Modelo 151 is a special annual IRPF declaration for taxpayers to whom the Article 93 regime applies. It differs from Modelo 149: Modelo 149 notifies the election of the regime, while Modelo 151 is used for annual reporting during the period the regime is in effect.
The Agencia Tributaria explicitly describes the Article 93 taxpayer as a Spanish resident who has chosen to calculate tax under the rules of the non-resident income tax, but retains the status of an IRPF taxpayer. Therefore, Modelo 151 is not a non-resident declaration in the colloquial sense; it is a special declaration of a Spanish resident within IRPF.
The regime in brief
The Beckham Law is the special regime of Article 93 of the Personal Income Tax Act (Ley 35/2006, LIRPF). It is open to people who become Spanish tax residents because they have moved here to work, and it lets a new resident be taxed largely as a non-resident for six years: a flat 24% on Spanish-source employment income, with most foreign income left outside the Spanish base. Named after the footballer who first used it in 2005, the regime is settled each year through Modelo 151.
Who can elect it
The applicant must not have been a Spanish tax resident in the five tax years before the move, a window cut from ten by the 2022 Startups Law (Ley 28/2022), in force since 1 January 2023 and developed by Real Decreto 1008/2023. The move must rest on a qualifying reason: an employment contract or posting to Spain, a board appointment (for a pure holding company the director's stake must stay below 25%), innovative entrepreneurial activity, or highly-qualified work for a start-up or in R&D. Remote employees who enter on the digital-nomad visa now qualify, and a spouse and children can opt in alongside the main applicant.
Electronic Filing
Modelo 151 is filed electronically, and its window tracks the ordinary IRPF campaign rather than any separate non-resident calendar. For the 2025 tax year the campaign runs from 8 April to 30 June 2026, with 25 June the cut-off where a balance due is settled by direct debit. Filing late carries the same surcharges and late-payment interest as an ordinary return.
What Is Included in the Calculation
Under the Article 93 regime, the tax base is divided. For employment income and qualified activities, a separate rate applies: 24% up to €600,000 and 47% on the excess. For dividends, interest, and capital gains, when they are subject to taxation in Spain under the regime, the Agencia Tributaria indicates a separate scale for the corresponding base.
The formula "one rate for all income" is incorrect. The regime does not eliminate the analysis of income source, nature of payment, permanent establishment, withholdings, international double taxation liability, and documents that confirm the basis for applying the regime.
Tax Residency Certificate
The Agencia Tributaria indicates that an IRPF taxpayer who has elected the Article 93 regime may request a Spanish tax residency certificate. This is important for banks, brokers, employers, and foreign tax agents, but the certificate itself does not replace the analysis of the double taxation treaty and does not turn the Article 93 regime into a universal exemption from withholding taxes at source.
What is taxed, and what is not
The regime turns on one distinction. Employment income is treated as obtained in Spain wherever the work is physically performed, so worldwide salary, bonuses and most job-related equity fall into the Spanish base at the flat labour rate. Other foreign-source income (dividends, interest, foreign rental, capital gains, pensions) stays outside Spanish tax for the six years, while Spanish-source savings income follows the savings scale, which currently climbs from 19% to 30% on the largest amounts. The regime therefore rewards people whose investments sit abroad and whose Spanish footprint is mainly salary.
Wealth tax and foreign assets
Article 93 carries through to the wealth taxes. A beneficiary is liable to the Wealth Tax and to the Solidarity Tax on Large Fortunes only on assets and rights situated in Spain (the real obligation), so an overseas portfolio or foreign property stays outside both. The same logic removes the foreign-asset disclosure under Modelo 720 that ordinary residents must file. The benefit holds only while the regime runs, and the year it ends the taxpayer reverts to worldwide taxation and full reporting — the scenarios of that transition are covered in the material on exiting the Beckham regime.