🇪🇸Beckham Law: Spain's special tax regime, Modelo 149 and Modelo 151

Concept

Beckham Law (Special Tax Regime, Beckham Law) — a Spanish tax regime giving foreign tax residents a fixed rate of 24% on employment income up to €600,000 per year and 0% on passive income from sources outside Spain for 6 tax periods.

One material qualification: under Art. 93.2.b) LIRPF the whole of the employment income (rendimientos del trabajo) obtained by the taxpayer while the special regime applies is deemed obtained in Spanish territory — so the 24% bites on worldwide salary, including pay from a foreign employer, not merely on the Spanish portion. The 0% relief covers passive income, not earnings. Foreign tax withheld on that salary is credited under Art. 80 LIRPF, capped at 30% of the part of the cuota íntegra attributable to that income (Art. 114.2.b) of the IRPF Regulations, RD 439/2007); income from an activity carried out before the move to Spain, or after the notice that the posting to Spain has ended (Art. 119.5 of the Regulations), falls outside the Art. 93.2.b) rule (Art. 114.2.a) of the Regulations).

Governed by Art. 93 of the Personal Income Tax Law (LIRPF) as last amended by Startups Law 28/2022, effective January 1, 2023. Application is filed using form Modelo 149 with the Agencia Tributaria within 6 months from the activity start date shown in the Spanish Social Security registration (alta) — or, for seconded employees keeping home-country coverage, in the equivalent home social-security documentation; the NIE date itself does not start the clock (RD 1008/2023).

The regime is elected, not granted automatically — a separate tax decision tied to the move, not to the visa.

Key distinction from standard Spanish tax residency: dividends, interest, capital gains and rental income from assets outside Spain are NOT subject to Spanish income tax. Modelo 720 (foreign asset declaration) is not filed under the regime: the obligation attaches to taxpayers taxed on their worldwide income (obligación personal), and an Art. 93 taxpayer reports as a non-resident. For ordinary Spanish residents the declaration is mandatory, and its sanctions regime is limited by CJEU decision C-788/19 of January 27, 2022 to standard penalties under Spanish tax code.

The regime was introduced by Ley 62/2003 of 30 December 2003, on fiscal, administrative and social order measures (BOE No 313 of 31.12.2003): its artículo primero, apartado Cuatro inserted a new paragraph 5 into art. 9 of Ley 40/1998 del IRPF with effect from 1 January 2004. After the consolidated text the provision was renumbered and is today Art. 93 of Ley 35/2006 del IRPF. Real Decreto 687/2005 of 10 June 2005 (BOE No 139 of 11.06.2005) neither introduced the regime nor approved the IRPF Regulations: it amended the Regulations approved by Real Decreto 1775/2004 of 30 July 2004 in order to govern the regime, and its own preamble attributes the regime's introduction to Ley 62/2003.

Created to attract professional athletes and executives of international companies, the regime found its first high-profile user in David Beckham — hence the name. The Startups Law 28/2022 reform extended the regime to researchers, executives of entrepreneurial companies and holders of the Spanish Digital Nomad Visa (visado para teletrabajo de carácter internacional); an ordinary autónomo does not qualify for the regime — among the self-employed, only entrepreneurial activity under Ley 28/2022 (a startup project with a favourable ENISA report) and highly qualified professionals serving startups or R&D (>40% of income) pass.

Advantages

Tax rate on foreign passive income:

• 0% on dividends, loan interest, royalties and income from sale of shares (regardless of amount).

Tax rate on employment income:

• 24% up to €600,000 per year;
• 47% above €600,000.

Social contributions (for autónomos):

• for 2026 — approximately €205 to €607 per month at the minimum base of each bracket; the 15-bracket system is tied to real income (Orden PJC/297/2026).

Social contributions are calculated based on the taxpayer's age, type of activity and income level; the exact amount is taken from the year's table. The employer’s country does not by itself determine where contributions are due. Apply the relevant place-of-work and social-security coordination rules; continued foreign coverage requires an applicable exception and the required evidence. The Beckham income-tax election does not choose the social-security system. (Sources: BOE: social security agreement).

