Beckham Law: Spain’s special tax regime for people who move here to work

What changes under the regime

You remain a Spanish personal income tax taxpayer, but your tax is calculated under the Non-Resident Income Tax rules in the year you become resident and the following five years (article 93.1 of the Personal Income Tax Act). Dividends, interest and gains on the transfer of assets (the income listed in article 25.1.f of the Non-Resident Income Tax Act) follow a scale from 19% to 30%; the rest of the taxable base, salary included, is taxed at 24% up to 600,000 euros and 47% above that (article 93.2.e). All employment income and entrepreneurial activity income of those years is treated as obtained in Spain, and income items cannot be offset against each other (article 93.2.b and c).

Withholding on your salary becomes 24%, and 47% on amounts above 600,000 euros paid by the same payer in the year (article 93.2.f). For Wealth Tax, you are only taxed on assets located in Spain (article 93.1, final paragraph).

Who can apply

People who become tax resident in Spain because they move here, have not been resident in Spain in the previous five tax years, and move, in the first year of the regime or the year before, for one of these reasons (article 93.1.a and b):

An employment contract, including an assignment ordered by the employer with an assignment letter and remote work carried out exclusively by electronic means; for employees holding the international telework visa, this condition is treated as met. Professional athletes under the special employment relationship of Royal Decree 1006/1985 are excluded.

Becoming a director of a company; for an asset-holding company, without a shareholding that makes the director a related party. An entrepreneurial activity approved under the procedure of article 70 of Law 14/2013. Or a highly qualified professional providing services to start-ups or working in training, research, development and innovation, when that pay exceeds 40% of their total business, professional and employment income.

You must also not obtain income through a permanent establishment in Spain, except in the entrepreneurial and highly qualified professional cases (article 93.1.c).

The deadline that decides: six months

The election is made with an individual notice, Modelo 149, within six months at most from the start date of the activity shown in the Spanish Social Security registration, or in the document that allows you to keep your home-country Social Security; where registration is not required, in the document proving the start date (article 116.1.a of the Personal Income Tax Regulations).

People who used the special withholding procedure of article 89.B of the Regulations cannot elect the regime (article 116.3). It should be checked before you sign the contract and, in any case, well before the six months run out.

Your family can apply too

The spouse, children under 25 or with a disability of any age and, if there is no marriage, the other parent can also elect the regime, provided they move with the main taxpayer or later, before the end of his or her first year under the regime, become tax resident, meet the conditions of no prior residence and no permanent establishment, and, in each tax year, their combined taxable bases are lower than the main taxpayer’s (article 93.3). Their deadline is six months from their arrival in Spain, or the main taxpayer’s deadline if later (article 116.1.b).

What we do

Before the deadline runs, we check the previous five years, the reason for the move and the date that will count as the start of the activity. With your authorisation we file Modelo 149 with the Spanish Tax Agency, prepare Modelo 151 each year and, if you need it, request the tax residence certificate provided for in article 120 of the Regulations. If the regime does not pay off in your case, we tell you before filing.

Official sources

Spanish Personal Income Tax Act (Ley 35/2006), article 93 (wording in force since 22 December 2024; consolidated text in the Spanish Official Gazette, latest update published on 7 October 2026, consulted on 23 October 2026).

Personal Income Tax Regulations (Real Decreto 439/2007), articles 116, 119 and 120 (wording in force since 7 December 2023; consulted on 23 October 2026).

Spanish Tax Agency website: Modelo 149 (notice of election, waiver, exclusion and end of the assignment) and Modelo 151 (annual return for people under the regime, approved by Order HFP/1338/2023).