Beckham Law (impatriate regime) in 2026: who can apply, how much you pay and how to file form 149

Beckham Law is the popular name for the special tax regime for workers, professionals, entrepreneurs and investors posted to Spain (article 93 of the Ley del IRPF (Personal Income Tax Act) and articles 113 to 120 of its Reglamento (Regulation)). Anyone who acquires tax residency in Spain as a result of their relocation can pay taxes under the Non-Resident Income Tax rules, while still being a personal income tax payer.

The general taxable base is taxed at 24% up to €600,000 and 47% on the excess. Dividends, interest and capital gains from transfers have their own scale, from 19% to 30% (30%, from the 2025 financial year, for anything over €300,000). The withholding tax on your salary is 24%, and 47% on anything over €600,000 from the same payer. If you are paid by a foreign company without an establishment in Spain, we will review with you whether anyone is obliged to withhold tax from you.

A very common mistake is believing that only the part of the salary earned or paid in Spain is taxed. Your entire salary is considered to be obtained in Spain, even if it is paid by a foreign company. And it is not automatic nor does it always pay off: you must opt in using form 149 within the deadline, and we will calculate beforehand with your numbers whether it is beneficial for you.

The law requires 3 conditions: not having been a tax resident in Spain in the 5 tax periods prior to the relocation; that the relocation takes place in the first year of application of the regime or in the previous one, for an admitted reason; and not obtaining income through a permanent establishment in Spain, except in the entrepreneurial and highly qualified professional routes. Furthermore, anyone who has used the special withholding procedure of article 89.B) of the Reglamento (Regulation) cannot opt in.

The admitted reasons are: an employment contract with an employer in Spain (except professional athletes), a relocation ordered by your employer, remote employment using exclusively telematics means, appointment as a director of an entity, an entrepreneurial activity with a favourable report from ENISA, and a highly qualified professional working for emerging companies or in R&D&I. The table in this guide indicates the document for each one.

The teleworking route does not require the company to be foreign: it requires an employment relationship provided remotely using exclusively telematics means. The law considers this condition met for employees with an international teleworking visa, but for Hacienda (the Spanish tax agency) this visa is not a requirement; the authorisation to reside and work is an immigration matter.

In the entrepreneurial route, the activity must be innovative and/or of special economic interest and have a favourable report from ENISA. If you are not an EU citizen or a beneficiary of the Union's free movement and residence rights, you need an entrepreneur residence authorisation before relocating; with this, you do not need to attach the report to form 149. An EU citizen, or anyone with those rights, only needs the report, also prior to relocation, which ENISA issues in 10 working days.

In the highly qualified professional route, this remuneration must exceed 40% of your business, professional and employment income, and the company must be registered as an emerging company in the Mercantile or Cooperatives Register. Registration happens when ENISA certifies it and notifies the Register: if yours is not registered, we will process the emerging company certification for you.

The salaried digital nomad can, through the remote work route. According to the Large Companies Unit, the employed nomad contributes to the General Regime, with their foreign company registered with the Tesorería (the Social Security General Treasury) as a company without a workplace in Spain, unless they have a certificate of coverage from a Social Security agreement with Spain. The start date of this registration, or that of the document from their country, starts the 6 months for form 149.

The nomad who invoices as an autónomo does not qualify through the teleworking route: this route requires an employment relationship, and during the regime the only permitted economic activities are entrepreneurial, services to emerging companies as a highly qualified professional, and R&D&I. A freelance worker with foreign clients and an ordinary activity pays the general personal income tax, even if they have a self-employed nomad authorisation.

You have 2 options, and it is advisable to study them before coming, because the relocation must occur as a consequence of that activity; if you already live in Spain, we will review it with your dates. The first is the entrepreneurial route, if your project is innovative or of special economic interest: you need the favourable report from ENISA and, if you are not an EU citizen, the entrepreneur residence authorisation, both before relocating (our entrepreneur residence service includes the ENISA form). The second is the highly qualified professional route, if what you earn for services to emerging companies and for R&D&I activities exceeds, altogether, 40% of your income. Bear in mind that the self-employed nomad authorisation only allows you to work for companies located in Spain for up to 20% of your professional activity, and an emerging company has its headquarters or an establishment in Spain. If you do not fit in, we will register you as an autónomo and manage your taxes with our Self-employed plan, a fixed monthly fee whose price is on our plans page.

