The Beckham Law in Spain: requirements, deadlines and what it actually saves you

The Beckham Law in Spain: requirements, deadlines and what it actually saves you

Blog Article

Relocating to Spain brings up an immediate concern: how much tax will you actually pay. For a lot of expats, the answer depends on a single regime — the impatriate regime, commonly called the Beckham Law.

The mechanism is simple: instead of being taxed as a Spanish resident on your worldwide income, you are treated as a non-resident for tax purposes on the income you earn in Spain, at a flat rate of 24 percent on the first 600,000 euros with 47 percent applying beyond that threshold. If your salary is significant, the saving can be considerable.

Not everyone qualifies. In broad terms, you must not have been a Spanish tax resident in the five years before the move, the move has to be tied to a job offer, a posting or a company directorship, and the activity must be performed principally on Spanish territory. Recent reforms opened the door to digital nomads and some self-employed profiles.

Timing is the part people get wrong. You have to apply within six months of starting the activity that triggers residence. Let that window close and you cannot recover it later. Once granted, it applies for the year of arrival and the following five.

It is special tax regime for expats in Spain not automatically the better option. Where a large part of your wealth sits abroad, the effect on wealth tax and on the 720 declaration needs to be modelled first. Running the numbers in advance avoids an expensive mistake.

Report this page