Spain's special expatriate tax regime — universally known as the Beckham Law after David Beckham applied it on his arrival at Real Madrid in 2003 — allows qualifying individuals who become Spanish tax residents to be taxed at a flat 24% rate on their Spanish-source employment income, rather than under the standard progressive IRPF scale. The regime is regulated in Article 93 of the Personal Income Tax Act (LIRPF) and has been substantially reformed by Ley 28/2022 (the Startups Act), which came into force on 1 January 2023. Understanding the eligibility requirements is essential: missing a condition disqualifies you, and the application deadline is absolute.
The five-year non-residence rule
The cornerstone eligibility condition is that you must not have been a tax resident in Spain in any of the five tax years immediately preceding the year in which you become tax resident in Spain.
Example: If you arrive in Spain on 15 March 2026 and become resident in that tax year:
- You must not have been tax resident in Spain in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 or 2025
- Even one year of Spanish tax residency in that five-year window disqualifies you
What counts as tax residency in Spain?
Under Art. 9 LIRPF, you are a Spanish tax resident if you meet any of the following conditions:
- You spend more than 183 days in Spain during the calendar year (casual absences do not interrupt this count)
- Your main economic base or centre of activities is in Spain
- Your non-legally-separated spouse and dependent minor children habitually reside in Spain (rebuttable presumption)
Short stays in Spain for holidays, business meetings or medical treatment that do not exceed 183 days in a year, and where your economic base is clearly located elsewhere, do not trigger tax residency.
Prior residents returning to Spain: If you were previously resident in Spain, left for at least five full calendar years, and are now returning with a qualifying reason, you may still be eligible. The five-year non-residence must cover the five complete years before the year of arrival — not just five years before a specific date.
Qualifying reasons for displacement (causas de desplazamiento)
Ley 28/2022 expanded the qualifying categories significantly. As of 2026, there are five routes to eligibility:
1. Spanish employment contract (trabajador por cuenta ajena)
The most common category. You move to Spain as a result of being offered and taking up an employment contract with a Spanish employer. The contract must exist before or at the same time as your arrival — it is not sufficient to arrive and then find employment. The employment relationship can be with any type of Spanish entity.
2. Intra-group international posting (desplazamiento en el seno de un grupo)
You are transferred to Spain by your foreign employer to work for a Spanish entity within the same corporate group (as defined by Art. 42 of the Commercial Code). The key requirement is that there is a genuine employment or service relationship with the group — a formal service agreement between the foreign entity and the Spanish entity is often used as evidence.
3. Director of a Spanish company (administrador con participación ≤ 25%)
Prior to Ley 28/2022, directors who held any shareholding in the company were excluded. The reform replaced this blanket exclusion with a 25% threshold: directors who do not hold (directly or indirectly) more than 25% of the share capital or voting rights of the company can now qualify. Directors of companies classified as “patrimonial” (holding or investment companies) are still excluded.
4. Entrepreneur under the Startups Act (emprendedor)
A new category introduced by Ley 28/2022. You must be starting an entrepreneurial activity in Spain that is registered as “innovative” under the Startups Act (Ley 28/2022). In practice, this requires obtaining a favourable report (informe favorable) from ENISA (Empresa Nacional de Innovación) or a designated public body certifying the innovative nature of your activity. This is a more administratively complex route than the employment categories.
5. Highly qualified professional (profesional altamente cualificado)
Also introduced by Ley 28/2022. You must be providing professional services to Spanish startups (as defined by the Startups Act) or performing research and development (R&D) or innovation activities in Spain. Evidence of the startup’s qualifying status and of your qualification for the role will be required.
Important limitation for self-employed/freelancers: A regular IT consultant, designer or independent professional whose clients are ordinary businesses — not ENISA-certified startups — does not qualify under Route 5 unless at least 40% of their total income derives from qualifying R&D or innovation activities. Per published AEAT criteria and recent administrative rulings, the AEAT is actively reviewing and rejecting freelancer applications that do not evidence genuine startup-services relationships or meet the 40% R&D threshold. The Startups Act expanded eligibility, but did not extend the Beckham Law to self-employment in general. Route 4 (entrepreneur) separately requires a favourable ENISA certification report confirming the innovative nature of the activity — without that certification, access via the entrepreneurship route is not available.
The 24%/47% rate structure
The special regime’s central benefit is a flat 24% rate on employment income and Spanish-source income up to €600,000. Above that threshold, income is taxed at 47%.
