Most people who look for a business for sale in Spain want roughly the same thing: a bar, café or small shop somewhere warm, and enough income to live there. Plenty of them make it work. Others pay €80,000 for a lease with two years left, a licence that does not cover what the business actually does, and a turnover figure nobody can prove.
This guide is for the second group before they become it. It explains how a sale works in Spain, what you pay on top of the price, and the checks that matter before you sign. It is written for foreign buyers, mostly British, who have not bought a Spanish business before.
What is for sale, and where
businessesforsale.com, one of the biggest English-language portals, had 880 Spanish businesses listed at the end of September 2026. Hospitality dominates: restaurants, cafés, bars and small hotels make up most of the adverts, and almost all of them sit on the Costa del Sol, the Costa Blanca and the islands.
Source: businessesforsale.com listings, September 2026. A listing can appear in more than one category.
If a bar is what you have in mind, we have a separate guide with prices, regions and the bar-specific checks: bars for sale in Spain. This page covers what applies to any business.
Buy a business in Spain: traspaso or buying the company
There are two ways to buy, and the choice changes the tax, the paperwork and which debts become yours.
| Traspaso (you buy the business) | Buying the company (you buy the shares) | |
|---|---|---|
| What you get | The right to take over the lease, fittings, equipment, stock, name and customers | The whole company, with its contracts, licences, bank accounts and history |
| Old debts | Stay with the seller, except tax and Social Security debts linked to the business (see below) | All of them become your problem, including the ones nobody mentioned |
| Tax on the price | Depends on the case: nothing, 21% VAT or transfer tax (table further down) | No VAT and no transfer tax, unless at least half the company's assets are Spanish property not used in the business and you take control of it |
| Paperwork | Private contract, lease assignment, licence transferred to your name at the town hall | Notary deed, compulsory for a transfer of shares in a limited company (SL) |
| Usual for | Small bars, cafés and shops run by a self-employed owner | Larger restaurants and hotels, and businesses that own their premises |
What a traspaso includes, and what it does not
In a traspaso you pay the outgoing owner, not the landlord. The money buys the lease rights, what is inside the premises and the trade the place already has. It does not buy the building. Four things buyers assume are included and often are not:
- The licence. It does not move to you by itself. The change of name has to be filed at the town hall, and the town hall can inspect before accepting it.
- The terrace. Terrace permits are granted by the town hall, usually per season or per year, and many are personal. Tables outside can disappear with the old owner.
- Equipment on loan. Beer taps, fridges and coffee machines often belong to a brewery or coffee supplier, tied to an exclusive supply contract. Ask for the list of what is owned and what is lent.
- A long lease. You take over the contract as it is, with its end date. More on that below.
The lease decides the price
With a traspaso, the lease is the asset. Paying €80,000 for a business whose lease ends in two years means paying for two years of trading, then negotiating with the landlord from a weak position.
For premises used for business, Spanish law lets the tenant assign the lease without the landlord's consent, as long as the landlord is notified in a reliable way (a burofax, for example) within one month. The landlord can then raise the rent by 20% (article 32 of the Urban Leases Act). The catch: for business premises, what the contract says comes first, and many contracts ban assignment or require the landlord's written consent. Read the lease before you agree a price. Very old leases signed before May 1985 follow older rules, where the landlord can take a share of the traspaso price.
- Check how many years are left and whether you get extensions.
- Budget for the 20% rent rise, and for the deposit: two months' rent is the legal minimum for business premises (article 36), and landlords often ask for an extra guarantee on top.
- Meet the landlord before you pay. Signing a new lease in your own name is often better than inheriting the old one.
Source: Law 29/1994 on Urban Leases, articles 4.3, 32 and 36. BOE, September 2026.
Tax and Social Security debts: get the certificates
Buying the business instead of the company does not fully protect you. Spanish law makes whoever takes over a business jointly liable for two kinds of the previous owner's debts.
Tax. The buyer answers for the tax debts of the activity (article 42.1.c of the General Tax Act). There is a way out. With the seller's written consent, you can ask the Tax Agency for a detailed certificate of debts. Your liability is then limited to what the certificate shows. If it shows nothing, or the Agency does not issue it within three months, you are free of that liability (article 175.2).
Social Security. The buyer is jointly liable for contributions and benefits owed before the handover (articles 142 and 168.2 of the General Social Security Act). Ask for a certificate from the Social Security Treasury (TGSS) showing the seller is up to date. Unlike the tax certificate, it does not legally cap your liability, which is why holding back part of the price matters.
Keep part of the price back, in a lawyer's client account or with the notary, until both certificates are in your hands. Suppliers and the brewery are a separate matter: ask for written confirmation that nothing is owed.
Source: Law 58/2003, General Tax Act, arts. 42 and 175; Royal Legislative Decree 8/2015, General Social Security Act, arts. 142 and 168. BOE, September 2026.
