Buying on the Costa del Sol: in your own name, or through a company?
This is general guidance, not tax or legal advice. Ownership structure is one of the few decisions where the right answer genuinely depends on your personal circumstances — your residence, your wider assets, your plans for the property and for succession. Please take the specific advice of a qualified tax adviser and lawyer before you decide. My role is to help you frame the question clearly and to work alongside the right specialists.
It's one of the first questions serious buyers raise, especially those purchasing across a border or at the upper end of the market in Marbella and the wider Costa del Sol: should I buy in my own name, or through a company? There is no single correct answer — only trade-offs to weigh honestly against your situation.
Buying in your own name
For most buyers, personal ownership is the straightforward path. You buy directly, the title sits in your name, and the process is the familiar one: NIE, independent lawyer, private purchase contract, notary and registration.
What tends to make it attractive:
Simplicity. Fewer moving parts to set up and to maintain year after year.
Lower running overheads. No company accounts, corporate tax filings or bookkeeping to keep up year after year.
A clean, well-understood resale. You sell the property itself, through the same transparent, notary-led process the market is built around.
For a single home you intend to live in or let personally, this is very often the sensible default — but confirm it against your own tax position.
Buying through a company
Some buyers — typically those holding multiple properties, planning ahead for succession, or structuring a larger investment — consider holding through a company, whether a Spanish company or a foreign one. This is where general guidance stops and specialist advice begins. A few points are worth understanding before you go there:
The purchase tax is usually the same either way. The purchase tax itself — 7% ITP on resale, or 10% VAT + 1.2% AJD on new build — is generally the same whether you buy personally or through a company; it follows the property, not the buyer. Any advantage or cost of a corporate structure shows up elsewhere (VAT recovery if the company genuinely trades, plus its ongoing tax and compliance), which is exactly why this needs a tax adviser's eye on your specific case.
A company carries ongoing cost. A company adds recurring obligations personal ownership doesn't — annual accounts, corporate tax filings and bookkeeping — and therefore ongoing professional cost. The exact figure varies widely by structure, so treat it as a real but case-specific line to price with your adviser.
Watch the non-resident-entity levy. One trap worth knowing: Spain levies a special 3% annual charge on real estate held by certain non-resident entities — aimed principally at companies based in tax-haven / non-cooperative jurisdictions. Legitimate structures are typically exempt (EU/EEA companies, companies in treaty countries with information exchange that disclose their owners, or entities genuinely trading here), but it's a real reason not to default to an offshore holding company without advice.
Don't rely on the "buy the shares" trick. A word of caution on a commonly floated idea: transferring the shares of a property-owning company instead of the property itself does not reliably avoid transfer tax. Spanish anti-avoidance rules treat the sale of shares in a company whose assets are mostly real estate as a property transfer for tax purposes when it's used to sidestep that tax. It can still make sense for other reasons — but not as an ITP-avoidance trick. (The rule now sits in Art. 338 of Ley 6/2023.)
None of these should be assumed in either direction. A structure that saves one buyer money can cost another, depending on where they are resident and how the property is used.
Wealth, inheritance and the reasons buyers really ask
Often the structure question is really a wealth- and succession-planning question. Two things are worth knowing about Andalucía:
Wealth tax. Andalucía effectively removes the regional wealth tax with a 100% rebate — but note a separate state "large-fortunes" solidarity tax applies to net wealth above €3 million and is designed to override that regional rebate, so the very largest estates still pay at state level. Non-residents are assessed on their Spanish assets. Where you land depends on your total position — one for your tax adviser.
Inheritance. Andalucía is notably light on inheritance tax for close family — spouses, children and parents benefit from a large per-heir allowance and a 99% rebate on the balance, so most family successions pay little or nothing. The rules turn on residence and relationship, so confirm your position with a specialist.
One thing I'll flag clearly: buying property is not a route to Spanish residency — the investor "Golden Visa" was abolished with effect from 3 April 2025. If residency matters, take dedicated immigration advice on the routes that still exist.
How I'd approach it with you
My job is not to give you the tax answer — it's to make sure you ask the right question of the right person before you commit. In practice that means: understand your goals for the property early, bring your tax adviser and lawyer into the conversation before you sign, and let the structure follow the strategy rather than the other way around. With a multilingual team behind me, I can make sure that conversation happens in the language you're most comfortable in.
If you're weighing how to hold a purchase on the Costa del Sol, get in touch. I'll help you frame the decision and connect you with the right independent tax and legal specialists before you commit. No pressure, just clarity.