Ask which EU countries have a wealth tax and the official answer is short. The European Parliament's research service put it in one line in December 2025: "Today, Spain is the only EU Member State with a net wealth tax."
That sentence is accurate, and it is also misleading if you stop there. A net wealth tax, in the strict sense, is an annual tax on everything a person owns minus their debts. Only Spain levies one. But several other EU countries tax wealth in narrower ways: on property above a threshold, on a deemed return from savings and investments, on assets held abroad, or on large securities accounts. If you are choosing where to live with capital, those taxes cost money every year just as a wealth tax does.
Spain: The Only Full Net Wealth Tax, Twice Over
Spain has two annual taxes on net wealth, and they work together.
The Impuesto sobre el Patrimonio
The ordinary wealth tax is set by Ley 19/1991, but most of the key numbers are delegated to Spain's autonomous communities. The state law sets defaults that apply where a region has not legislated its own:
- Exempt minimum: €700,000 per person (Article 28), which also applies to non-residents
- Main home: exempt up to €300,000
- Rates: a progressive scale from 0.2% to 3.5%, with the top rate applying above about €10.7 million (Article 30)
Regions can set their own exempt minimum, their own scale and their own reliefs, which is why the tax bill for the same fortune can differ sharply from one region to the next. Residents are taxed on worldwide assets. Non-residents are taxed on assets situated in Spain.
The Solidarity Tax on Large Fortunes
In 2022 Spain added a second, national tax on top: the Impuesto Temporal de Solidaridad de las Grandes Fortunas, created by Article 3 of Ley 38/2022. Despite the word "temporary" in its name, the consolidated text now states that its application is extended "en tanto no se produzca la revisión de la tributación patrimonial", that is, until wealth taxation is reviewed as part of a reform of regional financing. The Agencia Tributaria updated the form for the 2025 tax year, with filing from 1 July 2026.
Its key features:
- It applies to people with net wealth above €3 million. After the same €700,000 exempt minimum, the first €3 million of the taxable base is taxed at 0%, so in practice tax starts at about €3.7 million of net wealth.
- On the taxable base, the rates are 1.7% from €3 million to about €5.35 million, 2.1% up to about €10.7 million, and 3.5% above that.
- Regional wealth tax actually paid is deducted, so the solidarity tax mainly bites in regions that have cut or removed their own wealth tax.
- Together with income tax and the regional wealth tax, the charge is capped at 60% of the income tax base, but the cap cannot reduce this tax by more than 80%.
The effect is that no region of Spain can offer a genuinely wealth-tax-free home to someone with a fortune well above €3 million. The European Parliament's research service reports that the two taxes together raised €2.2 billion in 2023. For people thinking of leaving Spain, the separate question of the exit tax is covered in Spain's four-year rule, and the wider tax picture on the Spain country page.
France: A Wealth Tax on Property Only
France's annual wealth tax today is the impôt sur la fortune immobilière (IFI), and it taxes real estate only. According to Service-Public.fr, last verified on 6 March 2026:
- The IFI applies if your net real estate wealth exceeds €1,300,000 on 1 January 2026.
- Once you are above that threshold, the scale starts at €800,000: 0.5% up to €1.3 million, then 0.7%, 1%, 1.25%, and 1.5% above €10 million.
- A reduction softens the charge for estates between €1.3 million and €1.4 million.
- The IFI can be capped where total taxes exceed 75% of income.
The scope rules matter for anyone moving. French residents are taxed on real estate in France and abroad. Non-residents are taxed on French real estate, including property held through companies. The main residence gets a 30% reduction in value. And someone who moves to France after five calendar years abroad is taxed only on French property for their first five years of residence.
Financial assets, shares, bonds and bank deposits sit outside the IFI entirely. For a household whose wealth is mainly in a portfolio, France has no wealth tax in practice. For one whose wealth is mainly in buildings, it does.
The Netherlands: Tax on a Return You May Not Have Made
The Dutch do not call it a wealth tax, and legally it is an income tax. In practice, box 3 behaves like one. The Belastingdienst's 2026 figures:
- Deemed return on bank balances: 1.28%
- Deemed return on investments and other assets: 6.00%
- Deemed return on debts: 2.70% (deducted)
- Tax-free allowance: €59,357 per person
- Tax rate on the resulting box 3 income: 36%
On investments that works out, before the allowance, to a charge equivalent to about 2.16% of their value every year (6% times 36%), whether the portfolio went up or down. The Belastingdienst notes that if your actual return turns out lower than the deemed return, your box 3 income is adjusted in the final assessment. That relief exists, but it requires you to prove your actual return.
