Beckham Law and US LLC Members 2026: How Impatriate Owners Are Taxed | BMC

If you are a member of a US LLC and you are considering a move to Spain under the Beckham Law, the question every adviser hears at least once a month is: do I owe Spanish tax on what my LLC earns? The short answer is that during the six years of the special regime under Art. 93 LIRPF, profits from a US LLC that are foreign-source are in principle outside the scope of Spanish taxation — but the devil is in how the entity is classified, how operations are managed, and three 2025 court rulings that have redrawn the map.

Why Beckham × LLC is the most common source of confusion we see at BMC

Over the past three years, BMC has worked with more than forty impatriates who held US structures when they arrived in Spain. The pattern that comes up most often is the founder who has been operating through a Wyoming or Delaware LLC for years, moves to Spain under Beckham, and receives two contradictory messages: their US adviser says “there is nothing to report because the LLC is transparent,” and their Spanish adviser says “you do need to report because the LLC is transparent.” Both are right, and both are wrong at the same time.

The problem is that “transparent” does not mean the same thing in the US as it does in Spain. For the IRS, a single-member LLC is a disregarded entity . For the DGT, the classification hinges on three criteria set out in Resolution BOE-A-2020-2108: the LLC must not pay tax at the entity level in the US; income must be attributed automatically to the members under US law; and that attribution must occur by virtue of earning the income — criteria that do not map exactly onto the IRS check-the-box rules. That asymmetry is the source of the misunderstandings, and in some cases, the penalties.

What Art. 93 LIRPF says about foreign-source income after Ley 28/2022

The Beckham Law in its version effective from January 1, 2023 (under Ley 28/2022 de Startups, BOE-A-2022-21739) governs in Article 93 LIRPF a regime under which qualifying impatriates are taxed as non-residents (IRNR) rather than under the standard progressive IRPF scale.

The treatment of foreign-source income under the regime is as follows:

Income type	Spanish source	Foreign source
Employment income	24% up to €600,000 / 47% above	Taxed in Spain (same as Spanish source)
Dividends and interest	Savings rate (19%–28%)	Exempt
Capital gains	Savings rate (19%–28%)	Exempt
Business/economic activity income — Spain	Standard IRNR rate	—
Business/economic activity income — abroad	—	Exempt

This table has a direct implication for US LLC members: profits from a US LLC, whether distributed as dividends (opaque entity treatment) or attributed directly (flow-through entity treatment), are foreign-source income that is not derived from employment. In either case, the result during the Beckham regime is zero Spanish tax — provided the LLC operates from the US with no permanent establishment in Spain.

The critical exception, covered in detail below, is that if the member manages the LLC from Madrid, the income may be recharacterized as business activity income with a Spanish source — or worse, the LLC itself may become a Spanish tax resident under Art. 8 LIS.

The Daniel scenario: single-member disregarded LLC ($200k/year, Wyoming), years 1–6 broken down

Daniel is a 38-year-old American tech co-founder. For the past six years he has operated through a Wyoming single-member LLC — a classic IRS disregarded entity — through which he provides product consulting services to US software companies. He bills approximately $200,000 per year (around €182,000), all from US-based clients. In August 2025 he relocates to Barcelona, where his partner has taken a director role at a Spanish company. Daniel applies for the Beckham regime as a highly qualified professional under Ley 28/2022.

The question Daniel brings to BMC: how much does he pay in Spain during the six years of the regime?

How the DGT would classify Daniel’s LLC

Daniel’s LLC is single-member and disregarded for IRS purposes — it pays no entity-level US tax (satisfying criterion 1 of Resolution BOE-A-2020-2108), income is attributed to the member under US law (criterion 2), and that attribution happens by virtue of earning the income, not on distribution (criterion 3). Daniel’s LLC meets all three criteria: the DGT would very likely classify it as a flow-through entity (entidad en régimen de atribución de rentas, or ERAR). This means Daniel reports the LLC’s income in his Spanish return for the year the LLC earns it, regardless of whether he actually takes a distribution.

Is that good or bad for Daniel under Beckham?

