Spanish Supreme Court restricts Tax Agency property valuations

The Spanish Supreme Court has ruled that the Spanish Tax Agency (Agencia Tributaria) cannot perform property valuations using only cadastral data, aerial photography, or Google Maps images. The court determined that such “express valuations” are incomplete because they lack a comprehensive expert assessment.

In its ruling, which overturns a previous decision by the High Court of Justice of Extremadura, the Supreme Court established that, as a general rule, an expert must conduct a personal, direct, and physical inspection of a property. This inspection must include both the exterior and the interior to accurately determine real value by verifying factors such as surface area, distribution, state of conservation, quality of materials, and specific construction characteristics.

While the court acknowledged that physical inspections might be waived in very specific circumstances, the Tax Agency would be required to expressly justify in the expert report why a personal visit was unnecessary.