Tools
Calculate before you decide
Three tools based on current Catalan law to put a first figure on the table: how much inheritance tax may cost, how much a forced share amounts to and which deadlines are running. Indicative, free and no registration.
Catalan inheritance tax calculator
Estimate of an heir's tax following the actual order of the assessment: first the estate by type of asset (with household effects computed under the Supreme Court's criterion), then deductible debts and expenses, each heir's share, the reductions under Law 19/2010, the rate scale, the pre-existing wealth multiplier and the tax credit. Enter the total values of the estate and your share.
Points to bear in mind
- The estimate applies current Catalan law (Law 19/2010, as amended by Law 5/2020) and State Law 29/1987 as regards the taxable base, and covers deceased persons habitually resident in Catalonia. It does not include municipal capital gains tax, which is paid separately to the town hall.
- Household effects: the law presumes 3% of the estate, but the Supreme Court (judgments of 10 March 2020) excludes cash, securities, shareholdings and rented or business property from the base of that calculation, and allows a lower value to be proved. Jewellery, art and vehicles are not household effects: they are valued separately.
- Deductible items are the deceased's evidenced debts (except those owed to heirs and close relatives), real charges that reduce the value of an asset, and final illness, burial and funeral expenses. Estate administration costs are not deductible.
- Computation, imputation and collation of gifts are civil-law concepts: they affect the forced share and the partition, not this tax. For tax purposes only gifts from the deceased to the same heir in the previous four years count, and they are aggregated to set the average rate. For the civil side, use the forced share calculator.
- The main residence reduction requires kinship (spouse, descendants, ascendants) or cohabitation and keeping the property for five years. The business and shareholding reductions require genuine economic activity, a minimum holding, management duties and retention; claiming them halves the tax credit.
- The tax credit for groups I and II is calculated as a weighted average percentage by bands of the taxable base; the spouse or registered partner has a fixed 99%. The multiplier depends on the group and on the heir's pre-existing wealth.
- Filing deadline: six months from the death, extendable by a further six if requested within the first five. It must be filed even if no tax is due. See the deadline calendar.
- Indicative result. The actual assessment depends on valuations, deductibility of expenses, distribution agreements and tax audits. Read our full guide (in Spanish).
Catalan forced share calculator
Calculation of the one-quarter forced share under articles 451-5 et seq. of the Catalan Civil Code: value of the assets at death, less debts and expenses, plus computable gifts from the previous ten years, divided among the forced heirs.
Points to bear in mind
- Forced heirs are the children in equal shares and, by line, the descendants of those predeceased, disinherited or unworthy. If there are no descendants, the parents. The spouse is not a forced heir in Catalonia.
- The forced share accrues legal interest from the deceased's death and is time-barred after ten years. The heir chooses to pay in cash or in assets of the estate.
- Gifts to forced heirs are imputed to their forced share unless the deceased provided otherwise; their valuation is usually the point in dispute.
- Disinheritance requires an express legal ground (art. 451-17); if challenged, the heir must prove it.
- Indicative result. Read our guide to the Catalan forced share (in Spanish) or how we handle a claim.
Inheritance deadline calendar
Enter the date of death and get the dates that apply to you: certificates, inheritance tax extension and deadline, municipal capital gains tax, the deceased's income tax return, limitation periods. Add them to your calendar with one click.
Points to bear in mind
- The inheritance tax deadline is six months from the death throughout Spain; the extension (a further six months) must be requested within the first five and bears late-payment interest.
- Filing late without a prior demand carries surcharges of 1% per month of delay (up to 15% after twelve months, plus interest). After a demand, a penalty applies.
- Municipal capital gains tax is settled with each town hall; some require a return even where there is no increase in value.
- Civil deadlines (forced share, interpellation of the heir, benefit of inventory) depend on circumstances such as knowledge of the devolution or prior demands; the calendar shows them under the most usual computation.
- If a tax deadline has already passed, do not wait: voluntary regularisation reduces the cost. See how we solved it in a real case.
Want a defensible figure, not an estimate?
We review valuations, applicable reductions, gifts and imputations against your documents and give you a reasoned calculation in writing.