DGT V1372-25 (July 2025) — the ruling that few competitors cite, and that we at BMC consider the key piece of the Beckham × LLC puzzle — addressed precisely the compatibility of the Beckham regime with income attribution from a foreign entity (in that case a UK LLP, structurally analogous to the LLC on this point). The DGT confirmed that attributing income from a foreign flow-through entity to an impatriate under Art. 93 LIRPF does not disqualify the regime, provided:

1. The entity does not operate in Spain or have a permanent establishment in Spain.
2. The attributed income is treated as “income obtained without a permanent establishment” and retains its character (business activity, capital, or gain).

For Daniel, whose LLC provides services exclusively to US clients from the US, the picture is as follows:

Year	LLC income attributed	Character	Spanish taxation
Year 1 (2025, partial)	~€30,000	Business activity — foreign source	Exempt (Art. 93)
Years 2–6 (2026–2030)	~€182,000 per year	Business activity — foreign source	Exempt (Art. 93)

Spanish tax on LLC profits during the six Beckham years: zero. Daniel does pay Spanish tax on any salary or compensation he receives from a Spanish employer (if applicable), and he is subject to Modelo 720 reporting on his LLC membership interest if it exceeds €50,000.

The effective management trap

The scenario above assumes Daniel manages the LLC from the US — or at least that strategic decisions and contract performance happen there. If Daniel is in fact running the LLC from his Barcelona apartment, directing operations, signing contracts with US clients over Zoom from Spain, the situation changes: the LLC may have its effective place of management in Spain (Art. 8 LIS) and become a Spanish tax resident subject to 25% corporate income tax. On top of that, Daniel’s income could be recharacterized as business activity income with a Spanish source, making it taxable at the IRNR rate rather than exempt.

Variant: Daniel with a C-Corp election via Form 8832 — what changes

Suppose that before his move to Spain, Daniel consults a US adviser who recommends making a check-the-box election (Form 8832) to have the LLC treated as a C-Corporation for US tax purposes.

From the US perspective, the LLC stops being disregarded and begins paying 21% federal corporate income tax on its profits. Daniel no longer reports profits on his Form 1040 until the “C-Corp” makes a distribution to him.

From the Spanish perspective, the DGT applies its own criteria independently of the IRS election. An LLC that has elected to be taxed as a corporation pays corporate income tax in the US (failing criterion 1 of Resolution BOE-A-2020-2108, because the entity is now subject to a tax on income in its state of organization). Result: for Spain, the LLC is no longer a flow-through entity and is instead treated as an opaque entity — like a corporation.

The consequences for Daniel under Beckham:

• Accumulated profits in the LLC are not taxed in Spain as long as they are not distributed (the opaque LLC is a separate taxpayer).
• When the LLC distributes dividends to Daniel, they are foreign-source dividends: exempt under Beckham (Art. 93).
• The LLC does pay 21% US federal corporate tax before distributing, which reduces the net available to Daniel compared to the disregarded-entity structure.

Is a C-Corp better than a disregarded LLC under Beckham? Over the six regime years, the difference in Spanish taxation is nil in both cases (0%). The difference lies in the US-side cost: 21% federal corporate tax in the C-Corp before distribution, versus 0% in the disregarded structure. For a founder with US fundraising plans, a C-Corp makes sense for reasons entirely independent of the Spanish analysis. For a solo consultant with no investment plans, the added tax burden generally does not pay off.

Variant: Daniel with a multi-member partnership LLC — DGT V1372-25 confirms Beckham compatibility

Now suppose Daniel has a US co-owner — Chris, based in Austin, Texas — and both are 50/50 members of a Wyoming LLC. For the IRS, the LLC is a partnership and passes through income to each member’s individual return.

In Spain, the question is whether this two-member LLC meets the three criteria of Resolution BOE-A-2020-2108. A two-member LLC partnership is still fiscally transparent in the US: income is attributed to the members under US law (via Schedule K-1) by virtue of earning it, not on distribution. All three criteria are satisfied, just as with the single-member LLC.

DGT V1372-25 (July 2025), although it involved a UK LLP, establishes an extensible principle: attribution of income from a foreign flow-through entity (ERAR) to an impatriate member under Beckham is compatible with the regime, provided the entity does not operate in Spain. The fact that the LLC has a US co-member who does not operate in Spain does not affect the classification of Daniel’s share.

