The special tax regime for people moving to Spain (Beckham law)

What it is

Spain's special regime for workers moving to Spain (régimen especial para trabajadores desplazados, often called the Beckham law) lets new residents pay tax like non-residents for a while, even though they live here:

• your work income is taxed at a flat 24% up to €600,000 a year (47% above that), instead of Spain's normal rising rates;
• most income from outside Spain that isn't from your work (for example rent or interest abroad) isn't taxed in Spain;
• it lasts for the year you move and the next five years.

It's optional: you only get it if you ask for it in time.

Can you use it?

You can opt in if:

• you weren't tax resident in Spain in any of the five years before the year you move, and
• you move to Spain because of:
  • a job with a Spanish or foreign employer, including working remotely for a foreign company (for example on a digital nomad visa);
  • becoming a company director;
  • an entrepreneurial activity recognised as innovative; or
  • working as a highly qualified professional for start-ups, or in training, research or innovation.

Professional athletes can't use it. Your spouse and children under 25 who move with you can join it too, under their own conditions.

Not sure you qualify? This is a tax decision with consequences for six years: check with a tax adviser (asesor fiscal) before you opt in.

The deadline

You must send form 149 within six months of the start date in your Spanish Social Security registration (or of the document that keeps you in your home country's social security). There's no extension: miss it and you can't use the regime for this move.

Before you start

You'll need:

• Your NIE.
• Your Social Security registration start date (your employer registers you; ask them for the date).
• A document showing why you moved, for example your employment contract or a letter from your employer.
• Cl@ve or a digital certificate to file online.

Steps

1. Check you qualify, ideally with a tax adviser.
2. Fill in form 149 (Modelo 149) on the Agencia Tributaria website and file it online, within the six months.
3. Give your employer the confirmation, so they withhold tax at the regime's rate.
4. Each year, file your tax return on form 151 (instead of the usual Renta return), in the normal Renta period.

Cost

Filing form 149 is free. A tax adviser charges for their help.

Common pitfalls

• Missing the six months. It's the most common way to lose the regime.
• Thinking it's automatic. Your employer can't opt in for you without your form 149.
• Forgetting it changes other obligations. Under the regime you file form 151, not the usual return, and you don't file Modelo 720 (assets abroad). Your family members who aren't on the regime still might.
• Leaving early or changing situation. If you stop meeting the conditions, you leave the regime: tell the Agencia Tributaria (form 149 again).

When to ask a helper

Ask someone who opted in recently in a similar job: they'll know what their employer and adviser needed and how long confirmation took.