How this compares to the standard IRPF:
Under the standard IRPF scale (combined state + autonomous community rates), the progression is approximately:
| Income bracket | Standard IRPF marginal rate |
|---|---|
| Up to ~€12,450 | ~19% |
| €12,451 – €20,200 | ~24% |
| €20,201 – €35,200 | ~30% |
| €35,201 – €60,000 | ~37% |
| €60,001 – €300,000 | ~45–47% |
| Above €300,000 | ~47–54% (depending on region) |
For a person earning €150,000 in Spain under standard IRPF:
- Approximate liability under standard regime: ~€58,000–62,000
- Approximate liability under Beckham Law: €150,000 × 24% = €36,000
- Annual saving: approximately €22,000–26,000
The saving increases significantly as income rises, and is most pronounced for high-earners — exactly the profile at which the regime is targeted.
Treatment of capital gains and investment income:
Dividends, interest, capital gains and other investment income from Spanish sources are not taxed at the flat 24% rate. They fall under the standard savings income scale (base del ahorro), which applies at 19%–28% under the Beckham Law regime, the same rates as for standard residents.
Treatment of foreign-source income:
This is where the Beckham Law diverges from standard residency. Under the standard IRPF regime, Spanish tax residents are taxed on their worldwide income. Under the Beckham Law, you are only taxed in Spain on your Spanish-source income — foreign-source income (income generated from economic activities or assets located outside Spain) is not included in your Spanish taxable base. This can be very beneficial for individuals with significant foreign assets or foreign-source business income, but it also means you cannot benefit from double taxation treaty credits for foreign taxes paid.
Duration and termination
The regime applies for:
- The tax year of arrival in Spain (year 1)
- The following five tax years (years 2–6)
Maximum total: six tax years.
The regime automatically ends after the sixth year. You become a standard IRPF taxpayer on worldwide income from year seven. There is no option to extend or renew the regime while remaining continuously resident in Spain.
Causes of early termination:
The regime ends early if you:
- Cease to meet the conditions under which it was granted (e.g. the employment relationship that justified the application terminates and you do not take up a new qualifying activity within a reasonable time)
- Exercise the right to opt out (rarely advantageous)
- Are determined by the AEAT to have been ineligible from the outset
If the regime is terminated early, you are treated as a standard IRPF resident from the year of termination. The AEAT may require supplementary returns for years affected.
The application: Form 149 and the six-month deadline
The application for the special regime is made using Form 149 (Modelo 149), submitted electronically through the AEAT Sede Electrónica.
Key procedural points:
- Deadline: six months from the start of employment (or from the date you take up your director position, or from the date your entrepreneurial activity begins in Spain)
- The deadline is absolute — the AEAT does not grant extensions or accept retrospective applications
- You must already have a Spanish tax identification number (NIF/NIE) before submitting
- The application should be accompanied by supporting documentation: the employment contract, evidence of prior non-residency, your Social Security registration
For a step-by-step guide to completing and filing Form 149, see our dedicated article: Beckham Law: Form 149 Step by Step 2026.
Interaction with double taxation treaties
The Beckham Law creates an unusual situation for double taxation purposes. Although you are physically resident in Spain, for IRPF purposes you are treated as a non-resident. This has two important consequences:
1. Spain’s right to tax under the treaty Most bilateral tax treaties allocate taxing rights based on residence. As a Beckham Law taxpayer, Spain may apply the treaty as if you were a non-resident — meaning you may be taxed by both Spain (at 24% on Spanish-source income) and your country of origin (on the same income), with limited treaty relief.
2. Access to reduced withholding rates If you receive dividends or interest from a country that applies a reduced withholding rate under a bilateral treaty with Spain (for residents of Spain), you may find that the treaty rate does not apply to you, because Spain treats you as a non-resident.
The interaction is complex and varies by treaty and by type of income. Always obtain specialist advice before electing for the regime if you have significant foreign-source income or cross-border investments.
How BMC can help
Our Beckham Law team advises expatriates at every stage: assessing eligibility, preparing and filing Form 149 within the six-month deadline, planning the optimal structure of remuneration for the six-year period, coordinating with foreign advisers on treaty issues, and managing the transition to standard IRPF at the end of the regime. We work with executives, entrepreneurs and digital nomads across all qualifying categories.
Contact us for a no-obligation initial eligibility assessment.
