Spanish taxes for residents · Income, wealth and Beckham Law
Once you become tax-resident here, Spain taxes what you earn and, above certain thresholds, what you own, wherever it is. With the right planning, and the Beckham Law where you qualify, the bill is often far lower than people fear.
Who this applies to
Under Spanish law you are tax-resident for a calendar year if any one of these applies, whatever your visa says and wherever you are registered.
Days are counted across the calendar year, and occasional trips abroad still count as time in Spain unless you can prove tax residence in another country. Holders of a digital nomad or non-lucrative visa usually cross this line in their first full year.
If the main core of your business or economic interests is in Spain, you can be resident with fewer days. And if your spouse (not legally separated) and your minor children live here, the Tax Agency presumes you are resident too, unless you prove otherwise.
Your visa does not decide your tax status. A non-lucrative visa stops you from working in Spain, not from paying Spanish tax: once resident, your pensions, dividends and interest from abroad are declared here. Where another country also taxes you, a double tax treaty usually decides who taxes what and prevents you paying twice.
What you file
IRPF (Impuesto sobre la Renta de las Personas Físicas, Spanish personal income tax) covers your worldwide income: salary, self-employment, pensions, rents, dividends and gains. The annual return is filed between April and June for the previous year, at progressive rates that combine a state scale and a Catalan scale.
In Catalonia, Wealth Tax applies once your net worldwide assets exceed €500,000, with up to €300,000 of your main home exempt. It is filed in the same window as income tax. Above €3 million, the state Solidarity Tax on Large Fortunes can add a further layer.
If you hold more than €50,000 abroad in any of three blocks (bank accounts, securities and insurance, or real estate), you file Modelo 720 by 31 March. Crypto held with foreign providers above €50,000 goes on Modelo 721. These are information returns, not taxes, but they are what the Tax Agency checks first.
If you move to Spain for work, remote work included, and have not been tax-resident here in the previous five years, you can opt for this special regime: a flat 24% on employment income up to €600,000, for the year you arrive and the five that follow, with most foreign income left outside Spanish tax. The option (Modelo 149) must be filed within six months of starting work in Spain, and that deadline cannot be recovered.
What we do
We look at your days, family, income and assets, and tell you when you will become resident, what changes and what to do before that date, not after it.
We assess whether you qualify, file Modelo 149 within the deadline and keep the regime in place every year with Modelo 151, the special return it requires.
Your IRPF return each spring, with foreign pensions, investments and rental income correctly declared, and double taxation relief applied wherever a treaty allows it.
Wealth Tax, the Solidarity Tax where it applies, and Modelo 720 and 721, prepared together so the figures match across every return.
If you have been resident without filing, or missed a Modelo 720, we work out what is outstanding and regularise it voluntarily, which costs far less than waiting for the Tax Agency to write.
If you live abroad and own property in Spain, your obligations are different. See Spanish taxes for non-residents →
Where we work
01 · In person
From our office in Figueres we meet clients across both comarques of the Empordà and travel anywhere in Catalonia whenever a case requires it.
Alt Empordà · northern Costa Brava
Baix Empordà · central and southern Costa Brava
02 · Remotely
Tax work rarely needs a meeting. We advise clients relocating from abroad, and those already living here, by video call and e-signature: from London and Paris to Dubai, Tokyo and Shanghai.
Questions
Yes, once you are tax-resident. The visa stops you from working in Spain, but your pensions, investment income and other worldwide income are declared here, and Wealth Tax applies above the Catalan threshold.
In many cases, yes. Since 2023 the regime also covers remote workers who move to Spain, provided you meet its conditions, including not having been tax-resident in Spain in the previous five years. The six-month deadline to opt in is strict, so it is worth checking before you arrive.
Usually not. Spain has double tax treaties with most countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and China. They decide where each type of income is taxed and how the other country gives relief. The detail matters, so we check your treaty case by case.
In the year after your first calendar year as a resident. If you become resident in 2026, Modelo 720 (if it applies) is due by 31 March 2027 and your first income tax return between April and June 2027.
Only if your net worldwide assets exceed €500,000 as a resident of Catalonia, after excluding up to €300,000 of your main home. Many new residents stay below it, but savings, investment portfolios and property abroad add up quickly.
A fixed fee for each return or application, quoted before we start. Tell us your situation and we will give you the figure first.
Next step
Tell us when you are moving, or how long you have lived here, and roughly what you earn and own. We will tell you what applies, what to file and what it costs.
Own property here but live abroad? Spanish taxes for non-residents →
Everything we do for foreigners on this coast: English-speaking lawyers on the Costa Brava →
MigratioLex · Carrer Joan Reglà, 5, 3-B · 17600 Figueres (Girona) · contacto@migratiolex.com · +34 602 54 15 16
This page is general information and does not constitute legal or tax advice. Rules and deadlines change, and what applies depends on your circumstances.
Expert firm in Immigration and Spanish Nationality, offering fast and effective solutions for residency, visas, and citizenship.
This action is promoted and subsidized by the Department of Business and Labor and co-financed by the European Union through the European Social Fund Plus.
© All Rights Reserved.