Warning for the employee who has already opted in: registering as an autónomo for an ordinary activity, or opening a permanent establishment in Spain, excludes you from the regime from that year onwards, with no way back. Consult us first.

The regime applies in the period in which you acquire tax residency and in the following 5 periods: 6 tax returns at most. That first period is not necessarily the one of arrival: it is the first calendar year in which, already relocated, you stay in Spain for more than 183 days.

Example: you arrive and register with the Seguridad Social on 1 September 2026. In 2026 you do not exceed 183 days, so your first year is 2027 and the regime runs from 2027 to 2032. The relocation falls in the year prior to the first one, as required by law, and the 5 periods without residency that are checked are from 2021 to 2025.

What does not wait is form 149: in that example, the 6 months count from the registration in September 2026, not from January 2027. Once the sixth period is over, you move to the general personal income tax.

The maximum deadline to opt in is 6 months from the start date of the activity stated in the registration with the Spanish Seguridad Social, in the document that maintains the one from your country or, if there is no obligation to register, in the proof of commencement. It does not count from your arrival or from your visa. After that deadline, you can no longer opt in.

Before form 149 you need a NIF (Tax Identification Number) and to be in the Census of Taxpayers (if not, the census declaration goes first: in our experience, a newly assigned NIE might not yet have a census registration). And you must send the documentation through the procedure 'Provide necessary documentation to opt for the special regime', whose registration number is entered on form 149. Form 149 and form 151 are submitted only online.

You always attach the proof of registration with the Seguridad Social (or its equivalent), the residence authorisation if you have one, and the document for your route. The tax residence certificates for the previous 5 years and the empadronamiento (registration on the local town hall census) are not on the list of the Reglamento (Regulation): they are only provided if Hacienda requests them.

The AEAT (the Spanish tax agency) issues, if applicable, an accreditation document within a maximum of 10 working days, which you give to whoever is obliged to withhold tax from you, so that they apply the 24%. Every year you declare with form 151, not with form 100, within the general deadline of the income tax campaign.

Managora does this for you: we check the requirements, set your first year and your deadline, tell you what your employer's document must say (only they can issue it), prepare the submission of documentation and file form 149, the one for each family member and form 151 each year with the mandate signed by you and each family member, as social collaborators of the Tax Agency. We never ask for your digital certificate. You can see the updated amount on the procedure's page.

Yes: the spouse, children under 25 years of age (or of any age with a disability) and, if there is no marriage, the parent of those children. They must relocate with the main applicant or later, before their first period of the regime ends (or before them, without acquiring residency before that period), acquire tax residency, not have been residents in the 5 previous periods and not have a permanent establishment.

The condition that is most overlooked: the sum of the taxable bases of all the family members who have opted in must be lower than that of the main applicant, every year. It is not enough for each one to earn less. If the sum exceeds it, they are jointly excluded.

Each family member submits their own form 149, after the main applicant, within 6 months of their entry into Spain or within the main applicant's deadline if it is longer. If the main applicant renounces or is excluded, the family members leave with them; divorce, on the other hand, does not break the regime.

Income obtained in Spanish territory during the year is taxed together, without offsetting one item against another. Your entire salary counts as obtained in Spain. Your other income abroad is taxed here only if the Non-Resident Income Tax rules consider it obtained in Spain: we will review this in your case.

If part of the salary corresponds to work done abroad and is also taxed there, there is a deduction for international double taxation, with a limit of 30% of the quota corresponding to those yields.

The person who has opted in is not obliged to submit form 720 for assets abroad; their family members who have not opted in and are residents may be obliged. In the Wealth Tax, you are taxed under obligación real (limited tax liability). You can request the tax residence certificate in Spain, but the certificate for the purposes of a double taxation agreement is only issued in the cases established by the Ministry with reciprocity.

The renunciation is submitted with form 149 in November or December of the year prior to the one in which it is to take effect. If you are an employee, you first give your payer the data communication of article 88 of the Reglamento (Regulation) and keep the stamped copy, which you attach to form 149. Anyone who renounces can never opt in again, not just for the same relocation.

If you stop meeting a condition, you are excluded from that year onwards, you must communicate it with form 149 within 1 month and you cannot return either. The end of the relocation without losing residency that year is also communicated within 1 month.

If Hacienda does not accept your option or, years later, regularises you to the general personal income tax, the deadlines to appeal are short: our firm handles it, and we explain it in the guide on the denied Beckham regime.