Staff come with the business
If the business keeps running under you, the employees transfer with it: same seniority, same pay, same conditions (article 44 of the Workers' Statute). For three years you and the seller are jointly liable for wages owed from before the sale. Unpaid Social Security contributions follow the Social Security rules above, with no three-year limit. Ask for the list of staff with contract type, start date, salary and the collective agreement that applies (in hospitality it is usually a provincial one). A waiter with fifteen years at the bar is owed severance calculated on all fifteen years if you let them go later.
Source: Royal Legislative Decree 2/2015, Workers' Statute, art. 44. BOE, September 2026.
Taxes and costs on top of the price
This is where adverts go quiet. Tax on a traspaso depends on who sells and on what exactly is sold.
| Case | Tax the buyer pays on the price |
|---|---|
| A trading owner sells the whole working business (premises lease, equipment, stock, staff or trade) | None: no VAT and no transfer tax. Only any property included pays transfer tax (ITP) |
| The seller passes on only the lease and some furniture, without a working business | 21% VAT on the price (IGIC in the Canary Islands) |
| The seller has closed and sells the assets without a working business | 21% VAT (IGIC in the Canary Islands). Closing and deregistering does not take the sale out of VAT (article 4.Two.b of the VAT Act) |
| The seller never held the assets as a business (rare with a bar) | ITP on movable goods at the regional rate (next table) |
| You buy the shares of the company | None, unless at least half the company's assets are Spanish property not used in the business and you take control of it |
| The premises are included (freehold) | ITP on the property at the regional rate, or VAT if it is a first sale by a developer or the seller waives the VAT exemption |
The line between the first and second case is not always clear. Spanish tax law calls the first one an "autonomous economic unit": a set of assets able to run a business on its own. A bar sold with its equipment, its lease and its trading history usually qualifies, as long as you intend to keep running a business with it. Get the tax treatment written into the contract, because if the tax office later decides VAT was due, it is the buyer's price that gets reopened.
Some online guides, and some AI answers, say a traspaso always pays 4% to 10% transfer tax on the lease plus 21% VAT on the furniture. That mixes up separate cases. The same item pays either VAT or transfer tax, never both, and when a trading owner sells a working business it pays neither (article 7.5 of the Transfer Tax Act and article 7.1 of the VAT Act).
| Region | ITP on property (general rate) | ITP on movable goods (rare case: seller not in business) |
|---|---|---|
| Andalucía (Costa del Sol) | 7% | 4% (state rate) |
| Valencia region (Costa Blanca) | 9% (11% above €1 million) | 6% |
| Canary Islands | 6.5% | 5.5% |
| Balearic Islands | 8% up to €400,000, rising in bands to 13% | 4% (state rate) |
| Murcia | 7.75% | 4% (state rate) |
| Catalonia | 10% up to €600,000, rising in bands to 13% | 5% |
The other costs
- Notary. Required for shares in a limited company (SL), and in practice for property so it can be registered. Fees follow an official scale (Royal Decree 1426/1989) and depend on the value.
- Lawyer or gestor. Free market. Ask for a fixed quote in writing that covers the contract, the lease assignment and the licence change.
- Licence change of name. A municipal fee that varies from one town hall to another.
- Deposit and rent rise. At least two months' rent as deposit, plus the possible 20% increase if the lease is assigned.
- Stock. Usually counted on handover day and paid on top of the price.
- Working capital. Rent, wages and suppliers in the first months, before the business pays you.
How to check the turnover before you buy
Adverts rarely show verified figures. Of 154 Spanish bars listed on one of the biggest English-language portals in September 2026, only 13 stated their turnover and 6 their net profit (Source: businessesforsale.com listings, September 2026). Ask for the documents, and understand what each one proves.
- Card terminal statements from the bank, twelve months, downloaded with the seller or sent by the bank. Hard to fake, and they show the seasons.
- VAT returns: the quarterly form 303 and the annual summary, form 390.
- Income tax (form 100) for a self-employed owner, or corporation tax (form 200) for a company.
- Filed accounts. A limited company deposits its accounts every year at the Mercantile Register, and anyone can request them.
- Supplier invoices. What the business buys tells you what it sells.
One trap catches many buyers. Small bars, cafés and shops can pay tax under the módulos system if the owner is self-employed and under the turnover limits, and bars still can in 2026. Under módulos, income tax and VAT are worked out from things like staff, contracted electrical power, number of tables and length of the bar, not from sales. The returns of a business on módulos say nothing about its takings. A seller who tells you "it takes far more than it declares" is telling you the figures cannot be proven.
Source: Order HAC/1425/2025, which sets the módulos for 2026 (heading 673.2, cafés and bars). BOE, 11 December 2025.
