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 raises one question very quickly: how much tax will you actually pay. For a lot of expats, the answer comes down to one special rule — the special expat tax regime, better known as the Beckham Law.

The mechanism is simple: rather than paying progressive resident rates on everything you earn globally, you are taxed like a non-resident on the income you earn in Spain, at a fixed rate of 24% up to 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, your relocation must be linked to an employment contract or a director role, and the work must be carried out mainly in Spain. Recent reforms opened the door to remote workers and aquí certain entrepreneurs.

Timing is the part people get wrong. You have to apply within six months of starting the activity that triggers residence. Let that window close and you cannot recover it later. The benefit then runs for a total of six tax years.

It is not automatically the better option. If you have significant income outside Spain, the interaction with wealth tax and reporting duties needs to be modelled first. Running the numbers in advance avoids an expensive mistake.

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