The 7p exemption: work carried out abroad free of income tax up to €60,100

The exemption under article 7.p of Ley 35/2006 (the Spanish Personal Income Tax Act) leaves employment income received for work effectively carried out abroad tax-free, with a limit of €60,100 per year. Its development is found in article 6 of the Reglamento del IRPF (Personal Income Tax Regulations, Real Decreto 439/2007).

It can be applied by tax residents in Spain with an employment or statutory relationship: employees of Spanish companies posted to projects, works or clients outside Spain, aid workers, multinational staff providing services to other group entities, or civil servants on certain missions. The Supreme Court (judgment 790/2022, of 20 June) has also clarified that directors and administrators are not excluded simply because their relationship with the company is commercial, although in these cases Hacienda closely examines the functions performed.

It does not cover income from economic activities: an autónomo (freelancer) invoicing foreign clients cannot benefit from this exemption. Nor is it necessary to lose your Spanish tax residency: on the contrary, the exemption is designed precisely for those who continue to pay taxes in Spain while travelling for work.

Managora analyses your specific case, checks if you meet the requirements and quantifies how much you can save or recover before moving a single piece of paper.

First: the work must be effectively carried out abroad. Physical presence outside Spain is required; it is not enough that the result of the work is used abroad. Every day counted must be provable.

Second: the recipient of the work must be a non-resident company or entity in Spain, or a permanent establishment located abroad. If the recipient is another company in the same group, transfer pricing regulations require the service to produce a real advantage or utility for the non-resident entity: an internal trip that only benefits the Spanish parent company is not valid.

Third: in the territory where the work is carried out, there must be a tax identical or analogous in nature to personal income tax, and it cannot be a non-cooperative jurisdiction (the current list is set by Orden HFP/115/2023). This requirement is automatically considered met when the country has signed a double taxation agreement with Spain containing an exchange of information clause, which happens with the vast majority of common destinations. You are not required to have actually paid tax there: it is enough that the tax exists.

Fourth: it must involve employment income derived from an employment or statutory relationship (or certain assimilated cases, according to the doctrine of the Directorate General for Taxation).

The exemption has 2 components. Specific remuneration for the posting (an expatriation bonus or supplement for the project abroad) is exempt for its full amount. And from the rest of the ordinary salary, the part proportional to the days spent abroad is exempt: the annual remuneration is divided by 365 days and multiplied by the days of the posting.

The calculation of days includes those effectively posted abroad, including the days of travel to the destination country and return to Spain, as established by the Supreme Court in its judgment 274/2021, of 25 February, a criterion that the AEAT (the Spanish tax agency) already includes in its 2025 Income Tax Manual.

The sum of both components is capped at €60,100 per year. Anything exceeding that figure is taxed normally. The limit is annual and per taxpayer: it does not carry over to other financial years.

The excess regime under article 9.A.3.b of the Reglamento del IRPF (Personal Income Tax Regulations) leaves exempt, without a quantitative limit, the excess received by an employee posted abroad over what they would earn in Spain for the same position. In return, it requires a real posting abroad (a change of workplace with an intention of permanence), not just simple trips or temporary stays.

Both regimes are mutually exclusive for the same remuneration: you must opt for one or the other, and you can choose the most favourable one. As a guiding rule, the 7p exemption usually wins for specific trips or single months, and the excess regime for long expatriations with a high posting bonus exceeding €60,100.

The choice is not always obvious and is final for the financial year. Managora does the calculation with both regimes and presents you with the option that saves you the most tax.

Via payslip: if the company has proof that the requirements are met, it can exclude the exempt part from the withholding base, because exempt income is not subject to withholding (article 75.3 of the Reglamento). It is the most convenient route, but many companies do not apply it out of caution.

Via tax return: if they withheld tax on your entire salary, you can apply the exemption yourself in the tax return for the year, excluding the exempt part from your employment income. Note: the tax data you download from the AEAT will come with the full amount reported by the company, so you have to correct them and be prepared to justify the difference.

Via rectification: if you did not apply the exemption in previous years, you can claim a refund of the overpaid amount in non-prescribed years (4 years from the end of the voluntary filing period). For the 2024 and 2025 Income Tax, the correction is made through the rectifying self-assessment within Renta Web (the "Modificar declaración presentada" option); for previous non-prescribed years, the rectification request is processed from the Renta Web service of the corresponding year. The agreed refund includes late payment interest when applicable.

None of these procedures has a tasa (official fee): applying the exemption or requesting the rectification is free before the AEAT. What it does require is precise calculation and solid evidence, which is where Managora provides value.

The 7p is one of the most audited exemptions in personal income tax: the burden of proof falls on you, and a request from the AEAT is the normal scenario, not the exception. It is advisable to build the evidence file before applying it, not afterwards.

The evidence that works best: a company certificate detailing the days of the posting, the destination and the recipient entity of the work; a posting letter or contract addendum; travel logs and expense sheets; boarding passes, tickets and reservations; visas and passport stamps; hotel invoices; emails, meeting minutes and deliverables that place your work in the foreign project; and in intra-group postings, documentation proving the utility of the service for the non-resident entity.

The usual weak point is the calendar: Hacienda checks day by day. A table of days with its documentary support behind each date decides most audits.

Managora prepares and submits it for you: we reconstruct your calendar, verify the requirements country by country, calculate the exemption, submit the tax return or rectification and answer the AEAT requests until the refund is collected. You can see the updated amount of the service on the procedure page and start today.