For bars there are more practical checks, from counting kegs to sitting in the place at different hours. They are in our guide to checking a bar's takings.
NIE, residence and registering the business
Anyone can own a Spanish business, whatever their nationality. Running it yourself is where the paperwork starts.
- NIE. The foreigner identity number. You need it for the notary, the tax filings, a bank account and registering as self-employed, so get it before you sign.
- EU citizens can work in Spain and must register as residents if they stay longer than three months.
- Non-EU citizens, including British citizens since Brexit, need a residence permit that allows them to work to live in Spain and run the business themselves. For a bar or a shop that usually means the self-employed route. British citizens who were legally resident before 1 January 2021 and hold the Withdrawal Agreement card can already work.
- Owning from abroad with a manager in charge needs no residence, but you cannot work behind the bar on a visit.
- Registering the activity: as a self-employed worker (autónomo) with the Tax Agency and the Social Security, or through a limited company (SL).
Buying the business does not give you residence. Sort the permit out before you pay, or at least in parallel. For the paperwork, MySpainVisa handles NIE and residence applications for business buyers.
Step by step, from first viewing to handover
Get the NIE and look at residence
Before you make offers. Without an NIE you cannot sign; without a permit you may own the business but not run it.
Shortlist and visit out of season
A coastal bar in August tells you little. Go back in February.
Ask for the documents
Lease, licence, terrace permit, staff list, bank and tax figures, supplier contracts. A seller who will not show them before a deposit is a warning in itself.
Agree price and conditions in writing
Include the tax treatment, the stock valuation and what happens if the landlord or the town hall says no.
Get the debt certificates
Tax Agency and Social Security, with part of the price held back until they arrive.
Sign and hand over
Private contract for a traspaso, notary for shares or property. Notify the landlord within the month and file the licence change.
Common mistakes foreign buyers make
- Paying a traspaso for a lease with little time left.
- Believing cash figures that appear in no bank statement or tax return.
- Assuming the licence covers music, a kitchen or the terrace.
- Paying in full before the debt certificates arrive.
- Buying in high season, on holiday, in a week.
- Leaving residence until after the purchase.
- Forgetting the monthly fixed costs of being self-employed: Social Security contributions, the gestor and insurance.
Questions foreign buyers ask
Can a UK citizen buy a business in Spain?
Yes. Spain does not restrict who can own a business, so a British citizen can buy a bar, a shop or the shares of a Spanish company. You need an NIE (foreigner identity number) to sign. Owning is one thing and working in it is another: since Brexit, British citizens who want to live in Spain and run the business themselves need a residence permit that allows self-employment, unless they were already resident before 1 January 2021.
What is a traspaso in Spain?
A traspaso is the sale of a running business without the building. The buyer pays the outgoing owner for the right to take over the lease, the fittings, the equipment and the customers, and then pays rent to the landlord. In English adverts it usually appears as "leasehold". If the premises are included, the advert says "freehold".
Do you pay tax when you buy a traspaso?
It depends on who sells and what is sold. If a trading owner sells the whole working business, there is no VAT and no transfer tax, except on any property included. If the sale is just the lease and some furniture, VAT at 21% is added to the price (IGIC in the Canary Islands). A seller who has closed the business still charges VAT on the assets unless the whole working business passes to you. Transfer tax (ITP) applies to any property included, at the regional rate.
Is it better to buy the company or just the business?
Buying only the business (a traspaso or asset purchase) leaves most of the old debts with the seller, although tax and Social Security debts linked to the activity can follow it unless you get the certificates. Buying the shares of a company is cleaner on paperwork, because licences and contracts stay in its name, but you take on everything the company owes, known or not. Small bars are almost always sold by traspaso; larger businesses and those with the premises inside the company are often sold as shares.
How do I check the turnover of a business in Spain?
Ask for twelve months of card terminal statements from the bank, the quarterly VAT returns (form 303) and the annual summary (form 390), the income or corporation tax returns and, for a limited company, the accounts filed at the Mercantile Register. If the seller pays tax under the "módulos" system, the returns are based on things like tables and staff, not sales, so they prove nothing about takings.
Can I buy a business in Spain and live there?
EU citizens can, and must register as residents if they stay longer than three months. Non-EU buyers, British citizens included, need a residence permit that allows them to work, and for a bar or shop that usually means the self-employed route. Buying the business does not give you residence by itself.
Do I need a lawyer to buy a business in Spain?
The law does not require one for a traspaso, which is signed as a private contract. A notary is required for shares in a limited company and, in practice, for property so it can be registered. In practice, the lease assignment, the debt certificates and the tax treatment of the price are where buyers lose money, so having someone independent read the papers before you pay is sensible.
Buying the premises as well and need finance? Our guide to a mortgage in Spain for non-residents explains how banks lend to buyers who live abroad.
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