Parents Gifting Money to Buy a Property in Spain: The Tax Reality

A parent’s help with a deposit feels like a private family matter, but under Spanish law money given to a child is a gift on which the child pays Gift Tax. In Andalucía, whether that tax is reduced by 99% depends on declaring the gift and, above €5,000, on how it is documented.

Family money is still a taxable gift

Spain’s Inheritance and Gift Tax applies to any gratuitous transfer between living people, including money from a parent to a child. The person who receives the money is the taxpayer, not the parent who gives it. Being family money does not remove the tax, and gifts from the same parent to the same child within three years are treated as one transfer when the rate is calculated. The Gift Tax return is due within thirty working days from the day after the gift.

Andalucía’s 99% relief and its 2026 conditions

In Andalucía, children and other descendants, spouses and parents apply a 99% reduction on the Gift Tax due. The rules changed with the amendment consolidated at the end of 2025, and the conditions now are:

• Declare it yourself. The 99% applies only to the part of the tax corresponding to what the recipient declares of their own accord, before any request from the tax administration.
• Up to €5,000. A gift of money does not need a public document for the relief when the taxable base is €5,000 or less, counting all gifts from the same parent to the same child in the previous three years.
• Above €5,000. The public document must be signed within one month of the money being handed over, and the relief applies only if the origin of the funds is duly justified and stated in that document.
• Paid in instalments. A gift of a fixed total paid in instalments must be documented in a single deed covering all the instalments.

For every condition in detail, see gift tax in Andalucía: the 99% relief and its conditions.

What the paperwork requires

For a gift above €5,000, plan the deed before the money moves: it must be signed within a month of the transfer and state where the funds came from. Keep the bank evidence of the transfer and of the origin of the funds, and file the Gift Tax return within thirty working days.

If you live outside Andalucía, or outside Spain

Other regions set their own rules and conditions, so the Andalucía conditions above cannot be assumed elsewhere. A child who is not resident in Spain and receives money located in Spain may apply the rules of the region where that money was located for the most days in the preceding five years, and files the Gift Tax self-assessment (Modelo 651) with the Spanish tax agency.

The cost of skipping the formal process

An undocumented transfer is still a gift. In Andalucía, a gift above €5,000 without a deed signed within the month and stating the origin of the funds loses the 99% relief, and a gift that surfaces only after a request from the tax administration does not benefit from it.

Email marialuisa@costaluzlawyers.es with the amount, the dates and where each of you lives, or call our client line on +34 919 499 342, and we will make sure the gift is documented correctly from the start.

Frequently asked questions

Is money my parents give me to buy a house in Spain taxed?

Yes. Money received as a gift is subject to Gift Tax, and the person who receives it pays it.

Does Andalucia have a reduction for this?

Yes. Children, spouses and parents apply a 99% reduction on the Gift Tax due, on what they declare of their own accord.

What do I actually need to do to get the reduction?

Declare the gift and file the return within thirty working days. If the gift is above €5,000, counting three years of gifts from the same parent, sign a public deed within one month of receiving the money stating where the funds came from.

Does it matter if the money comes as cash, Bizum, or a bank transfer?

No. Any gratuitous transfer of money is a gift for this tax, and above €5,000 the same Andalucía conditions apply.

What if we skip the formal deed and just transfer the money informally?

The transfer is still a taxable gift. In Andalucía, above €5,000 the relief is lost without the deed signed within the month stating the origin of the funds.

Related guide: for the full picture of who pays which tax on a gift in Spain, see our guide to donations in Spain for international families.

This is general information, not definitive legal advice — every case requires individual analysis.

Family gifts are one funding route — a UK pension lump sum is another, and our guide on using a UK pension lump sum to buy in Spain covers a very different tax trap.

If UK property equity rather than a family gift is funding the purchase, see our guide to remortgaging a UK property to buy in Spain.

An inheritance is taxed differently again from a lifetime gift — our guide to using inheritance money to buy a property in Spain covers the specific documentation it requires.