THE WAYPOINT SUR
Nothing beats doing your taxes while everyone else is having fun
Before Spain goes quiet
Today is the last working day before Semana Santa. By this afternoon, most gestors and tax advisers on the Costa del Sol will have closed until April 7 or later. The AEAT delegation in Málaga will not reopen until after Easter.
The Modelo 720 deadline is Tuesday, March 31.
Those two facts sit uncomfortably close together. The foreign asset declaration (any combination of bank accounts, investments, or property held outside Spain with a combined value of over €50,000) must be filed by March 31 or face late surcharges of 5-20% plus interest. Filing is available only online, through the AEAT Sede Electrónica — Spain's official tax portal — using a valid Certificado Digital — digital identity certificate — or Cl@ve PIN — Spain's digital ID access system. Walk-in help is not available after today.
If the 720 is still on your list, this is your window. It closes with the working week. Our Modelo 720 guide walks through the full process, including the UK pension trap and what the ECJ ruling changed.
What the filing actually requires
The Modelo 720 requires three things:
A working Certificado Digital or active Cl@ve PIN. If either has expired, you cannot file online. Renewing a Certificado Digital requires an in-person appointment at AEAT. That appointment is not happening this week.
A complete list of foreign financial assets: bank accounts, investment portfolios, life insurance policies with surrender value, and real estate held outside Spain — anything where the total value in each category exceeds €50,000. Values are as of December 31, 2025.
Time. The filing itself is not complicated if everything is in order, but assembling the account statements and property valuations takes longer than people expect.
If your gestor is handling it, confirm today that it is actually in progress. Most gestors stopped accepting new 720 work in mid-March. If you have not heard back with confirmation, call this morning.
The grace period is not a second deadline
AEAT provides a four-day technical grace period after March 31 (Confirmed March 2026). This applies to system outages, not to late filers who ran out of time. The surcharge clock starts on April 1 for voluntary late submissions. With the grace period, the absolute filing cutoff falls around April 4, during Holy Week, when no professional support is available. This is not a buffer worth relying on.
Semana Santa on the Costa this year
The week runs March 29 (Palm Sunday) through April 5 (Easter Sunday). The processions in Marbella's casco antiguo — old town — run nightly from Sunday, with the most significant on Jueves Santo — Holy Thursday — and Viernes Santo — Good Friday. If you have not been to one, go. The scale of these processions in Málaga and the smaller coastal towns is one of the things about Spain that does not translate until you are standing in it. Our Semana Santa guide has procession routes, closure schedules, and pharmacy rotations for the full week.
This year's Semana Santa is quieter than usual. The AVE disruption from the Alora landslide has not been resolved. Independent verification in early March confirmed the Easter restoration deadline was mathematically impossible given the earthworks involved (Confirmed March 2026). Hotel occupancy is down 15-20% from a typical year, and domestic tourism from Madrid and central Spain is sharply reduced.
For residents, that is the better version of this week. The processions are more accessible. The restaurants along the Marbella paseo are busy without being unmanageable. The beaches are still off-season.
What is closed from Thursday onward: banks, AEAT offices, gestor and notary offices, most municipal services, and the majority of Spanish-owned businesses. Many do not reopen until April 7.
What stays open: supermarkets in reduced hours, pharmacies on rotation, international restaurants, and the coast itself.
Spanish-lite
Two phrases for the week:
Jueves Santo — Holy Thursday (the Thursday of Semana Santa, when the main processions run and most of Spain treats it as a public holiday)
Viernes Santo — Good Friday (national public holiday, almost everything closed)
The bottom line
The Modelo 720 deadline is Tuesday. Your gestor's office is closing today. Filing online requires a valid Certificado Digital — if yours has expired, there is nothing to be done after this morning.
If you need to file, do it today. If your gestor is handling it, confirm it today. If you are certain it is sorted, the rest of the week is yours.
After the admin: Semana Santa. This year's version is smaller and, as a result, probably better for anyone actually living here. The processions will be running regardless of what the rail network is doing.
Enjoy the weekend — A. and the WaypointSur team with 5 out of 6 procession-ready, 720 filed, obviously. Only one of us is panicking.
