Lorraine Williamson
Families inheriting a home in Málaga may now qualify for bigger municipal tax relief, but the real picture is more complicated than one headline or one bill.
The first thing to understand is that there are two different taxes in play. One is Málaga’s municipal plusvalía tax, charged by the city on the increase in land value. The other is Andalucia’s succession tax framework, which applies separately at the regional level. They are not the same thing, and the reliefs do not work in the same way.
Málaga City Hall has increased the municipal plusvalía discount
Málaga City Hall approved new 2026 tax ordinances that raise the plusvalía municipal discount for certain non-cohabiting heirs from 25% to 37.5%. The city says this applies in inheritances where cohabitation with the deceased cannot be proven, provided the property’s cadastral value does not exceed €150,000. The city also says the long-term aim is to raise the relief gradually towards the legal maximum of 95%.
That is a useful improvement, but it only affects the municipal tax bill. It does not wipe out every inheritance cost, and it does not replace the separate succession-tax rules that apply in Andalucia.
Cohabiting heirs can still get much higher relief
For heirs who lived with the deceased, Málaga’s municipal system remains much more generous. The city says cohabiting family members can receive up to a 95% reduction in plusvalía on inherited homes with a cadastral value below €100,000.
That means the practical difference between cohabiting and non-cohabiting heirs is still large. The 2026 change helps non-cohabiting relatives, but it does not put them on the same footing as heirs who can prove they shared the home with the deceased.
Andalucia’s succession tax is a separate calculation
This is where many people get confused. Even if Málaga reduces the local plusvalía bill, heirs may still need to deal with Impuesto sobre Sucesiones y Donaciones under Andalucian rules.
The Junta de Andalucía says close relatives in Groups I and II can benefit from a €1 million reduction in the taxable base for succession tax. The regional tax authority also lists a specific reduction on the inherited main home, with major relief available depending on the relationship to the deceased, the value of the property, and the requirement to keep the inheritance for a set period.
In other words, the municipal discount in Málaga is only one part of the picture. Depending on the family relationship and the home involved, some heirs may already benefit from substantial Andalucian succession-tax relief before they even look at the local plusvalía bill.
Why rules can vary depending on where the property is
It is also worth remembering that inheritance costs in Spain are not applied in the same way everywhere. Succession and donation tax is a state tax ceded to the autonomous communities, which means regional governments can apply different reductions, allowances and conditions, while local councils separately control taxes such as municipal plusvalía. In practice, that means a family inheriting a home in Málaga may face a very different tax picture from someone inheriting a similar property in Madrid, Catalonia or Valencia, even before local council discounts are taken into account.
Why this matters in practice
For a family inheriting a main home in Málaga, the final bill can depend on several factors at once: whether the heir lived with the deceased, the home’s cadastral value, the heir’s family category under succession-tax rules, and whether the inherited property is treated as the deceased’s habitual residence.
That is why a simple claim like “inheritance tax has gone down” can be misleading. In some cases, the new Málaga measure may reduce only one part of the cost. In others, Andalucian succession-tax reductions may already be doing much of the heavy lifting.
What families in Málaga should check now
Anyone dealing with an inherited property in Málaga should check three things early: whether the home qualifies for the city’s municipal plusvalía discount, whether they can prove cohabitation if relevant, and whether they also qualify for Andalucia’s succession-tax reductions on the inherited main home or as a close relative.
That makes this less of a one-size-fits-all tax cut and more of a layered tax system that can work well for some heirs but still catch others out if they assume one relief applies automatically to everything.
The bigger picture for Málaga homeowners
Málaga City Hall presented the 2026 change as part of a wider fiscal package, saying the higher municipal discount for non-cohabiting heirs would benefit thousands of local families. But the official city documents also make clear that the measure is part of a gradual policy path rather than a final destination.
For homeowners and heirs, the message is simple: yes, the municipal tax relief is better than before, but it is still only one layer of what happens when a home is inherited in Málaga. The real question is not just whether the city tax has been reduced, but how the local and regional systems interact in each case.