Disadvantages

• no entitlement to tax deductions
• access to double tax treaties is closed: a person under the regime is not treated as a Spanish resident for convention purposes, so the source country withholds at its domestic rate

Treaty residency: what the regime does not give

A Beckham taxpayer is taxed under IRNR-style rules, and in the Agencia Tributaria's view persons under the Art. 93 regime are not treated as Spanish residents for double tax treaty purposes — a tax residency certificate "within the meaning of the convention" is generally not issued to them. The consequence: source countries withhold at domestic rates with no treaty relief — US dividends at 30% instead of the treaty 15%, royalties and interest from third countries at local rates. Spain adds nothing on top (0% on foreign passive income), but the withholding cannot be credited or reclaimed through a treaty either. Price this against a specific portfolio before electing. For how the regime compares across jurisdictions, see the special tax regimes map.

Foreign assets, wealth tax and the solidarity tax

Under Art. 93 the taxpayer reports as a non-resident, so Modelo 720, the information return on foreign assets, is not filed: that duty attaches to taxpayers taxed on worldwide income. The same logic covers Modelo 721, the separate return for foreign crypto-assets above EUR 50,000 introduced for the 2023 reporting year. The AEAT confirms this in its Modelo 720 questions and answers and answers the family question in the same place: the regime does not extend to the other members of the family unit, who may be bound by the return insofar as they are Spanish tax residents. That answer predates 2023, when a spouse or child became able to opt into Art. 93 in their own right, so each person's own election decides; the return itself — blocks, thresholds and deadlines — is covered in Modelo 720. The CFC rules run on their own logic and do not depend on Modelo 720.

The perimeter of those forms widens in 2026. The annual tax control plan (Resolución of 11 March 2026, BOE-A-2026-5843) announces a ministerial order that will bring electronic money and central bank digital currencies into Modelo 172 (crypto-asset balances) and Modelo 721 (crypto-assets held abroad), which until now covered virtual currencies alone, together with a new Modelo 175 replacing Modelo 173 for crypto-asset service providers under DAC8. The plan describes both as forthcoming: the order was still to be issued, and DAC8 was not yet transposed in Spain at that point. The mechanics of the exchange itself are set out in crypto-asset reporting.

Impuesto sobre el Patrimonio under Art. 93 is paid on obligación real alone — on assets and rights located or exercisable in Spain; worldwide property stays outside the base. The state exempt minimum is EUR 700,000, the scale is progressive up to 3.5%, and the autonomous community sets the operative rates and reliefs.

Madrid and several other communities had all but zeroed that tax through a bonificación, which is why the separate Impuesto Temporal de Solidaridad de las Grandes Fortunas appeared at the end of 2022 (Ley 38/2022): a EUR 3 million threshold, rates of 1.7% / 2.1% / 3.5%, with the regional Patrimonio paid credited against it. The word "temporary" stayed in the name, but the tax has no end date: additional provision five, paragraph 2 of Real Decreto-ley 8/2023 of 27 December 2023 extended it until wealth taxation is reviewed in the context of the reform of regional financing — an event that had not occurred by September 2026.

For non-residents and taxpayers on obligación real the question is settled. STS 1372/2025 of 29 October 2025 (rec. 4701/2023) and STS 1402/2025 of 3 November 2025 (rec. 7626/2023) held that habitual residence does not justify treating residents and non-residents differently, and that denying the latter the cuota íntegra limit of Art. 31, paragraph Uno LIP is discriminatory. The doctrine then travelled through the forms: Orden HAC/277/2026 of 25 March 2026 removed the note "only for taxpayers on obligación personal" from the 2025 Modelo 714, the TEAC extended the same conclusion to the ITSGF in resolutions RG 4119/2025 and RG 5527/2025 of 18 December 2025, and Orden HAC/652/2026 of 26 June 2026 (BOE of 29 June 2026) redrafted the annex to Modelo 718 accordingly.

Two practical points follow for a Beckham taxpayer: the ITSGF base is Spanish assets only, and the wealth-return calendar diverges from the income campaign — Patrimonio for 2025 is filed between 8 April and 30 June 2026, Modelo 718 from 1 July 2026.

Conditions

To apply the Beckham Law one must have one of the following statuses:

• director of an active company in Spain (or passive company with ownership below 25%)
• Digital Nomad working for a foreign company under contract

N.B.: an ordinary autónomo does not qualify for the regime (including digital nomads registered as self-employed); the exceptions are entrepreneurial activity under Ley 28/2022 (a startup project with a favourable ENISA report) and highly qualified professionals serving startups or R&D (>40% of income).

