Your first Spanish tax return after moving to Spain

1. Establish residence for the tax year

Start with the year in which the income arose. That is not necessarily the year in which you will file the return. A NIE or the use of a Spanish bank account does not determine tax residence. We review days spent in each country, the centre of economic activities or interests and the other article 9 criteria, including the family presumption, which can be rebutted.

Under ordinary Spanish domestic rules, the tax period is the calendar year. Arrival does not automatically split the year into resident and non-resident periods. If you are resident for the year, income before the move may need to be reviewed too. If another country also treats you as resident, the relevant treaty with Spain and the supporting facts must be examined before its rules can be applied.

If you are not a Spanish tax resident, a review under Non-Resident Income Tax may be needed instead of an ordinary resident return. Read about tax residence when moving to Spain.

2. Check whether you must file

Tax residence and the obligation to file a return are different questions. Filing depends on the nature and amount of income and the statutory cases in article 96 for the particular year. For salary, the payers and their withholding obligations are among the relevant circumstances. A foreign pension or salary cannot be assessed solely against the headline threshold in a tax-season article.

Not receiving a draft, or seeing no income in the AEAT tax data, does not establish that you have no filing obligation. Other circumstances can make filing compulsory. For example, the law requires a return from people registered during the year as self-employed under the schemes it specifies. We check your position and the rules for the year rather than importing thresholds from another filing season.

3. Gather income and transaction records from every country

Under ordinary Spanish personal income tax, a resident’s income is examined regardless of where it arises or where the payer is resident. Your first return therefore needs more than a Spanish payslip: the year must be reconstructed using source documents from each country.

• Employment and pensions: gross amounts, the periods they relate to and tax withheld.
• Accounts and investments: interest, dividends, disposals and acquisition records, rather than just closing balances or money sent to Spain.
• Property: ownership, use, rental income, expenses and purchases or sales, including property abroad.
• Business activity: invoices, accounting records and returns connected with self-employment.

Income, assets and transfers between accounts must be distinguished. A bank transfer does not, by itself, identify the taxable income. Transaction dates and currencies must also be documented for the calculation.

4. Check the draft against your records

The draft return is informative and must be checked against your actual tax position. Foreign income may be missing or incomplete in the information available to the AEAT. Its absence does not make it exempt.

We compare the tax data with certificates and transaction records. If the draft does not reflect your circumstances, the correct return must be prepared rather than confirming it unchanged. Personal and family circumstances and the requirements for any relief claimed must also be checked. Where a material source document is missing, we explain which calculation cannot yet be finalised.

5. Resolve double taxation using the treaty and payment records

Paying tax abroad does not automatically remove the need to review the income in Spain. First check the treaty treatment for that category of income and whether the foreign tax complies with it. Salaries, pensions and investment income do not all follow the same rule.

Where the article 80 credit applies, it is limited to the lower of the foreign tax actually paid that is identical or comparable in nature and the Spanish limit calculated on the relevant foreign-taxed taxable base. It is not a full refund of every foreign withholding. Excess tax charged at source may need to be reclaimed in that country.

We need certificates and, where relevant, foreign returns, assessments and evidence of payment. If the foreign assessment is still open, we identify that outstanding point before settling the double-tax treatment.

6. Check special regimes and separate reporting duties

If you have elected the inbound-worker regime, we request the election, accreditation and dates before preparing an ordinary return. The regime has its own rules and, for current elections, uses form 151. Being in your first year or holding a visa does not prove that the regime applies. Read about the Beckham Law conditions and application.

An income-tax return does not replace potential information-reporting duties for foreign assets and rights. That review is scoped separately: having a foreign bank account is not enough, on its own, to conclude that form 720 must be filed. Read about foreign assets and rights.

What to prepare and how we start

• The tax year, identification and the date of your move.
• Travel calendar, housing and family circumstances, and tax-residence certificates.
• Income and transaction certificates from every country, identifying the currency.
• Foreign returns, assessments, withholding records and evidence of tax paid.
• Spanish tax data and earlier returns relevant to the year.
• Inbound-worker regime documentation, if applicable.

We first agree the documents, scope and fees. Filing dates must be checked against the official calendar for the relevant season, distinguishing the income year, the filing window and any earlier direct-debit deadline. If a year is already overdue, we review the appropriate correction or late filing rather than waiting for the next season.

Official sources checked on 5 November 2026. Legislation in force on that date; the relevant tax year and treaty must be checked in each case. Spanish Income Tax Act, articles 2, 5, 9, 12, 80, 93, 96, 98. AEAT: tax residence · AEAT: filing obligation · AEAT: special regime and annual return.