Taxes in Spain for expats: what you need to know

In short: If you spend more than 183 days in a calendar year in Spain, you are tax resident there for the whole year and pay tax on your worldwide income. Income tax consists of a state part and a regional part, which is why Andalusia and the Canary Islands differ. Pensions from Germany and Austria are governed by the double taxation agreements.

When do you become liable for tax in Spain?

What matters is not your nationality but where you are tax resident. The Agencia Tributaria sets out two criteria for this, and one of them is enough.

• You spend more than 183 days in a calendar year in Spain. Short absences count too, unless you prove that you are tax resident in another country.
• The core of your economic activities or interests lies directly or indirectly in Spain.

No split tax year

Spain always looks at the whole calendar year. Spanish law does not recognise a split year in which you are resident in one country until the move and in the other afterwards. You are resident for the entire year or not at all. The practical consequence: if you move in the second half of the year, you will usually only become resident in Spain the following year. If you meet the requirements under the rules of both countries, the double taxation agreement decides, among other things based on permanent home and centre of vital interests. What needs to be done on the German and Austrian side is covered in the article on Abmeldung (deregistration) before moving abroad.

How high is income tax?

Spanish income tax is called IRPF. Two scales are applied to your general income (salary, profit from self-employment, pension, rent): the state scale and that of your region. Together they give your tax rate.

Taxable income	State part
up to 12,450 €	9.5 %
12,450 to 20,200 €	12 %
20,200 to 35,200 €	15 %
35,200 to 60,000 €	18.5 %
60,000 to 300,000 €	22.5 %
over 300,000 €	24.5 %

As in Germany and Austria, each rate only applies to the part of income that falls within the respective bracket. On top of that comes the regional part:

Region	Brackets	Regional part	Combined with the state
Andalusia	5	9.5 % to 22.5 %	19 % to 47 %
Canary Islands	7	9 % to 26 %	18.5 % to 50.5 %

The bracket limits of the regions differ slightly from the state ones. The exact limits for your tax year are in the Agencia Tributaria’s income tax manual.

Before the scale applies, a personal basic allowance is taken into account: 5,550 € a year, 6,700 € from age 65 and 8,100 € from age 75. Andalusia and the Canary Islands use slightly higher figures for their part of the tax.

Investment income

Interest, dividends and capital gains are taxed on a separate scale that is the same throughout Spain: 19 % up to 6,000 €, 21 % up to 50,000 €, 23 % up to 200,000 €, 27 % up to 300,000 € and 30 % above that (as of October 2026).

Filing deadline

You file the return in spring for the previous year, online through the Agencia Tributaria with a digital certificate or Cl@ve. For the 2025 tax year, the campaign ran from 8 April to 30 June 2026, or until 25 June for payment by direct debit. The dates for the 2026 tax year had not yet been published in October 2026.

Modelo 720: reporting assets abroad

If you are resident in Spain, you must report assets abroad. Modelo 720 is purely an information return and does not trigger any tax itself. It covers three separate reporting obligations:

• Accounts with foreign banks
• Securities, rights, insurance policies and annuities abroad
• Real estate and rights in real estate abroad

For people moving abroad, this means: your current account, your securities account and your flat in Germany or Austria are covered. You first become subject to reporting for the year in which you are tax resident in Spain. The value per category from which the obligation applies, and the deadline for the return, are in the Agencia Tributaria’s instructions for the form.

The former, very harsh special penalties no longer exist. Following a ruling by the European Court of Justice of 27 January 2022, Spain abolished them. Since then, the general penalty rules for returns that are not filed or filed incorrectly apply. The reporting obligation itself remains.

Crypto assets do not go in the 720 but in Modelo 721. It covers holdings with foreign custodians worth 50,000 € or more on 31 December and must be filed between 1 January and 31 March. Self-custodied holdings with your own keys are exempt.

Wealth tax in Andalusia and the Canary Islands

Wealth tax is a state tax that the regions shape. This is where Andalusia and the Canary Islands differ significantly.

	Andalusia	Canary Islands
Relief	100 % since 2022	none
Allowance	700,000 €, plus 300,000 € for the main residence	700,000 € as under state law
Scale	state scale, neutralised by the relief	state scale

In addition, there is the state solidarity tax on large fortunes. It applies from net assets of more than 3 million € and has been extended indefinitely. Wealth tax already paid is deducted. For Andalusia this means: below 3 million € in net assets, no tax is due. Above that, the burden corresponding to the solidarity tax can be paid to Andalusia instead of the state, and the total burden stays the same. In Andalusia you must file a return (Modelo 714) from gross assets of more than 2 million €, even if nothing is payable.

Pensions: what do the agreements with Germany and Austria say?

Spain treats pensions as employment income and taxes them at the general scale. Which country is allowed to tax them at all is set out in the double taxation agreements.

Germany

The 2011 agreement has applied since 1 January 2013. For residents of Spain:

• Private and occupational pensions: in principle only Spain.
• Statutory pension: Spain taxes it. Germany may also levy a limited withholding tax, which Spain credits.
• Civil servant pensions: only Germany. They are exempt in Spain but increase the tax rate on your other income.
• Rental income from Germany: both countries, Spain credits the German tax.
• Dividends: Spain, Germany at most 15 % withholding tax. Interest: only Spain.

How much Germany may take from the statutory pension depends on the year of the first pension payment:

First pension payment	Maximum German tax
up to 31 December 2014	0 %, only Spain taxes
1 January 2015 to 31 December 2029	5 % of the gross amount
from 1 January 2030	10 % of the gross amount

The same limit applies to retirement benefits whose contributions received tax relief in Germany for more than 12 years, for example Riester pensions. For pensioners abroad, the Finanzamt Neubrandenburg (German tax office) is centrally responsible on the German side.

Austria

With Austria, an older agreement from 1966 applies. It follows the same basic pattern for pensions, but provides for no Austrian withholding tax on social security pensions: pensions from former employment, i.e. the normal ASVG pension and company pensions, are taxed by the state of residence, Spain. Payments and pensions from public office remain taxable in Austria. Check how your pension is classified in the text of the agreement published by the Austrian Ministry of Finance, especially if it comes partly from public and partly from private service or if you rent out property in Austria.

Everything else for retirement, including health insurance, is in the article Moving to Spain as a retiree.

Special regime for newcomers (“Beckham”)

Spain has a special regime for people who move there for work. In everyday language it is called the Beckham Law. If you choose it, you remain resident in Spain but are taxed under the rules for non-residents: employment income up to 600,000 € at 24 %, above that at 47 %. It applies in the year of the move and the five following years.

The requirement is that you were not resident in Spain in the five tax years before the move. In addition, the move must have one of the recognised reasons:

• Employment contract (professional athletes are excluded)
• Remote work carried out exclusively via computers and telecommunications
• Management of a Spanish company
• Entrepreneurial activity classified as innovative
• Highly qualified professionals working for start-ups

You exercise the option with Modelo 149, and the annual return is filed via Modelo 151. If you come as a regular Autónomo with no link to a start-up, you will usually not qualify. Whether the regime applies to remote work for an employer in Germany or Austria depends on the individual case and should be clarified before the move. More on the ways to earn money in Spain under Working in Spain.

Frequently asked questions