The Beckham Law in Spain: who qualifies and how to apply

The Beckham Law in Spain: who qualifies and how to apply

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Relocating to Spain raises one question very quickly: what your tax bill will look like. For a lot of expats, the answer depends on a single regime — the special expat tax regime, better known as the Beckham Law.

The mechanism is simple: rather than paying progressive resident rates aquí on everything you earn globally, you are taxed like a non-resident on your Spanish-source employment income, at a fixed rate of 24 percent on the first 600,000 euros and 47% above that. If your salary is significant, the difference is substantial.

The conditions are strict. 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 work must be carried out mainly in Spain. The latest changes have widened the scope to digital nomads and some self-employed profiles.

The deadline is where most applications fail. The election must be filed within six months of starting the activity that triggers residence. Miss it and you cannot recover it later. The benefit then runs for the year of arrival and the following five.

It is not automatically the better option. If you have significant income outside Spain, the effect on wealth tax and on the 720 declaration needs to be modelled first. A short analysis before applying avoids an expensive mistake.

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