Renovation & construction
ICIO, tasa de licencia and plusvalía: five municipalities compared
By law ICIO is capped at 4%, and nearly every municipality charges the cap. The licence fee (tasa de licencia) differs several times over across five municipalities; plusvalía is almost always 30%.
ICIO (Impuesto sobre Construcciones, Instalaciones y Obras, the construction, installations and works tax) is a municipal tax on the cost of building works, and its rate cannot exceed 4% (art. 102 TRLRHL). Of the five municipalities in this comparison, four apply exactly 4% and Castelldefels applies 3,8%. The tasa de licencia, the fee for processing the building licence, differs markedly: in the worked example below it ranges from 1 984 € to 22 000 € for the same build. Plusvalía municipal, the seller's tax on the increase in land value, is 30% everywhere for holdings of up to five years. The comparison is based on the texts of the ordenanzas (municipal tax ordinances) that the municipalities publish on their websites as of 13.10.2026.
How do the three payments differ?
ICIO is paid by whoever bears the cost of the works, whether or not they own the land (art. 101). The base is the cost of physical execution, excluding IVA, fees, designers' fees and the contractor's profit (art. 102). The tax accrues when works start, even if there is no licence yet. It is paid first on the budget and recalculated on the actual cost once the works are finished.
Tasa de licencia is the charge for the ayuntamiento's service of examining the licence. Each municipality sets its own formula: a percentage of the budget, a rate per m², or a fixed amount.
Plusvalía is paid by the seller of the land. The rate goes up to 30% (art. 108.1), and the base is the cadastral value of the land multiplied by a coefficient for the years held. How it is calculated is covered in the article on the two plusvalía methods.
What rates do the five municipalities apply?
| Municipality | ICIO | Tasa de licencia, new build | Plusvalía |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barcelona | 4% | 4,96 €/m², minimum 385 € (OF 3.3) | 30% (OF 1.3) |
| Sitges | 4% | 2,20% of the base, minimum 524,65 € | 30% up to 5 years, 25% for 6 to 10 years, 15% for 11 to 20 years |
| Castelldefels | 3,8% | 2,04% of the budget | 30% |
| Alella | 4% | 1% of the cost of works | 30% |
| Sant Cugat | 4% | 7,25 €/m², minimum 574,36 € | 30% |
Versions: Barcelona's ICIO was published in the BOPB (the Barcelona provincial official gazette) on 02.02.2026; Barcelona's tasa and plusvalía are in the version of the BOPB of 23.12.2024 that the Ajuntament publishes; Sitges follows the compendium "Ordenances fiscals aplicables al 2026"; Castelldefels has a text in force since 01.01.2026; Alella follows the texts posted on the town's website (2021 and 2024 versions), and I found no confirmation that they were left unchanged for 2026; Sant Cugat's ICIO is in the version finally approved on 09.09.2026 and in force since 15.09.2026, and its tasa is in the version in force since 19.04.2024. Bonificaciones and deductions (in Barcelona up to 95% for urban regeneration, in Sant Cugat a deduction of the tasa from the ICIO only for a budget of up to 5 000 €) are not included in the table.
Plusvalía also depends on coefficients for the years of ownership. The maximums are set by law. Real Decreto-ley 29/2026 of 6 October (in force since 8 October, not yet validated by Congress as of 13.10.2026) changes those maximums from 1 December 2026; if Congress rejects it, the changes lapse (BOE-A-2026-20823). The table does not show the coefficients: before a transaction they are checked in the current ordenanza.
What does it add up to on one project?
Worked example, not a forecast. A new house: execution budget of 1 M€, floor area 400 m². The tasa base is taken as equal to the budget and no bonificaciones apply.
| Municipality | ICIO | Tasa de licencia | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barcelona | 40 000 € | 1 984 € | 41 984 € |
| Sitges | 40 000 € | 22 000 € | 62 000 € |
| Castelldefels | 38 000 € | 20 400 € | 58 400 € |
| Alella | 40 000 € | 10 000 € | 50 000 € |
| Sant Cugat | 40 000 € | 2 900 € | 42 900 € |
The gap between Barcelona and Sitges is 20 016 € on a single build, and it comes almost entirely from the tasa. Sitges also has a different rate for refurbishments and extensions (1,5%) and for swimming pools (0,95%), so the type of works changes the picture. In Sitges the tasa base is calculated from the ordenanza's modules or from the budget, if that is higher.
What should you check in the ordenanza before buying a plot?
- The type of works: new build, refurbishment, demolition and a pool are each charged at different rates.
- How the tasa base is defined: budget, modules, floor area or cadastral value.
- Whether bonificaciones and deductions exist, and what decision must be obtained before works start.
- Which costs are excluded from the ICIO base. In Barcelona this includes works on archaeological remains; for the timing risk, see the article on archaeology on a building site.
- How many years the project will hold the land: the plusvalía threshold in Sitges is five years.
- How long the licence takes to issue, since the cost of carrying the plot depends on it (average licence times).
When does this comparison not work?
It does not fit a project with a different type of works or in a different municipality: each has its own ordenanzas, and they change every year. It also does not replace the calculation of the project's own taxes (IVA, ITP, corporate income tax), which are described in the article on the tax ladder by property price. And it is no promise of a final cost: in a real project the budget, floor area and bonificaciones are different.
How a project budget is built and where municipal payments sit in it is shown on the page on development projects. The licence process is described in the article how to obtain a building licence in Catalonia.
Questions and answers
Who pays ICIO, the landowner or the contractor?
Whoever bears the cost of the works (art. 101 TRLRHL). If the project company commissions the build, it pays. The contractor may act as substitute taxpayer, but is entitled to recover the payment from the client.
Why is the tasa de licencia in Sitges higher than in Barcelona?
Sitges calculates it as a percentage of the cost of the works, Barcelona as a rate per m². When construction is expensive and the floor area small, the percentage gives a larger sum.
Do these rates change every year?
The ayuntamiento may revise them annually within the limits of the law. Before a transaction, check the version of the ordenanza in force on the date works start or the sale takes place.
Is part of the ICIO refunded if the build cost less than the budget?
Once the works are finished, the ayuntamiento checks the actual cost and issues a final settlement: it demands the difference or refunds it (art. 103 TRLRHL). That is why the build's certificates and invoices are kept until that check.
