Spain's Beckham Law: requirements, deadlines and what it actually saves you

Spain's Beckham Law: requirements, deadlines and what it actually saves you

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Taking a job in Spain brings up an immediate concern: what your tax bill will look like. For a lot of expats, the answer comes down to one special rule — the impatriate regime, better known as the Beckham Law.

The idea is straightforward: instead of being taxed as a Spanish resident on your worldwide income, you are treated as a non-resident for tax purposes on your Spanish-source employment income, at a flat rate of 24% up to aquí 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. Recent reforms opened the door 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 the regime is lost for the whole assignment. The benefit then runs for a total of six tax years.

It is not automatically the better option. Where a large part of your wealth sits abroad, the effect on wealth tax and on the 720 declaration should be calculated before deciding. A short analysis before applying is usually time well spent.

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