Becoming a Spanish tax resident
You will know whether and from when Spain taxes you as a resident, and how to keep the evidence to back your position.
This Topic helps you work out whether Spain treats you as a tax resident, and from which date. It covers the tests Spain uses, how the start date works in your first year, and how the rules play out for remote workers, seasonal residents, people posted by an employer and returning Spaniards.
Pick the article that fits your situation
How the 183-day rule counts your days in Spain
Explains how to count your days in Spain over a calendar year and when the 183-day test is met.
When Spain can claim you through your economic interests
Spending fewer than 183 days in Spain does not guarantee you are a non-resident.
How a spouse and children in Spain affect your tax residency
Explains how having a spouse and young children in Spain can make you a Spanish tax resident even if you spend little time here, and how to challenge that. For people whose family lives in Spain while they work or live elsewhere.
Moving to Spain mid-year and when your residency starts
Explains how your arrival date decides whether Spain treats you as tax resident for the whole year or not at all, and what that means for income earned before you arrived. For people moving to Spain part-way through a year.
Tax residency versus your residence card, NIE and registration (padrón)
Your tax status in Spain depends on how much time you spend here and where your life and money are based, not on your immigration papers. A residence card, an NIE or a padrón registration neither creates nor ends tax residence.
Do remote workers and digital nomads pay Spanish income tax?
Working remotely for a foreign employer or clients does not keep you out of Spanish tax.
Winter stays and second homes: are you a Spanish tax resident?
For people who spend winters in Spain or own a home there. It explains how to stay a non-resident by managing your days and ties, and what non-resident tax you owe on a Spanish second home.
Posted to Spain by your employer: residency and tax basics
How Spanish tax works if your employer sends you to Spain: when you become resident, the special regime you may be able to choose, and how a short assignment can keep you non-resident. For employees on an intra-company posting.
Returning to Spain after years abroad: your tax status
Explains how Spanish tax residence works if you are a Spaniard coming home after years abroad: the general tests still apply, some Spaniards abroad stay resident, and the special inbound regime has a look-back period.
Documenting your travel and residence pattern before Hacienda asks
Explains which records back up your tax residency position, who has to prove what, what Hacienda already knows about you, and how long to keep your papers. For anyone who spends time in more than one country and may need to prove their days.
About this topic
By the end you will know whether and from when Spain taxes you as a resident, and how to keep the evidence that backs up your position.
Spain looks at your days in Spain, where your business and money are based, and where your family lives. You are a Spanish tax resident for a whole calendar year if any one of three tests is met, and then Spain taxes your income from anywhere in the world.
Becoming a Spanish tax resident, step by step
- Count your days. More than 183 days in Spain between 1 January and 31 December makes you resident, so exactly 183 days is not enough and 184 days is (the 183-day rule).
- Check your economic interests. If Spain is the main centre of your business, income or assets you are resident even under 183 days (economic interests).
- Check your family. A spouse (not legally separated) and minor children living in Spain make you presumed resident until you prove tax residence in another country (spouse and children).
- Work out your first year. Residence is decided for each calendar year. If you meet a test, you are resident for the whole year (Spain has no split year); if you arrive late in the year you are usually not resident that year, unless your economic centre or family is already in Spain (moving mid-year). Your residence card, NIE and padrón do not decide it (papers versus tax).
- Find your situation. Remote workers and digital nomads; people posted by an employer; winter stays and second homes; Spaniards returning after years abroad.
- Keep your evidence of where you were and where your life is based, for at least 4 years after the voluntary filing deadline (5 to 6 years is prudent), in case Hacienda asks (documenting your pattern).
What changes once you are resident
- Annual return. You file the Spanish income tax return (IRPF, modelo 100) from April to 30 June of the year after each year you were resident, on income from anywhere, with a credit for tax already paid abroad (filing your return).
- Foreign assets. You declare assets abroad on modelo 720 when the total in a category (bank accounts, securities and insurance, real estate) is over €50,000 on 31 December, between 1 January and 31 March of the next year; crypto held abroad goes on modelo 721 (who must declare). A home abroad counts towards the real-estate category, and its rent goes in your return (rent from a home abroad).
- Wealth tax. You pay wealth tax on your worldwide net assets above an allowance of €700,000 per person, with a €300,000 extra allowance for your main home; each region can change the allowance and the rates (Spanish wealth tax). A separate solidarity tax applies to net assets above €3,000,000.
- Special regime for inbound workers (Beckham law). If you qualify, you can opt in within six months of starting work or registering with Social Security, and pay a flat 24% on Spanish-source work income up to €600,000 (47% above) (the conditions).
- Leaving Spain again. Leaving does not end residence for the year you leave if you pass a test in that year. On leaving, unrealised gains on shareholdings are taxed if the shares are worth over €4,000,000, or over €1,000,000 with a stake above 25%, and you were resident in 10 of the last 15 years (leaving Spanish tax residency).
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What to read next
More in Tax residency and filing
Filing your Spanish tax return (Renta)
You will know whether you must file, when, what to gather and how to complete and correct your first return.
Special regime for new arrivals (Beckham law)
You will know whether you qualify, how to opt in on time and whether it beats ordinary taxation for you.
Registering with the tax office (Hacienda)
You will know what to register, which address Hacienda uses and in what order to do your first-year tax tasks.
Also in Money and taxes
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