The Tax Agency of Catalonia has set up a mechanism that allows parents and grandparents to donate up to €60,000 to their children or grandchildren for the purchase of a first home with minimal tax costs.
The key is a 95% reduction in inheritance and gift tax.
It is not a total exemption, but it is close. On a donation of €40,000, the recipient will only pay tax on €2,000—the taxable base after applying the reduction—which, with the reduced rate of 5%, translates into a tax liability of €100.
In other words: the tax cost of receiving €40,000 is €100 if the requirements are met.
Who can benefit and up to what amount?
The reduction is available to direct descendants—children, grandchildren—and also to ascendants, spouses, and stable partners.
The maximum amount to which it applies is €60,000 in general, and rises to €120,000 when the recipient has a recognized disability of 65% or more.
This limit is cumulative. If a father and mother each donate €30,000, the total counts as a single donation of €60,000 for the purposes of the reduction.
The same applies if a monetary gift is combined with the direct transfer of the property: everything adds up to that €60,000 ceiling.
The conditions that must be met in order not to lose this tax reduction
The tax benefit is not automatic. There are three requirements that must be met without exception:
The first is the public deed. The gift must be formalized before a notary in order to qualify for the reduced rate of 5%. If the deed is not signed at the time of the transfer, there is a period of one month from the delivery of the money to make it public.
After that month has passed without doing so, the general rate, which is considerably higher, will apply.
The second is the purchase deadline. The home must be purchased within six months of the date of the gift.
For donations made before June 27, 2025, that period was three months. In addition, monetary donations only count if they were made within the three months prior to the purchase of the property.
The third is the type of acquisition. The reduction applies exclusively when the recipient acquires full ownership of the property. It is not valid for the purchase of usufruct or bare ownership.
How to calculate what you have to pay
The 5% rate is applied to the taxable base, which is the result of subtracting the 95% reduction from the amount donated. In the case of €40,000, the taxable base is €2,000. On that amount, 5% gives a tax liability of €100.
A multiplier coefficient is applied to this result, depending on the relationship and the recipient’s pre-existing assets. When the recipient is a child, grandchild, spouse, or stable partner, and their assets do not exceed €500,000, this coefficient is 1, so the final tax liability is the same as the total liability.
If the gift is not formalized in a public deed or the recipient does not belong to kinship groups I or II, the general rate applies instead of the reduced rate, which significantly increases the tax payable.
The website of the Tax Agency of Catalonia has a section with examples of various situations in which this reduction can be applied and others in which it cannot.