REBU: the special scheme for second-hand goods and how it works for VAT

Updated on 27 September 2026. The REBU rules (articles 135 to 139 of the Spanish VAT Act) have not changed in 2025 or 2026. We have checked every point against the law in force, corrected the formulas and the VAT rate used in the examples (books and comics are taxed at 4 %), and added who you must have bought the goods from, transfer tax (Impuesto sobre Transmisiones Patrimoniales, ITP) on purchases from private individuals and the most common mistakes.

The special scheme for second-hand goods, works of art, antiques and collectors' items (Régimen Especial de los Bienes Usados, REBU) is a special VAT (IVA) scheme for those who buy and resell second-hand products professionally: furniture, vehicles, electronics, books, records, works of art, antiques or collectors' pieces. The idea is simple: the reseller is not taxed on the full sale price, only on its margin.

Its requirements are strict: if you apply it to goods that do not meet them, the tax authorities can claim VAT on the full price, with interest and, where applicable, a penalty.

What is the REBU and why does it exist?

The private individual who sells you a used item paid VAT on it in the past and could not deduct it. If you charged VAT on the full price when reselling it, that value would be taxed twice. Under the REBU, only the value you add is taxed.

• The scheme is voluntary, but it applies by default to sales that meet the requirements. You can opt out transaction by transaction and without notifying the tax authorities (art. 120.Cuatro of the VAT Act).
• It can only be used by those who have filed the census declaration of commencement of activity (declaración censal de inicio de actividad, the tax registration return; art. 120.Tres), now with form 036 (modelo 036); form 037 was abolished on 3 February 2025.
• VAT is not shown separately on the invoice: it is deemed included in the price.

Who can apply it and to which goods

The reseller

A reseller is a business that habitually sells goods it has bought or imported for resale (art. 136.Uno.5.º), including anyone who runs public auctions in their own name under a sale-on-commission contract. It makes no difference whether you sell in a shop or on an online platform. A private individual selling their own belongings does not charge VAT.

The goods

• Second-hand goods: durable movable goods that have already been used by a third party and can be used again for their purpose. Not included: recovered materials, containers and packaging, gold, platinum and precious stones, or goods you have used in your own business or have renovated or transformed. Renovation means any work aimed at preserving the item's original features whose cost exceeds its purchase price.
• Works of art: those listed by law, such as paintings and drawings made entirely by hand by the artist, original prints limited to 200 copies, original sculptures, one-off ceramics or signed and numbered photographs limited to 30 copies.
• Antiques: objects more than 100 years old that are not works of art or collectors' items.
• Collectors' items: stamps and philatelic items, and collections of scientific, historical, archaeological, ethnographic or numismatic interest.
• It never applies to investment gold.

Who you must have bought the goods from

This is one of the requirements most often got wrong in practice. You must have bought the goods from (art. 135.Uno):

1. A private individual (someone not acting as a business or professional).
2. A business under the VAT franchise scheme in another Member State, if the item was a capital good for that business.
3. A business that sold it to you exempt under article 20.Uno, points 24.º or 25.º. For example, because it had used the item only in an exempt activity with no right to deduct, or because the VAT on its purchase was wholly excluded from deduction under articles 95 or 96 of the VAT Act (such as goods intended as gifts or hospitality for customers or staff).
4. Another reseller that applied the REBU to that sale.

It also applies to works of art, antiques and collectors' items that you import yourself and to works of art bought from the artist or from a non-reseller business that charged you the reduced 10 % rate.

If you bought the item from a company that charged you VAT under the general scheme (for example, a company car on which 50 % of the VAT was deducted), you cannot apply the REBU: that resale falls under the general scheme.

How VAT is calculated: margin transaction by transaction

This is the default REBU method:

• Margin = sale price (VAT included) − purchase price (VAT included, if any)
• Taxable amount = margin × 100 ÷ (100 + VAT rate)
• VAT due = margin − taxable amount

The VAT rate is the one for the goods you sell: 21 % as a general rule and 4 % for books, newspapers and magazines (comics included). Some goods have their own reduced rate, such as certain devices designed for people with disabilities (10 %) or wheelchairs for their exclusive use (4 %). For art, antiques and collectors' items, the 10 % rate is limited to their import, to sales of works of art by the artist (or the artist's heirs) or by a non-reseller business entitled to deduct all its VAT, and to intra-EU acquisitions of works of art from those same suppliers (art. 91.Uno.4 and 5). So a reseller selling a work of art under the REBU applies 21 % to its margin.