A reform is on the way but not in force. The bill to tax actual returns, the Wet werkelijk rendement box 3, passed the lower house on 12 February 2026. On 30 June 2026 the Senate postponed its vote until the government presents announced amendments. For 2026, the deemed-return system applies.
Italy: Wealth Taxes on What You Hold Abroad
Italy has no general wealth tax, but it taxes its residents every year on the value of their foreign assets.
- IVIE, on real estate held abroad: from 2024 the ordinary rate is 1.06% of the property's value, up from 0.76% until 2023.
- IVAFE, on financial products held abroad: 0.2% a year, rising to 0.4% from 2024 for products held in states with a privileged tax regime. Foreign current accounts and savings books pay a fixed €34.20 each instead.
The effect for a newcomer is simple: an Italian resident with a portfolio in a foreign bank pays roughly 0.2% of it every year on top of any tax on income and gains.
Belgium: A Tax on Large Securities Accounts
Belgium has no general wealth tax either, but it levies an annual tax on securities accounts. According to the SPF Finances return form for the taxe annuelle sur les comptes-titres, the tax is due on accounts where the average value of taxable financial instruments over the reference period exceeds €1,000,000, at a rate of 0.15%, and it is limited to 10% of the amount by which the account exceeds €1 million.
Since 1 January 2026 Belgium also levies a 10% tax on capital gains on financial assets, with an annual exemption, which changed its position on another list: see the countries with no capital gains tax in 2026.
Portugal: A Surcharge on Expensive Homes
Portugal's Adicional ao IMI (AIMI) is an annual tax on the combined taxable value of residential property and building land in Portugal. Under Articles 135-C and 135-F of the IMI Code:
- An individual deducts €600,000 from the total value
- The remainder is taxed at 0.7% up to €1 million, 1% between €1 million and €2 million, and 1.5% above €2 million (the thresholds double for couples who opt for joint taxation)
It does not touch financial assets. It is a wealth tax on houses, and it uses the tax authority's registered value of the property, not the market price.
The Rest of the EU
Outside Spain, no EU member state levies a full annual net wealth tax, according to the European Parliament's research service. For any other country on your list, check for the narrower taxes described above: property surcharges, deemed returns, taxes on foreign assets and taxes on large accounts. In Germany the question of a wealth tax keeps returning to the political agenda, as covered in Germany is arguing about a wealth tax again.
Malta is a useful example of a country whose whole tax model is built around not taxing wealth, and the reasons it has stayed that way are set out in Why Malta has no wealth tax.
Outside the EU, Switzerland levies an annual cantonal wealth tax on residents, with rates that vary widely between cantons; the canton-by-canton picture is on SwissPlan.
Will the List Change?
It could, in either direction. On 15 April 2026 the European Commission published a study on wealth taxation, including net wealth, capital and exit taxes, with detailed case studies of Austria, France, Germany and Spain. Among its findings: the wealth taxes examined "have not been a major source of revenue", there is limited evidence on the international mobility of ultra-high-net-worth individuals, and effective exchange of information on beneficial owners is crucial.
The European Parliament's tax subcommittee scheduled a public hearing on taxing ultra-high-net-worth individuals for 11 December 2025, and its research service notes that the debate has gained momentum amid spending pressures. None of this is law. But it shows where the pressure points are: better information exchange first, and more debate about wealth taxes after that. The transparency side is already here, as described in CARF, CRS and the transparency endgame.
How to Read "No Wealth Tax"
When a country is described as having no wealth tax, check five things:
- Is there a property-based annual tax above a threshold? France and Portugal both have one.
- Is there a deemed-return tax on savings and investments? The Netherlands does.
- Are foreign assets of residents taxed each year? Italy does.
- Are large securities accounts taxed? Belgium does.
- Does the tax apply to non-residents on local assets? Spain, France and Portugal all tax non-residents on local property in some form.
And one more, which sits outside this list but matters just as much: what will it cost to leave your current country? A move to a country with no wealth tax can still trigger an exit tax at home. The destination is only half of the calculation.
Work with Sebastian
If you hold significant assets and are weighing a move within Europe, and you want to know what each country would actually charge on your mix of property, portfolio and cash, book a consultation.
