Registration tax on an imported car: how it is calculated

When you register a car bought in another country in Spain for the first time, new or used, you pay the special tax on certain means of transport (impuesto especial sobre determinados medios de transporte), known as the registration tax (impuesto de matriculación). The charge is worked out by multiplying the taxable base (if the car is new, the VAT taxable base of the purchase; if it is used, its market value) by a rate that depends on the official CO2 emissions and on the autonomous community. It is declared on form 576 of the Spanish Tax Agency (AEAT) before applying for the number plate at the DGT (Spain's traffic authority).

When it is paid and who declares it

Spain's Special Taxes Act (Ley de Impuestos Especiales, Law 38/1992) subjects to this tax the first definitive registration in Spain of motor vehicles, whether new or used. It makes no difference if the car has been on the road for years in Germany or France: what counts is that it is about to receive its first Spanish plate.

The tax falls due when you submit the application for first definitive registration. It must be declared by the person or entity in whose name the car is registered, if they reside in Spain or have an establishment here and will use it in Spanish territory.

Beware of driving on foreign plates: if you live in Spain and do not apply for definitive registration within 30 days of starting to use it here, the tax also falls due. That period is extended to 60 days when the car arrives with the transfer of your habitual residence to Spain and the exemption provided for that case applies.

The law also provides for cases of non-liability, exemption and reduction of the base. Some require the tax office to recognise them before registration and others are declared without that prior recognition, each with its own form.

New or used: how the taxable base is set

For this tax, a car is considered new if it is delivered within six months of its first entry into service or if it has not travelled more than 6,000 kilometres. Meeting one of the two conditions is enough: a two-year-old car that has only done 4,000 kilometres still counts as new.

• New car: the base is the amount fixed as the VAT taxable base (or that of an equivalent tax) on purchase; failing both, the total paid by the buyer.
• Used car: the base is its market value on the date the tax falls due. If it was registered abroad, the residual amount of the indirect taxes it would have borne had it been registered new in Spain is deducted from that value.

To set the market value you can use the average sale prices approved by the tax office and in force on the date the tax falls due. If you declare that value, the tax administration cannot verify it by the other means in article 57 of the General Tax Act (Ley General Tributaria).

If the charge you declare comes out below what would result from those average prices, the tax office can check the value before stamping your self-assessment. It has sixty days to do so from when you make the car's documents available to it.

The base can also be reduced. A large family can obtain a 50% reduction if the car has between five and nine seats, including the driver's, and is for the family's exclusive use, subject to requirements and prior recognition by the tax office. Motorhomes and vehicles fitted out as living accommodation get a 30% reduction of the base.

The rates: CO2 emissions and autonomous community

The rate depends on the bracket into which the car falls according to its official CO2 emissions. For a passenger car, the first four brackets are these:

• 1st bracket: emissions not above 120 g/km, and also vehicles with a single engine that is not an internal combustion engine.
• 2nd bracket: more than 120 g/km and less than 160 g/km.
• 3rd bracket: from 160 g/km and less than 200 g/km.
• 4th bracket: 200 g/km or more, and also vehicles whose emissions are not documented where measurement is required.

If your autonomous community has not approved its own rates, on the mainland and in the Balearic Islands the rates are 0% in the 1st bracket, 4.75% in the 2nd bracket, 9.75% in the 3rd bracket and 14.75% in the 4th bracket. In the Canary Islands the national rates for brackets 2 to 4 are lower and in Ceuta and Melilla they are 0%.

The communities may raise these rates by 15% at most, and several have done so. According to the Tax Agency table, Valencia applies 16% in brackets 4 and 9 and Murcia, 15.9%. Andalusia, Asturias, the Balearic Islands, Cantabria and Catalonia also appear with modified brackets, so check your community's rate before calculating.

Emissions are documented with a certificate from the manufacturer or the importer, unless they already appear on the ITV card (the vehicle's inspection and technical data card, issued at Spain's roadworthiness inspection) or another official document issued for that vehicle. If they are not documented, the car goes to the 4th bracket, so it pays to have the certificate of conformity (CoC) or the paperwork that records that figure to hand.

A worked example

An example with assumed figures: a used car with official emissions of 140 g/km falls in the 2nd bracket, so if its taxable base were €20,000 and your community applied the national rate of 4.75%, the charge would be €950.

With emissions of 210 g/km, the same car would go to the 4th bracket: at the national rate of 14.75% the charge would rise to €2,950, and at Valencia's 16%, to €3,200.

If the car were new, the base would not be the market value but the VAT taxable base of the purchase. And if its official emissions do not exceed 120 g/km, the 1st bracket is taxed at the national rate of 0%, although the car is still subject to the tax and the self-assessment is filed all the same.

How it is declared: form 576

The tax is self-assessed on form 576, which the Tax Agency describes as the one generally filed to start the registration process. The result is an Electronic Registration Code (Código Electrónico de Matriculación, CEM).

It is normally filed online. Individuals who are not on the register of businesses, professionals and withholding agents can file it at the Tax Agency's in-person service points, by appointment and after paying the tax and obtaining the full payment reference number (NRC) from the bank.

The self-assessment must be stamped by the administration before definitive registration, and to register you must prove payment or, where applicable, non-liability or exemption. If your case needs prior recognition, such as the large-family reduction, the form is 05; exemptions and non-liability cases that do not need it go on form 06. The traffic authority will ask you for the proof for whichever applies.

Mistakes to avoid

• Confusing it with VAT. They are different taxes: the VAT on a new car bought in another EU country is declared separately. We explain this in VAT on a car bought in the EU.
• Not documenting the emissions. Without the CO2 figure in a valid document, the car is taxed in the 4th bracket.
• Declaring a very low market value. The tax office can check it before stamping the self-assessment if the charge comes out below the one that results from the average sale prices.
• Calculating with the national rate without looking at your community's. The national rate only applies if your community has not approved its own.
• Forgetting the regional tax authorities. In the Basque Country and Navarre, the proof is issued by their own regional tax authority (Hacienda Foral).

If you are preparing the whole process, also see how to register an imported car with the DGT and the total cost of importing a car.

Sources consulted

Checked on 11 October 2026. We link to the original source so that you can consult the current text.

• Ley 38/1992, de 28 de diciembre, de Impuestos Especiales (texto consolidado). BOE.
• Modelo 576. Agencia Tributaria.
• ¿Estoy obligado a presentar declaración?. Agencia Tributaria.
• ¿En qué plazo debo presentar la declaración?. Agencia Tributaria.
• Gestiones primera matriculación (modelos 05, 06, 568 y 576). Agencia Tributaria.
• ¿Cuál es la delimitación de medios de transporte nuevos respecto a usados?. Agencia Tributaria.
• ¿Sobre qué valores tengo que aplicar los tipos del impuesto?. Agencia Tributaria.
• ¿Existe alguna reducción al valor al que aplicar los tipos impositivos?. Agencia Tributaria.
• Primera matriculación de medios de transporte: tipos impositivos. Agencia Tributaria.
• Matriculación de vehículos nuevos y vehículos provenientes del extranjero. DGT (sede electrónica).