• startup entrepreneur ("Start-Up empresas emergentes"), in accordance with Article 70 of Law Ley 14/2013, de 27 de Septiembre, de Apoyo a Los Emprendedores y su Internacionalización.

N.B.: mandatory requirement — informe from ENISA (art. 93.b.3 IRPF);

• family members of a person to whom the Beckham Law applies (Art. 93.3 LIRPF as amended by Ley 28/2022).

The Beckham Law may be used by the taxpayer's spouse and children under 25 years of age (in case of disability without age limitation). If not married, then if there is a common child.

The income of the spouse and/or children must not exceed the income of the primary applicant.

However: the Beckham Law cannot be used by persons who held Spanish tax residency during the preceding 5 years. Also cannot claim the special regime those who receive income from a permanent establishment located in Spain.

Reasons for rejection

1. Non-compliance with the non-residency condition for the previous 5 years;
2. Not belonging to a group to which the regime may apply;
3. Failure to meet the application deadline (6 months).

For persons who acquired Spanish tax residence in 2023 after a move made in 2022 or 2023 before the new Modelo 149 took effect, a transitional rule applied: the six months ran from the entry into force of Orden HFP/1338/2023 on 16/12/2023 (it was published in the BOE on 15/12/2023), unless Art. 116 of the IRPF Regulations gave a longer period (transitional provision twenty of the Regulations, added by RD 1008/2023).

For spouses and/or children the deadline is 6 months from their entry into Spain, or the main applicant's window if that ends later (art. 116 IRPF Regulations, as amended by RD 1008/2023).

What the AEAT reads

The annual tax control plan for 2026 (Resolución of the AEAT Director General of 11 March 2026, BOE-A-2026-5843) singles out "impatriados" and states the underlying asymmetry outright: the election evidences only that the option has been exercised and does not mean that compliance with the requirements has been verified — the administration checks after the fact. Three signals follow, in the plan's own words.

In its collection chapter the plan announces the civil action for nullity on the ground of simulation, which "es por definición imprescriptible", and the actio pauliana for gratuitous transactions, where fault need not be shown. By its place this is a debt-collection instrument and tax assessment keeps its own time limits. What it breaks is the calculation of sitting out the limitation period.

Switching to Beckham Law

To begin using the Beckham Law, one must first hold a tax identification number (for a foreign national, the NIE) and be entered in the Censo de Obligados Tributarios; if there is no entry yet, the census declaration on Form 030 is filed first. Then notify the Spanish tax agency of the intention to apply the special tax regime by completing an application on Form 149.

The following documents must also be included with the form:

• Passport and tax ID
• Social security number
• Employer's document confirming the employment relationship, the activity start date in the Social Security registration, the workplace (centro de trabajo) and its address and the contract duration; for remote work that the employer has not ordered, the employer's document gives the start date and the expected duration of the work in Spain, with no workplace (Art. 119.2 of the IRPF Regulations).

Each year, from April to June, persons subject to the Beckham Law must file an income tax return using Form 151.

Forms and deadlines

The procedure rests on two forms: Modelo 149 communicates the election of the regime, a waiver (renuncia), an exclusion (exclusión) or the end of the posting; Modelo 151 is the annual IRPF return for every year the regime runs. Neither form creates the entitlement: it is tested against Art. 93 LIRPF and Arts. 113–120 of the IRPF Regulations — on the facts of tax residence, the qualifying reason for the move, the nature of the activity and the absence of a disqualifying permanent establishment.

The order of steps is fixed: before Modelo 149 the taxpayer needs a NIF and an entry in the Censo de Obligados Tributarios; if there is no entry, the census registration return is filed first. Supporting documents are then uploaded through a separate Agencia Tributaria e-service, "Aportar documentación necesaria para optar por el régimen especial", which returns a filing reference number — that number is quoted on the Modelo 149 itself. Each taxpayer files individually, and where a family elects, the main taxpayer's communication is filed before those of the associated persons; their own deadline under Art. 116 of the IRPF Regulations is the later of the two dates.

Modelo 151, the annual return

Modelo 151 is the IRPF return of a resident taxed under Art. 93 for each of the six tax periods; the Agencia Tributaria states on its page for the special regime that these taxpayers file their tax return on it. The AEAT practical manual adds that taxpayers who opt for the regime are obliged to file and sign it, in the place and period set for IRPF returns generally, and that it is filed only electronically. Orden HFP/1338/2023 of 13 December 2023 approved the current Modelo 151 together with Modelo 149. The Modelo 151 procedure is reserved for taxpayers who opted for the regime from 1 January 2015; those who opted earlier, under the regime in force until 31 December 2014, used Modelo 150.

