Municipal Capital Gains Tax: The Supreme Court Opens the Door to New Claims

The Spanish Supreme Court has taken an important step in the debate over the municipal capital gains tax (plusvalía municipal). In a ruling dated June 13, 2025, the Administrative Chamber established that taxpayers who, as of the Constitutional Court ruling 182/2021 (October 26, 2021), were still within the legal deadline to appeal in court, may request a refund of the tax.

This represents a significant expansion of taxpayers’ rights, as until now many people were trapped in a legal limbo between administrative and judicial proceedings.

The Case that Sets the Precedent

The ruling reviews a capital gains tax assessment rejected by the Madrid Economic-Administrative Tribunal on October 22, 2021—just four days before the Constitutional Court annulled the tax.

Although the administrative resolution was negative, the taxpayer still had two months to take the case to court. The Supreme Court clarified that this timeframe keeps the right to claim alive, since a resolution is only considered final when no further appeals are possible or when such appeals have been resolved in due time.

Consequently, restricting the right of appeal in such circumstances would have been an unjustified limitation and contrary to effective judicial protection, a fundamental right enshrined in Article 24.1 of the Spanish Constitution.

Limits and Exceptions to Refunds

The Constitutional Court, in its 2021 ruling, had set clear limits: taxpayers with a final resolution as of October 26, 2021 could not claim, nor could those who had not appealed or requested rectification of their self-assessment before that date.

The Supreme Court now adds a key nuance: those limits do not apply if the judicial deadline was still open at that time. In other words, even if there was a prior administrative decision, if time remained to appeal, the right to claim remained valid.

Other Relevant Considerations

The Supreme Court also reaffirmed that administrative silence does not create a consolidated situation, consistent with its ruling 419/2024. Therefore, there should be no distinction between taxpayers who appealed due to silence and those who waited for an explicit response from the Administration.

The ruling also criticized the Constitutional Court’s decision to set October 26, 2021, as the cutoff date instead of waiting for the official publication in the Boletín Oficial del Estado one month later, which severely limited many taxpayers’ ability to claim.

Who Can Claim Now?

Refunds may be requested by those who, as of October 26, 2021, still had time left to file a judicial appeal. Even if their administrative appeal had been rejected days earlier, as long as the appeal period had not expired, the assessment was not final and the right to claim remained.

Required Documentation

To initiate a claim, it is advisable to gather:

• Proof of payment.

• The assessment or self-assessment.

• Any resolutions from the Economic-Administrative Tribunal (if applicable).

• Notifications indicating the dates on which decisions were received.

Inmobiliaria Israel Huertas’ Recommendation

At Inmobiliaria Israel Huertas, we strongly recommend that once our clients have paid the municipal capital gains tax, they request its refund.

It is important to remember that this tax was declared unconstitutional and later “fixed” through a decree-law instead of an organic law—an approach that may once again be challenged in the future.

For this reason, we advise the strategy of pay and claim:

• If at some point the tax is declared illegal again, those who have submitted a claim will have the right to recover what they paid.

• Those who do not claim, however, may lose that opportunity.

Conclusion

The Supreme Court’s new ruling broadens the protection available to taxpayers and opens up further possibilities to recover payments made under a tax that has been repeatedly questioned. The key lies in analyzing each case individually and, above all, in not missing the opportunity to claim.