Practical consequence: Daniel’s share (50% of LLC profits, approximately $100,000 per year) is attributed to his Spanish IRPF/IRNR return as business activity income from a foreign source. Under Beckham: exempt. Modelo 184 is required (the informational return for flow-through entities). Modelo 720 is required if the value of the LLC interest exceeds €50,000.

The additional risk in a partnership LLC compared to a disregarded entity is the potential application of Controlled Foreign Corporation rules under Art. 91 LIRPF (Transparencia Fiscal Internacional, or TFI). If Daniel controlled more than 50% of the LLC (not the case here at 50/50) and more than 15% of income were passive, the AEAT could require imputation of those passive amounts independently of the Beckham regime. At a 50/50 ownership split, the control threshold (≥50%) is not met, so TFI does not apply.

Live conflict: TSJ Madrid 665/2025 vs. TEAC July 2025 — what BMC recommends

Daniel purchases an apartment in Barcelona when he arrives in Spain. The question that arises in his first Beckham return: must he impute deemed rental income on his primary residence?

Through July 2025, the AEAT’s position was unambiguous: a Beckham Law taxpayer is taxed as a non-resident (IRNR) and must therefore impute deemed rental income on real property held in Spain (Art. 85 LIRPF read in conjunction with Art. 24.5 LIRNR), including the primary residence.

In July 2025, the TEAC issued a binding ruling confirming this position: the deemed-rental imputation on the primary residence is mandatory for Art. 93 LIRPF impatriates.

In September 2025, the TSJ Madrid issued judgment 665/2025 (Case 2095/2021) reaching the opposite conclusion: a Beckham Law taxpayer is not required to impute deemed rental income on their primary residence in Spain. The court applied the primary residence exemption of Art. 85 LIRPF through Art. 24.5 LIRNR, annulled the assessments, and ordered repayment with default interest.

At BMC, our current recommendation in light of this conflict is:

1. For open tax years (2025 and later): analyze the taxpayer’s specific position before filing. Judgment TSJ Madrid 665/2025 can be cited as precedent to exclude the imputation, but the risk that the Supreme Court confirms the TEAC position must be quantified and clearly explained to the client.

2. For already-filed returns that included the imputation (2022–2024): there is a basis to file an amended return relying on TSJ Madrid 665/2025 and a prior judgment of the same court in the same direction. The four-year statute of limitations (Art. 66 LGT) allows claims going back to tax year 2022. However, initiating the amendment procedure before the Supreme Court rules means accepting the procedural risk that the Supreme Court sides with the TEAC.

3. Active monitoring: BMC has an alert set for any Supreme Court admission of appeal on this question. Once a definitive ruling is issued, we will notify all Beckham clients of the confirmed position.

Year seven: what happens when Beckham ends, the Art. 95 bis carve-out, and your exit options

When year seven arrives, the taxpayer becomes a standard IRPF resident subject to progressive rates on worldwide income. LLC profits are included in the Spanish tax base — at savings rates starting at 19% for dividends, or at general rates up to 47% for business activity income. Two critical questions for a US LLC member.

Does the Art. 95 bis LIRPF exit tax apply if Daniel leaves when the regime ends?

Art. 95 bis LIRPF imposes an exit tax on unrealized gains in qualifying shareholdings when a taxpayer leaves Spain after 10 of the last 15 years of residence. Art. 95 bis.8 LIRPF contains an express carve-out: years spent under the Beckham regime (Art. 93) do not count toward that ten-year calculation. If Daniel leaves Spain in year seven, he will have accumulated only one year of ordinary Spanish residence — far short of the ten-year threshold. In practice, the exit tax almost never triggers for the classic Beckham profile.

What options does Daniel have from year seven onward?

• Change of tax residence in year six: UAE, Portugal, or another jurisdiction with reduced taxation on capital income. The exit tax does not apply given only one year of ordinary residence has accumulated.
• LLC restructuring: conversion to a C-Corp or to a Spanish holding company (SL) before year seven, planning the entry into the standard IRPF regime with a more efficient intragroup dividend structure.
• Continue as an ordinary resident: LLC profits are taxed at progressive IRPF rates; optimize the split between general base and savings base income.

The three mistakes that trigger an audit: sham arrangements, effective management, and lack of substance

BMC has identified three recurring risk patterns in Beckham × LLC structures that the AEAT is auditing with increasing intensity in 2025.

