Moving house or region and which community taxes you

Key rules

• Basque Country and Navarra: These territories have their own income tax and you deal with their foral treasury, not the AEAT.

Which region's scale applies to you

The tax year runs from 1 January to 31 December. The region where you lived the most days of the year taxes all of that year's income: its scale and its regional deductions apply to your general income.

If it is impossible to tell where you lived most of the year, the region of your main centre of interests applies. This is where your work, family and money are mainly based.

If you move in the middle of the year

A mid-year move does not split your year. The region where you spent most of the days (more than half) is treated as your region for the whole year. You apply that region's scale and deductions to all your income for the year.

So if you move after mid-year, for example in September, your old region taxes the whole year. If you move before it, for example in March, your new region does.

A move made only to pay less tax can be treated as artificial and ignored.

Basque Country and Navarra

These two territories run their own income tax, with their own rules, scales and deductions. The Basque Country has three treasuries: Álava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa. Navarra has its own. They are similar to the national system but differ in rates, deductions and details.

If you move there, you register and file with the foral treasury for your place of residence, not the AEAT. Each treasury sets its own rates and deductions every year. If you move from there to the rest of Spain, you go back to the AEAT and the regional scale.

What to update

Report the move to Hacienda yourself. With no business activity, use modelo 030 within three months of the move; if you are self-employed or run a company, use modelo 036 or 037 within one month. There is no fee. The change takes effect from the date you moved, which you enter on the form. Also register the new address in the padrón at your new town hall; that does not update Hacienda for you. The form is the same whatever your nationality, and you identify yourself with your NIE.

• File online through the AEAT electronic office with an electronic certificate or Cl@ve.
• Choose the procedure to modify census data, enter your new address and the date it takes effect, then submit.
• Keep the receipt.

You do not usually need to ask for your file to be moved to the new province's office. The AEAT reassigns you to the office for your new address once it processes the change. The old office may keep handling procedures that were already open.

After the change is processed, check that your notification and electronic address details are current.

If you moved to Spain from abroad

The change-of-region rule applies only once you are a Spanish tax resident; before that it does not apply to you.