Spain’s registration tax (IEDMT): how the number is actually produced

The formula

Three lines, in this order:

1. Fiscal value. The ministerial order in force publishes an average price for each commercial version of each model. That figure, reduced by the depreciation percentage for the age of the car, is the valor venal.
2. Taxable base. The indirect taxes already inside that value are stripped out: the valor venal is divided by 1 + 0.21 + the applicable rate.
3. Tax. The base is multiplied by that same rate.

The published figures come from Annex I (average prices) and Annex IV (depreciation by age) of the order in force — for the current period, Orden HAC/1501/2025, published in the BOE as BOE-A-2025-26357. Two things follow immediately, and they are the two things people get wrong: a cheap purchase does not produce a cheap tax, and a car that is not listed in Annex I has no automatic base at all — it then has to be valued another way, and no honest calculator can give you a figure until that is settled.

The bands, and who sets the rate

The CO₂ figure — the combined WLTP value from the registration document or the certificate of conformity, not a figure from a brochure — decides the band:

under 120 g/km	band 1	0 %
120 to 160 g/km	band 2	4.75 %
160 to 200 g/km	band 3	9.75 %
200 g/km and above	band 4	14.75 %

Those percentages are the state scale, and the law treats them as a fallback, not as the normal case. Ley 38/1992, article 70.2, says first that the rates approved by the autonomous community apply, and only then — if the community has not approved them — that the scale above applies. The community therefore does not add a surcharge on top of the tax: it replaces the figure.

In the Comunitat Valenciana, where we work, the community has approved 16 % for the highest car band (and for the motorcycle band), under Ley 13/1997 article 17 as amended, published as BOE-A-1998-8202. It has not approved its own rate for the 160–200 band — so a car in that band pays the state 9.75 % here. This is not a theory: we have one deal where the quotation’s own spreadsheet carried the formula 16 % × (value / 1.37) and another, in band 3, where the quotation used 9.75 %. Both matched our calculator to the cent.

Electric cars fall in the zero band. A plug-in hybrid at 50 g/km or below computes at zero as well. A conventional hybrid gets no special treatment.

One gram is worth thousands

Because the rate jumps at 120, 160 and 200 g/km, a single gram across a boundary can move the bill by thousands of euros on an ordinary family car. That is why our calculator refuses to produce a figure when the documented CO₂ is exactly 120, 160 or 200 — it stops and asks for the source document instead of guessing which side of the line you are on. If a calculator somewhere hands you a confident number for a car sitting exactly on a boundary, that confidence is manufactured.

Worked example, to the cent

A petrol SUV first registered in March 2025, owner registered in Dénia, file opened in autumn 2026:

• Average price for that exact version in Annex I: 47,200.00 €
• Depreciation for a car of that age, Annex IV: 84 % → valor venal 39,648.00 €
• Documented CO₂ 180 g/km → band 160–200 → rate 9.75 % (the Comunitat Valenciana has not approved its own rate for this band, so the state rate applies)
• Taxable base: 39,648.00 / (1 + 0.21 + 0.0975) = 30,323.52 €
• IEDMT: 2,956.54 €

That chain is one of the regression cases our calculator runs before it produces any client figure, and it was checked against a real registration quotation of 2 September 2026: that quotation’s number was 2,956.54 €. Same cent.

What else lands on the same bill, and is not this tax

Three lines get mixed into «the tax» in conversation and should not be:

• Traffic fee (tasa de tráfico) — 99.77 €. An official fee, paid at registration. Our files carry this figure from a registration quotation of 2 October 2026.
• IVTM, the municipal road tax. Set by your town, not by the state, and calculated from fiscal horsepower rather than CO₂. For Dénia, the annual amount for the car in the example above is 129.49 €, from the town’s own ordenanza fiscal. In the year of first registration it is prorated by quarters, so a car registered in the last quarter pays 32.37 € for that year, not the full amount.
• The import inspection tariff — 110.86 €, charged by the station, VAT-exempt. See the import ITV — what the station checks.

Why we still do not publish «your» figure

Everything above is mechanics, and mechanics can be published. Your number cannot, until three facts exist on paper: the exact Annex I line for your version, a documented CO₂ figure with the document it came from, and the town on your padrón. Any figure produced before that is a ceiling, not a quote — and we label it as a ceiling when we send one. The firm number comes from the registration quotation, and the difference, up or down, is settled with receipts.

Questions people actually ask

Is the Spanish registration tax a percentage of the price I paid?

No. The base is a fiscal value: an average price for your exact version taken from the annex of the ministerial order in force, reduced by a depreciation percentage for the age of the car. What you paid for it does not enter the calculation.

What decides the percentage?

The CO₂ figure of the car decides which band it falls in: below 120 g/km, 120 to 160, 160 to 200, or 200 and above. The rate for that band is then the one approved by the autonomous community where the owner is registered, and the state scale applies only where the community has not approved its own.

Why does the same car cost a different tax in another region?

Because the community sets the rate instead of the state, not on top of it. In the Comunitat Valenciana a car in the highest CO₂ band pays 16 percent where the state fallback would be 14.75 percent. The address on your padrón is therefore part of the tax calculation.

Can an electric or hybrid car be exempt?

A fully electric car falls in the zero-rated band. A plug-in hybrid with CO₂ of 50 g/km or less also computes at zero. A conventional hybrid does not get a special treatment: it is taxed by its CO₂ figure like any other car.

Where these figures come from

• Orden HAC/1501/2025, Annex I (average prices) and Annex IV (depreciation), BOE-A-2025-26357 — the fiscal value.
• Ley 38/1992, article 70.2, consolidated text BOE-A-1992-28741 — community rates first, state scale as fallback.
• Ley 13/1997 of the Comunitat Valenciana, article 17 as amended, BOE-A-1998-8202 — the 16 % rate approved here.
• Ordenanza fiscal of the Ajuntament de Dénia for IVTM, with the state scale of RDL 2/2004 behind it — the road tax figures.
• Our own calculator and its regression cases, checked line by line against registration quotations of 2 September and 1–2 October 2026.

Rates approved by the autonomous communities are changed by their budget laws, usually with effect from 1 January. A page like this one is re-checked in January; if you are reading it much later, ask us whether the figures still hold.

Your own case

Send the registration document and the CO₂ line from it, plus the town you are registered in, and you get the chain above with your own numbers in it. WhatsApp +34 644 324 195

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