Footballers, bankers and startup founders have been in the news for years about the "Beckham Law". It is real, it is generous for some people and a poor deal for many others, and one missed deadline cancels it for good. Its official name is the special regime for workers displaced to Spanish territory, sometimes called the impatriate tax regime, and it lives in article 93 of the IRPF law. If you are weighing Spain and have a job offer or a remote contract, the Beckham Law in Spain is worth ten minutes of careful reading.
This is information, not advice. The comparison between the regime and ordinary tax is a calculation to have made by a professional.
What does the Beckham Law in Spain actually do?
When you become a tax resident in Spain, you are normally taxed on your worldwide income at progressive rates (see tax residency in Spain). The special regime lets you choose to be taxed as a non-resident:
- 24% on employment and other eligible income up to €600,000 a year, and 47% on the part above;
- in principle only on Spanish-source income (your eligible salary or activity is deemed Spanish);
- on income from savings, the ordinary savings scale applies to your Spanish-source capital income: in 2026, 19% to 30% depending on the amount.
The regime lasts for the year you become resident and the five following years. The IRPF regulation defines that first year as the first calendar year in which you spend more than 183 days in Spain after the move. During it, you file model 151 instead of the usual return, and your employer withholds 24% from your salary.
What are the Beckham Law requirements in Spain?
Three families of conditions.
1. You have not been a Spanish tax resident for the previous five tax years.
2. You move for a qualifying reason, in the year the regime starts or the year before:
- an employment contract with an employer in Spain, or a transfer ordered by your employer with a posting letter;
- remote work for an employer, even a foreign one, with exclusively IT and telecommunication means. The international teleworking visa counts;
- a director's post in a company (with limits if the company is a holding of assets);
- an entrepreneurial activity that is innovative or of economic interest to Spain, with a favourable report from the public body ENISA requested before arriving;
- a highly qualified professional serving a recognised startup (law 28/2022) or in training, research, development and innovation, where more than 40% of your activity income comes from it.
3. You do not earn income through a permanent establishment in Spain, which in practice excludes an ordinary freelancer, except for the entrepreneur or qualified professional routes above.
For EU, EEA and Swiss citizens, no residence authorisation is needed. For British people and other non-Europeans, the entrepreneurial and professional routes require the right residence authorisation before moving, and the teleworking visa opens the remote-employee route. See moving to Spain from the UK and remote work in Spain.
How and when do you apply?
The deadline is the first thing to know: six months from the start date of your activity as recorded in your Spanish social security registration (or in the document that keeps you under your home country's system if you are posted). Miss it and the option is lost. The date that counts is the registration, not your arrival.
- Get your NIE (the NIE guide) and register with social security, or keep your home-country certificate if posted.
- Upload your supporting documents on the tax agency's online service for the regime, and keep the registration number you receive.
- Submit model 149 electronically with that number.
- Each year, file model 151.
The family can follow. A spouse, children under 25 (no age limit if disabled) or the other parent of your children, if you are not married, can opt in if they come with you or before the end of your first year under the regime, become resident and meet the same conditions. Each person files their own model 149.
What do you give up?
Plenty. Your tax is calculated with the rules for non-residents, so the joint return, the family allowances and the regional deductions of ordinary IRPF do not apply. If you own a home in Spain, even the one you live in, the tax agency's manual says it still produces deemed rental income (imputación de rentas inmobiliarias) under the regime. For a modest income, the regime can cost more than normal tax, because the ordinary scale starts at 9.5% on the first euros plus the regional part, while 24% is flat from the first euro. That is why a comparison is essential.
Your wealth tax is limited to your Spanish assets. And you will not owe the modelo 720 on foreign assets while in the regime, though that exemption does not cover other household members who are resident.
Renouncing is final: you can give it up in November or December for the following year, but you can never opt in again. If you stop meeting a condition, you must report it within a month on model 149.
Is the Beckham Law worth it for you?
There is no universal answer, but the logic is easy to state. The regime replaces a progressive scale with a flat rate. A flat 24% is a bargain for high earners, because the state part of the ordinary scale alone reaches 24.5% above €300,000, before the regional part is added. It is much less attractive for a middle income, where ordinary rates in the lower bands are lower and you would also keep personal and family allowances and regional deductions. The foreign-income angle also matters: during the regime, income from your assets abroad is in principle outside the Spanish tax net, while under ordinary residence it is taxed in Spain.
So the sensible approach is a side-by-side calculation for your actual figures: salary, family situation, region, savings income and foreign assets. Before you decide, have your situation confirmed by a Spanish tax adviser (asesor fiscal), who can run both scenarios before the six months run out.
Does the Beckham Law apply to remote workers?
Yes, on conditions. If you move to Spain to work remotely for an employer, even a foreign one, with exclusively IT and telecommunication means, the regime can apply to you. The international teleworking visa is accepted as a basis: article 93 itself says the condition is deemed met for employees who hold that visa. You must still not have been resident in Spain in the previous five tax years, you must still apply on time, and the regime still lasts only for the year of arrival and the five years after it. A freelancer working remotely for several clients is a different case: an ordinary self-employed person is outside the regime. Our guide to remote work in Spain explains the social security and visa side.
What are the classic mistakes?
- Missing the six months. It is the most frequent error, and it is final.
- Believing everything is taxed at 24%. Spanish capital income is taxed on the savings scale, and non-employment income abroad stays outside the net only in principle.
- Forgetting that you lose deductions. No joint return and no ordinary family or regional deductions.
- Choosing it by reflex. For many middle incomes the ordinary scale can be cheaper.
- Forgetting the wealth tax. Under the regime you are liable only on assets located in Spain, which can be an advantage.
What about the Basque Country, Navarre and the islands?
Article 93 applies to the territory managed by the Agencia Tributaria. If you live in the Basque Country or Navarre, the rules of the provincial Diputación Foral or of Navarre apply, with their own schemes. Their schemes use different mechanisms and amounts from the 24% rate, so ask the provincial tax authority before you compare.
The Canary and Balearic Islands are in the common-law system, so article 93 applies there; regional deductions are among the things you give up.
For help on the other tax questions of a move, start with cost of living in Spain.