The annual calendar follows the ordinary IRPF campaign, not a separate non-resident timetable. For the 2025 tax year the campaign ran from 8 April to 30 June 2026, and a direct-debit instruction had to be given by 25 June — five days ahead of the filing deadline itself. Late filing attracts the same surcharges and late-payment interest as an ordinary return; the next campaign's dates are re-checked against AEAT.

Inside Modelo 151 the base splits in two. Employment income and qualifying activities are taxed at the regime rate — 24% up to €600,000 and 47% on the excess; dividends, interest and capital gains, where they are taxable in Spain, run on their own savings scale. The "one rate on everything" formula is wrong: the regime does not remove the analysis of the source of income, the nature of the payment, permanent establishment, withholdings, or the evidence supporting the qualifying ground.

An IRPF taxpayer under the Art. 93 regime may request a Spanish tax residence certificate from the Agencia Tributaria, and banks, brokers, employers and foreign withholding agents ask for it. It is not the certificate "within the meaning of the convention": it does not substitute for treaty analysis and does not by itself switch off withholding at source abroad.

Rulings and DAC8

From 2026 the correspondence with the Spanish tax authority has an audience outside Spain. Directive (EU) 2023/2226 (DAC8) extended the automatic exchange of advance cross-border rulings to rulings on the tax affairs of individuals, and at the same time brought rulings that determine whether a person is tax resident in the issuing state within the definition of a cross-border ruling (Art. 3(14) of Directive 2011/16/EU). A ruling issued, amended or renewed after 1 January 2026 is exchanged where the transaction amount stated in it exceeds €1,500,000, or where it answers that residence question.

Modelo 149 is itself a communication electing the regime, and the AEAT act confirming it sits awkwardly against the definition of an advance ruling. The Spanish instrument that does fall inside by its subject matter is the DGT consulta vinculante under Arts. 88–89 LGT — used to settle contested points on Art. 93: the characterisation of a contract, a sporting director's access, the scope of worldwide employment income under Art. 93.2.b). For a Beckham taxpayer this shows twice over, since the whole position rests on a split status — resident under domestic law, non-resident for treaty purposes — and that is precisely the question the directive marks as exchangeable.

The final classification of both procedures for DAC8 purposes rests with Spanish practice; on 30 January 2026 the Commission sent Spain a letter of formal notice for failing to transpose DAC8. The provision carries no retroactivity: a 2021 consulta a structure still relies on is not exchanged. The difference from DGT publication matters here — in the consultation database the answer is anonymised, while through the DAC8 channel it travels with the taxpayer identified. A fresh request, or an amendment of the earlier answer, after 1 January 2026 brings the document wholly into exchange, and planning that counted on it staying private ends at that step.

RD 1008/2023: the regulations behind the Startup Law

Real Decreto 1008/2023 of December 5, 2023 carried the Ley 28/2022 reform into the IRPF Regulations and settled the main procedural question — when the Modelo 149 clock starts. The 6 months run from the activity start date shown in the Spanish Social Security registration (alta) or, for seconded employees keeping home-country coverage, in that home social-security documentation (art. 116 of the Regulations). The NIE or arrival date does not start the clock by itself. Family members file within 6 months of their own entry into Spain, or within the main applicant's window if that ends later. The decree also fixed the documents per category: remote workers — an employer statement confirming the remote format and the expected duration of work from Spain; startup entrepreneurs — a favourable ENISA report (unless holding an entrepreneur residence permit); highly qualified professionals — proof of qualification, of the client's empresa emergente status and of the services provided. Text: RD 1008/2023 (BOE).

Professional sportspersons: named after them, closed to them

The regime carries a footballer's name, yet the current wording of Art. 93 LIRPF expressly excludes professional sportspersons. Art. 93.1.b).1º admits a move to Spain "as a consequence of an employment contract, with the exception of the special employment relationship of professional sportspersons regulated by Real Decreto 1006/1985 of 26 June" (con excepción de la relación laboral especial de los deportistas profesionales regulada por el Real Decreto 1006/1985) — wording quoted by the Agencia Tributaria itself and by the DGT (see binding ruling V1203-21 of 30 April 2021). One correction to the widely repeated version of events: the carve-out was not introduced by Ley 26/2009 but by Ley 26/2014 of 27 November 2014, which redrafted Art. 93; the new wording applies to tax periods beginning on or after 1 January 2015. Ley 26/2009 of 23 December 2009 (the 2010 Budget Law) worked differently: it imposed a €600,000 annual remuneration ceiling as an eligibility condition, which from 2010 priced elite players out of the regime in practice.

