Leaving Spain: what happens with Spanish tax when you stop being resident

The year you leave is usually assessed as a whole

The Spanish income tax period is the calendar year (article 12.1 of the Personal Income Tax Act) and residence is assessed over that year (article 9.1). Someone who leaves mid-year can remain resident for the whole year after spending more than 183 days here, counting sporadic absences unless tax residence in another country is proved, or if the main core or base of their activities or economic interests is here, and then declares worldwide income for the whole year in Spain. If the destination country also treats you as resident that year, the tax treaty between the two, if there is one, decides, and it has to be checked against your dates. The date on the plane ticket does not decide this on its own.

What goes into your last return

When you stop being a taxpayer because you change residence, all income pending allocation, meaning income not yet declared under the timing rules, is included in the base of the last period you must declare, with a supplementary return if needed, without penalty, late-payment interest or surcharge (article 14.3). If you move to another European Union State, you may instead declare it as it is obtained, also with a supplementary return for the last period.

The exit tax on shares

If you have been a Spanish income taxpayer for at least ten of the fifteen periods before the last one you must declare, leaving gives rise to a gain equal to the difference between the market value of your shares or holdings and their acquisition value when that market value exceeds 4,000,000 euros in total or, failing that, when on the accrual date of the last period you hold more than 25% of an entity and those holdings are worth more than 1,000,000 euros; in the second case, only for those holdings (article 95 bis.1). The gain is part of the savings income of the last period (article 95 bis.2).

It is not always paid on departure. If the move is a temporary work assignment to a country that is not a tax haven, or for another reason to a country with a tax treaty containing an exchange-of-information clause, payment can be deferred on request (article 95 bis.4). If you become a taxpayer again without having sold the holdings, you can claim a refund of what you paid (article 95 bis.5). And if you move to another European Union State, or a European Economic Area State with effective exchange of information, you may elect that the gain is only self-assessed if, within the following ten years, you sell the holdings, stop being resident in the EU or EEA, or fail to meet the notification obligation (article 95 bis.6), with conditions to be checked case by case; the Spanish Tax Agency has Modelo 113 for this notice.

If you move to a tax haven

A Spanish national who proves new tax residence in a country or territory considered a tax haven remains a Spanish income taxpayer in the year of the move and the following four years (article 8.2): the status is not lost, so those years are still declared here.

What you still declare in Spain

After you leave, what you still obtain in Spain, for example from a property, is taxed under Non-Resident Income Tax; we explain it in our Modelo 210 guide and in the guide to selling property as a non-resident.

What we do

Using your dates and ties, we check in which year you stop being resident, what goes into your last return and whether the exit tax applies, and we prepare that return. Afterwards we handle the non-resident returns for what you keep in Spain.

Official sources

Spanish Personal Income Tax Act (Ley 35/2006): articles 8.2 (in force since 1 January 2016), 9.1, 12.1, 14.3 (in force since 1 January 2023) and 95 bis, sections 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 (in force since 1 January 2015); consolidated text in the Spanish Official Gazette, latest update published on 7 October 2026, consulted on 23 October 2026.

Spanish Tax Agency website: Modelo 113, notice of data on capital gains on a change of residence to another European Union or European Economic Area State.