Example: you buy a chest of drawers from a private individual for €150 and sell it for €300.

• Margin: €300 − €150 = €150
• Taxable amount: 150 × 100 ÷ 121 = €123.97
• VAT: €150 − €123.97 = €26.03

Under the general scheme, the VAT contained in the full price would be 300 × 21 ÷ 121 = €52.07.

Key rules:

• You cannot deduct the VAT you paid when buying or importing the goods you resell under the REBU (art. 139). There is none when you buy from a private individual, but there may be on an import or on a work bought from the artist at 10 %.
• You can deduct the VAT on your general expenses: rent, utilities, telephone, accountancy fees or repairs.
• If you sell at a loss, the taxable amount for that transaction is zero, and the loss is not offset against other sales.
• For goods you import, the purchase price is the taxable amount of the import plus the VAT paid on it.

The global profit margin

Instead of going item by item, you can calculate a single margin for each tax period (month or quarter). This depends on the type of goods, not on the size of the business. It is only allowed for (art. 137.Dos):

• Stamps, stamped items, banknotes and coins of philatelic or numismatic interest.
• Records, tapes and other sound or image media.
• Books, magazines and other publications.

For other goods you need authorisation from the Agencia Tributaria (AEAT, the Spanish Tax Agency), which is granted when a high number of transactions and low prices make the transaction-by-transaction method especially difficult. If the AEAT does not reply within three months, the request is deemed refused (art. 50 of the VAT Regulation).

How it works:

• You opt in through the census declaration of commencement of activity or in December of the previous year. The option renews automatically and lasts at least until the end of the following calendar year.
• While it applies, all sales of those goods go through the global margin: you cannot move any of them to the general scheme.
• Global margin = sales for the period (VAT included) − purchases for the period (VAT included). The taxable amount is worked out with the same formula.
• If the margin is negative, the taxable amount is zero and that amount is added to the purchases of the next period.
• On 31 December you adjust for stock: if closing stock exceeds opening stock, the difference is added to the sales of the last period; if it is lower, it is added to that period's purchases.
• When you start or stop using this method, you must file a stock inventory with the AEAT within 15 days.

Example: in one quarter, a second-hand bookshop buys books and comics from private individuals for €500 and sells them for €900.

• Global margin: €900 − €500 = €400
• Taxable amount: 400 × 100 ÷ 104 = €384.62
• VAT (4 %): €400 − €384.62 = €15.38

When to use the general scheme

You can sell a specific item under the general scheme: you charge VAT on the full price, show it on the invoice and deduct the VAT you paid when buying it. For works of art, antiques and collectors' items, that deduction only arises when you sell them (art. 98.Cuatro).

This is usually worthwhile when the buyer is a business that wants to deduct the VAT, because VAT on a REBU invoice is not deductible for the buyer (art. 138). You cannot do this for goods under the global margin. And if your supplier charged you VAT under the general scheme, the REBU was never an option.

Invoices and documents

1. Mandatory wording, also on simplified invoices: 'régimen especial de los bienes usados', 'régimen especial de los objetos de arte' or 'régimen especial de las antigüedades y objetos de colección' (arts. 6.1.o and 7.1.i of the Invoicing Regulation).
2. No separate VAT amount (art. 16.2.c of the Invoicing Regulation).
3. Purchase document (documento de compra) for every purchase from a private individual: you issue it, the seller signs it and it contains the details of a full invoice, such as the number, date, identification, tax number (NIF) and address of both parties, a description of the goods and the price (art. 16.2.a).
4. Sales to businesses in other EU countries: they are not exempt; they are taxed in Spain on the margin (art. 25.Uno). The AEAT states in its manual that the invoice should record that the sale has been taxed under the special scheme in articles 312 to 315 of Directive 2006/112/EC.
5. Verifactu: if you invoice using software and are not under the SII (Suministro Inmediato de Información, the immediate supply of VAT records), that software must be adapted before 1 January 2027 if you pay Corporate Income Tax and before 1 July 2027 in all other cases, such as the self-employed (more on Verifactu).

