Beckham Law: the special regime for workers moving to Spain

What it consists of

Article 93 of Law 35/2006 sets out a special tax regime for people who become tax resident in Spain as a result of moving to Spanish territory. Those who meet the requirements may opt to be taxed under the rules of the Non-Resident Income Tax for income obtained without a permanent establishment, while keeping their status as personal income taxpayers.

The regime applies during the tax year in which the change of residence takes place and the following five years.

Who it makes sense for

For someone arriving in Spain with high Spanish-source income and significant assets or income abroad. The logic is that foreign income stays outside general income tax, and Spanish income is taxed under non-resident rules.

It is not an automatic advantage. For moderate income, or for someone with almost all their income in Spain, the general regime may work out the same or better. The comparison has to be made with real numbers before opting, because the option has consequences for six years.

How to opt in

Through a specific notice to the Tax Agency, on the form provided, within the period the rules set from the start of the activity or Social Security registration. The annual return of those under the regime is not the ordinary one either: it has its own form.

The deadline is the critical part. It is short and cannot be recovered: someone who finds out late that the regime existed can no longer use it for that year. That is why it should be reviewed in the first weeks after the move, not when tax season arrives.

What to check before deciding

• That you were not tax resident in Spain during the prior periods the law requires.
• That the move is for one of the reasons provided in article 93.
• How your income is split between Spanish and foreign source.
• Whether there is a double taxation treaty with your home country and what it says about your types of income.
• Your wealth position: the regime affects more taxes than income tax.

The wording of article 93 has been amended several times, so work from the consolidated text and not from old summaries. Once decided, the practical side is about deadlines: see Tax Agency appointment.

Who can use it: five ways in

Article 93.1.b) lists the circumstances justifying the move, and since the 2023 reform there are five:

• Employment contract with an employer in Spain, ordinary, special or statutory, except the special employment relationship of professional athletes.
• Posting ordered by the employer, with a posting letter.
• Remote work by exclusively telematic means, without the employer ordering it. The law expressly mentions holders of the international teleworking visa.
• Director of an entity. If the entity is an asset-holding one, the director cannot hold a stake that makes it a related entity.
• Entrepreneurial activity classed as such under the procedure of article 70 of Law 14/2013, or a highly qualified professional providing services to start-ups or carrying out R&D&I, provided that pay represents more than 40% of all their business, professional and employment income.

The time requirement, which changed and many people still quote wrongly: not having been resident in Spain during the previous five tax years. It used to be ten.

How long it lasts and how it is requested

It applies during the tax year of the change of residence and the following five, that is, six years in total. It cannot be extended.

The option is exercised expressly before the Tax Agency within the period and on the form it sets, counted from Social Security registration or from the documents proving the move. Outside that period there is no regime, and the difference between 24% and the general scale over six years is, in practice, the largest figure lost over a date.

That is why, when we handle an international teleworking application, tax planning is done in parallel with the residency one and not after receiving it.