The Two Towns in Alicante That Have Become Tax Havens for Car Registration

Car registration also has its tax havens, and in the province of Alicante, two such havens can be found. In these towns, the tax known as 'el numerito' is seven times lower than what is paid in the city of Alicante. It is no surprise that these municipalities have seen a surge in registered vehicles.

In these areas, car rental and leasing companies concentrate their fleet registrations to pay less tax. This is explained by the drivers' association, European Motorists Association (AEA), which has analysed these automotive tax havens, including two towns in Alicante.

These towns are Finestrat and Benidoleig, and together with eight other municipalities in Spain with populations between 600 and 15,000, they account for 39% of company car registrations due to their favourable tax conditions. This means around 220,000 cars are registered in these towns, many of which never actually drive there.

The report reveals that in 2024, Benidoleig, a town with 1,219 residents, registered 2,121 cars, compared to over 4,000 the previous year, nearly two cars per resident. The most striking case is Finestrat, where registrations increased by nearly 7,000, reaching 15,054 cars, 1.6 per citizen.

Both towns act as true tax havens compared to Alicante. In the capital, the tax on fiscal horsepower ranges from 22 to 204 euros, depending on the vehicle's power, while in these towns, the so-called numerito does not exceed 28 euros for its highest value, with the usual payment being between three and 18 euros per car.

Thus, while an Alicante resident would pay 128 euros for a car with 13 fiscal horsepower, in Finestrat and Benidoleig, the tax is seven times lower, at 17.99 euros. The same applies to motorcycles. Mopeds and 125cc motorcycles would not pay more than one euro for this Mechanical Traction Vehicle Tax (IVTM).

The association criticises these 25 tax havens in Spain, where differences can even exceed 900%. For example, if you compare the registration of a car in Barcelona with these two Alicante towns, the Catalan city would pay eight times more, as would Palma de Mallorca.

The AEA points to the freedom of municipalities to set the tax, "which has allowed the purpose of the local tax system to be distorted and has led to the creation of true 'tax havens' in Spain concerning a tax that more than 38 million taxpayers are obliged to pay."

The association explains that this situation has led "many rental and leasing companies to concentrate their fleet registrations in small towns where they have opened branches due to favourable tax treatment," and highlights that each year "they hit the jackpot with the numerito for the revenue they receive from the tax on vehicles that neither circulate nor will ever circulate in that population."

AEA recalls that the origin of this "tax haven" phenomenon began with the removal of the provincial indicator from Spanish license plates in September 2000, which allowed owners of large fleets of rental and leasing vehicles to concentrate their registrations in municipalities with low taxes.