Breaches of invoicing obligations are penalised with fines proportional to the amount of the transactions concerned (art. 201 of the General Taxation Act).

Record books and other obligations

In addition to the general VAT records, article 51 of the VAT Regulation requires:

• A specific record book for the transaction-by-transaction margin: description of the goods, purchase document and price, sales invoice and price, VAT or exemption applied and, where relevant, whether you used the general scheme.
• A separate book for the global margin, with the same details per period and the value of opening and closing stock for each year.

In your form 303 (modelo 303) you report the margin excluding VAT as the taxable amount, at the rate for each type of goods. Outside tax, trading in second-hand goods, jewellery or works of art is also subject to record-keeping duties (art. 25 of Organic Law 4/2015 on the protection of public safety), the details of which depend on each sector's rules.

Watch out for transfer tax on purchases from private individuals

A purchase from a private individual carries no VAT, but it can be subject to Transfer Tax (ITP), under its onerous-transfers heading (transmisiones patrimoniales onerosas, TPO). The TEAC (Tribunal Económico-Administrativo Central, the Central Economic-Administrative Court) has set this as doctrine in its decision of 22 May 2024 (RG 325/2022), repeated on 28 June 2024 (RG 1911/2022): a business's purchase from a private individual is subject to TPO, and this is compatible with then applying the REBU on resale.

• The buyer pays it, that is, you (art. 8 of the consolidated Transfer Tax Act).
• The Comunidad de Madrid (the Madrid region) has no rate of its own for movable goods, so the state rate of 4 % applies. Madrid's relief for movable goods worth less than €500 does not cover businesses buying for their activity (art. 30 ter of Legislative Decree 1/2010).
• Purchases of used vehicles by a business habitually engaged in buying and selling them, for resale, are provisionally exempt. The exemption becomes final if you prove the sale within one year (art. 45.I.B.17 of the consolidated Act).
• The general deadline for the self-assessment is 30 working days from the purchase.

Common mistakes

• Applying the REBU to goods bought from companies that charged you VAT under the general scheme.
• Applying it to goods you have used in your business (the company van or computer) or renovated for more than they cost you.
• Using 21 % for books and comics, or 10 % for works of art sold by a reseller.
• Showing VAT separately or leaving out the mandatory wording on the invoice.
• Not issuing the signed purchase document: without it, proving the price and origin of the goods will be difficult.
• Forgetting transfer tax on purchases from private individuals.

In short

Properly applied, the REBU lets you pay VAT only on your real margin and choose, sale by sale, between the special and the general scheme. In return, it requires you to check who you buy from, issue purchase documents, keep specific records and take transfer tax into account.

If you run a second-hand business or are unsure whether the global margin suits you, we can review your case and your invoices: you can book a tax consultation or write to us.

Legislation and sources

• Law 37/1992 on VAT (consolidated text): articles 20, 25, 91, 95, 96, 98 and 120 to 139
• Royal Decree 1624/1992, VAT Regulation: articles 50 and 51
• Royal Decree 1619/2012, Invoicing Regulation: articles 6, 7 and 16
• Royal Decree 1007/2023 (Verifactu): article 3 of the Regulation and fourth final provision
• Law 58/2003, General Taxation Act: article 201
• Order HAC/1526/2024: form 037 abolished from 3 February 2025
• Royal Legislative Decree 1/1993, consolidated Transfer Tax and Stamp Duty Act: articles 7, 8, 11 and 45
• Royal Decree 828/1995, Transfer Tax and Stamp Duty Regulation: article 102
• Comunidad de Madrid Legislative Decree 1/2010 (ceded taxes): article 30 ter
• TEAC decision of 22 May 2024 (RG 325/2022): transfer tax on purchases from private individuals and the REBU
• TEAC decision of 28 June 2024 (RG 1911/2022): the same doctrine repeated
• Organic Law 4/2015 on the protection of public safety: article 25
• Agencia Tributaria, VAT Practical Manual 2025: calculating the taxable amount under the REBU
• Agencia Tributaria, VAT Practical Manual 2025: formal obligations under the REBU