpaid bills to the DGT at the end of the payment period, and the absence of any record counts as proof of payment. That is why a careful buyer asks the seller for the last paid bill.
The tax for the year of the sale is paid, as far as the council is concerned, by whoever owned the car on 1 January. The parties may split it in the contract, for example by months, but that is a private arrangement. To find your car’s annual amount, use the road-tax calculator.
Change of address
The IVTM is run by the council of the address on the registration document. If you move, report it to the DGT: the new council charges you from the following year and the old one stops. Beyond the tax, that address decides in many cities whether your car counts as local in the low-emission zone.
Imported and re-registered cars
A car imported and registered in Spain for the first time counts as a first acquisition for the tax: it pays the remaining quarters of the year, including the one of registration, and proof of payment must be shown to the provincial traffic office before registration. Councils usually require it as a self-assessment filed before the traffic office appointment.
Re-registering a historic vehicle or reinstating one that had been deregistered also creates a new tax entry. In those cases, ask the council whether its byelaw grants age-based relief, which reaches 100% in some cities, because it has to be requested within each council’s deadline.
If the bill never arrives
The IVTM is collected from a register: each year the council opens a voluntary payment period and does not always send a letter. Not receiving one does not prevent a surcharge if you pay late. Check your town’s tax calendar or set up a direct debit.
Selling to a dealer
When you trade a car in at a dealership, the dealer usually handles the transfer and may ask you to show the last paid road-tax bill. The current year’s bill is still yours if you owned the car on 1 January; some dealers deduct it from the trade-in value, others do not, so ask before signing.
For company cars, the same rules apply to the business: the company that owns the vehicle on 1 January pays for the year, and fleets that renew cars mid-year benefit from pro-rating on each new registration. Leasing firms usually include the tax in the monthly fee and pay it themselves as registered owners.
In the foral territories the logic is the same but the detail differs: Donostia, for instance, publishes a separate amount for every month of registration rather than every quarter, and Vitoria-Gasteiz says the amount is calculated proportionally on registration and permanent deregistration. If your car is registered in the Basque Country or Navarre, check the council’s own table: the quarterly fractions above are those of the standard regime and may differ by a few euros.
Note too that pro-rating applies to the amount after relief: an electric car with 75% relief registered in October pays a quarter of a quarter of the band amount. In Madrid, for an 11.5 hp CERO car, that is under four euros for its first year.