Mistake 1: Sham arrangements — TSJ Madrid 123/2025

Judgment TSJ Madrid 123/2025 (May 29, 2025, Case 170/2023), analyzed by Andersen Tax, is the year’s most important precedent for those holding Beckham structures with foreign components. The court upheld the AEAT’s application of the doctrine of absolute sham (Art. 16 LGT) and substance-over-form (Art. 13 LGT) to unwind a Beckham structure in which a Venezuelan taxpayer had incorporated a Spanish company with which they signed an employment contract, but the company had no real activity and the funds all came from the taxpayer’s personal activity abroad.

The parallel to the LLC is direct: if a Beckham impatriate channels personal foreign income through a US LLC with no real substance — no independent clients, no contracts signed in the LLC’s name, no employees, no genuine activity from the US — the AEAT can reclassify all of that income as personal service income subject to 24% IRNR (or higher), plus penalties of 50%–150% of the underpaid amount, and potential criminal liability if the understatement exceeds €120,000.

Mistake 2: Effective management from Spain — Art. 8 LIS

Already described in the Daniel scenario above. If the sole manager of a US LLC works from Spain, the LLC can be declared a Spanish tax resident subject to 25% corporate income tax. The Spain-US tax treaty (2019 Protocol, BOE-A-2019-15166) does not resolve this: Art. 4 of the Convention uses effective place of management as the tiebreaker for legal entities — and if that place is materially in Spain, the treaty itself confirms Spanish residence.

To avoid this risk, the LLC needs genuine US substance: an active registered address in the US, US bank accounts, contracts executed in the US, and — ideally — some documented physical presence or activity in the US, even if minimal.

Mistake 3: Lack of substance and Controlled Foreign Corporation rules (Art. 91 LIRPF)

If the member controls more than 50% of the LLC (the typical case in a single-member structure) and more than 15% of income is passive (capital income, royalties, financial income), Art. 91 LIRPF (Transparencia Fiscal Internacional / TFI) can require forced attribution of those passive amounts in the member’s Spanish return, independently of the Beckham regime.

During the Beckham years, the interaction between Art. 91 and Art. 93 is a doctrinal gray zone — no binding ruling has addressed it explicitly. DGT V1372-25 speaks to the compatibility of Beckham + ERAR, but does not directly address the overlap with TFI. For structures where the LLC has significant passive income, prudence requires analyzing whether Art. 91 could be triggered alongside the Beckham regime.

Checklist and next steps

Before relocating to Spain with a US LLC under the Beckham umbrella, the verification list we apply systematically at BMC includes:

• LLC classification: does it meet the three criteria of Resolution BOE-A-2020-2108? Will it be treated as a flow-through entity (ERAR) or as an opaque entity?
• Income character: is it business/economic activity income (consulting, development), capital income (dividends, royalties), or mixed? What share is US-source versus Spain-source?
• Effective management: where will decisions be made and contracts performed after the move? Is there documentation of prior and ongoing US activity?
• US substance: does the LLC have an address, bank accounts, and documented activity in the US sufficient to rebut Art. 8 LIS?
• Modelo 720: does the LLC interest exceed €50,000? Are there US bank accounts with a balance above €50,000?
• TFI (Art. 91 LIRPF): does the member control ≥50% of the LLC? Does passive income exceed 15% of total LLC income?
• Primary residence: if purchasing property in Spain under Beckham, does the return include or exclude the deemed rental imputation? Adopt the cautious position while the Supreme Court has not resolved the TSJ/TEAC conflict.
• Year-seven planning: what is the post-Beckham strategy? Change of tax residence, LLC restructuring, conversion to a Spanish SL.

At BMC we have built the impatriates and Beckham Law practice around exactly this type of upfront analysis. If you are considering a move to Spain and you hold a US LLC, your first consultation with our team includes: Beckham eligibility review, preliminary LLC classification for DGT purposes, an overview of reporting obligations, and a comparative Spain + US tax scenario for years 1–7.

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Holding a US LLC and thinking about the Beckham Law? Reach out to our team at BMC for an initial assessment. We analyze your eligibility, your LLC’s likely classification under DGT criteria, and the combined Spain-US tax impact across the six regime years and beyond.