A player contracted under RD 1006/1985 does not qualify. Sporting directors, general managers and a club's commercial and marketing staff work under the Estatuto de los Trabajadores and fall outside the RD 1006/1985 perimeter — Art. 93 stays open to them. Coaches and fitness trainers are a contested category: Spanish labour case law extends RD 1006/1985 to them and there is no separate DGT position, so the characterisation of the specific contract is settled before the Modelo 149 filing.

What is left to a player: ordinary IRPF (in Madrid a top marginal rate of 45.0% against 47% under Art. 93 on the excess over €600,000, but with deductions, treaty access and a residency certificate "within the meaning of the convention"), the 20% Madrid deduction under art. 17 bis of Decreto Legislativo 1/2010 (inserted by Ley 4/2024 of 20 November 2024, BOCM 28.11.2024, and unavailable under Art. 93 because regional deductions do not apply there), and the signing-bonus mechanics of art. 14.1.a and art. 18.2 LIRPF. The statutory detail, the procedure for claiming the deduction and the ways it is lost sit on a dedicated page: Athletes in Spain.

CFC implications for Beckham beneficiary

Beckham Law (Art. 93 LIRPF) excludes foreign-source passive income from the Spanish tax base for 6 tax periods. The consequence for CFC rules is precise and limited, and it is confined to Spain.

Spanish CFC rules — Art. 100 LIS (for corporations) and Art. 91 LIRPF (for individuals). Under Beckham an individual is taxed at 24% / 47% on Spanish-source income plus, by force of Art. 93.2.b) LIRPF, on all employment income wherever earned; foreign-source passive attribution does not arise. Russian CFC duties depend on tax residence for the relevant tax period and control; departure does not erase filings attributable to earlier resident years. The day tests of the main jurisdictions are compared in tax residency basics. (Sources: FNS: CFC; FNS: tax residence).

The regime does not reach other countries' CFC rules: those follow the taxpayer's residency in the state that imposes them, not the Spanish election. CRS reporting runs on its own logic in either case.

Full review of all CFC regimes and residency strategies — in the CFC master guide.

Beckham Against the Neighbouring Regimes

The regime competes for one particular arrival: someone who will draw a salary or a founder's pay in Europe and holds a portfolio abroad. Five neighbouring regimes take the same person on different terms, and the axis that decides the result is rarely the headline rate — it is what the regime does to treaty status and how long it runs. Figures in force in September 2026; the full matrix of sixteen regimes is kept in special tax regimes.

The last column is the one that prices the Spanish regime. Beckham is the only regime of the six that buys its rate by stepping outside the treaty network: the source state withholds at its domestic rate, a US dividend at 30% rather than the convention's 15%, and nothing can be reclaimed or credited afterwards, because Spain charges nothing against which to credit it. For a salary with a modest portfolio behind it the trade is favourable; for a portfolio-heavy arrival it can cost more than the 24% saves, which is why the calculation is run against the actual holdings before Modelo 149 is filed.

Term runs the other way. Six tax periods is the second-shortest window in the group — only the UK's four years is tighter — against Portugal's ten, Italy's fifteen and Cyprus's seventeen. The Spanish regime is therefore a bridge for a defined assignment rather than a settlement plan, and the year the regime ends is the year to model first: the ordinary Spanish scale, wealth tax on the worldwide base and Modelo 720 all arrive together, and the arithmetic of that step is set out in leaving the Beckham regime.

The entry gates differ enough to decide most cases on their own. Five years of non-residence is among the mildest bars of the six, which is what makes Spain available to returners whom the UK regime excludes outright; but Art. 93 is closed to ordinary self-employment and to professional sportspersons under RD 1006/1985, while Greece's Art. 5C wants a new Greek job or business and Portugal's IFICI a certified activity. The departure side of the same move — exit charge in the country left behind, the year of the move, the tail — is set out country by country in the relocation matrix.