Beckham law in Spain: who qualifies, 24% and modelo 149

The so-called Beckham law (ley Beckham) is a special tax regime for people who move to Spain to work. If you meet its conditions and apply in time, for six years you pay IRPF (Spanish income tax) under the non-resident rules: a flat 24% on your employment income up to €600.000 a year, instead of the progressive scale. Its official name is the special regime for workers, professionals, entrepreneurs and investors posted to Spain. It is in article 93 of Ley 35/2006 on IRPF, as rewritten by Ley 28/2022, the start-up law. It is one part of our guide to foreigners in Spain: NIE, Social Security and tax.

Here is who qualifies, how you are taxed, how to apply with modelo 149 and how to file each year with modelo 151. Every condition comes from article 93 of the law and articles 113 to 120 of the IRPF Regulation (Real Decreto 439/2007).

What it is, exactly

Normally, once you become tax resident in Spain, you pay IRPF on everything you earn worldwide, on a scale that rises with your income. We explain this in when you are tax resident in Spain.

Under this regime you remain an IRPF taxpayer, but your tax is worked out under the rules of the Impuesto sobre la Renta de no Residentes (non-resident income tax), with some special features (articles 93.1 and 93.2). It applies in the year you become resident and the five years after (article 115 of the Regulation). That first year is the first calendar year in which, after arriving, you spend more than 183 days in Spain.

Who qualifies

You must meet three conditions at the same time (article 93.1).

1. Not resident in Spain in the previous five years

You must not have been tax resident in Spain in any of the five years before the year you move. Until 2022 it was ten; Ley 28/2022 cut it to five with effect from 01/01/2023.

2. Moving for one of these reasons

The move must happen in the first year of the regime or the year before, for one of these reasons:

• An employment contract. Any employment or civil service relationship with an employer in Spain counts, except professional athletes. A move ordered by your employer with a posting letter (carta de desplazamiento) also counts, as does remote work done only with computer and telecommunication tools, even if the employer did not order it. The law expressly mentions holders of the international telework visa (the "digital nomad" visa) under Ley 14/2013.
• Becoming a company director. If the company is an asset-holding company (entidad patrimonial), your shareholding must not make it a related party of yours under article 18 of the Corporate Income Tax law.
• An entrepreneurial activity that is innovative or of special economic interest for Spain, with a favourable report from ENISA, the state innovation agency (article 113.2 of the Regulation).
• Work as a highly qualified professional for start-ups, or in training, research, development and innovation, provided it makes up more than 40% of all your employment and business income.

3. No permanent establishment in Spain

You must not earn income treated as obtained through a permanent establishment in Spain, except in the last two cases: the entrepreneur and the highly qualified professional. That is why an ordinary autónomo (self-employed person), such as a designer or a consultant who starts trading in Spain, cannot use it. During the regime, the only business activities you may carry on are the entrepreneurial one, services to start-ups or training, research, development and innovation (article 113.2 of the Regulation).

Your family can join too

Since 2023 the regime extends to your spouse and to your children under 25, or of any age if they have a disability. If you are not married, to your children's other parent (article 93.3). Each of them must:

• move with you or later, before your first year in the regime ends;
• become tax resident in Spain;
• meet conditions 1 and 3;
• and have, each year, combined taxable bases lower than yours.

Each one opts in separately and the regime lasts for them as long as it lasts for you.

How you are taxed

The regime applies the non-resident income tax rules with these special features (article 93.2):

• All your employment income, wherever it comes from, is treated as obtained in Spain, as is income from an entrepreneurial activity. A salary paid by a foreign company is taxed here.
• Your other income is only taxed in Spain if it is obtained in Spain under the non-resident rules. Interest on an account back home or rent from your house there is not taxed in Spain while you are in the regime.
• Income is added up by calendar year and no item can be offset against another.

The scale for dividends, interest and gains is the one in force since 01/01/2025, after Ley 7/2024. Also:

• Withholding. Your employer withholds 24% of your salary and 47% on anything above €600.000 in the year from the same payer (article 93.2.f and article 114.3 of the Regulation).
• Double taxation. If a salary for work done abroad is taxed there, you can deduct that tax using the method in article 80 of the law, up to 30% of the part of your tax that relates to that income (article 114.2.b of the Regulation).
• Wealth tax. You are taxed only on assets and rights located in Spain (obligación real, article 93.1).

How to apply: modelo 149

You opt in by notifying the Agencia Tributaria on modelo 149 (modelo is what the tax agency calls each numbered form), filed online (Orden HAP/2783/2015).

• Deadline: no more than six months from the start date of your activity shown on your Spanish Social Security registration, or on the document that lets you stay in your home country's Social Security (article 116.1.a of the Regulation). For your family, six months from their arrival in Spain, or your own deadline if that ends later.
• Documents: proof of your Social Security registration, your residence authorisation if you need one and a document for your case: the employer's statement with the start date, workplace and length of the contract; the posting letter; the company's statement appointing you director; or the ENISA report (article 119.2).
• Reply: within the next ten working days, the tax agency issues, if appropriate, a document confirming you are in the regime. You give a copy to your employer so that it withholds at 24% (article 119.4).

You cannot opt in if you used the special withholding procedure for posted workers in article 89.B of the Regulation (article 116.3).

An example of the deadline

Laura is an engineer. A Madrid company hires her and her Social Security registration is dated 02/03/2026. She has until 02/09/2026 to file modelo 149. As she spends more than 183 days in Spain in 2026, 2026 is her first year and the regime lasts until 2031. If her salary is €90.000, her employer withholds 24%: €21.600,00 a year.

The annual return: modelo 151

Each year in the regime you file your IRPF return on a special form, modelo 151, not on modelo 100, the ordinary Renta return (article 114.4 of the Regulation). It is filed online and in the same period as each year's Renta (article 3 of Orden HAP/2783/2015).

Opting out, exclusion and end of the posting

• Opting out. You can give up the regime in November and December, effective from the next year, on modelo 149. If you do, you cannot opt in again (article 117).
• Exclusion. If you stop meeting a condition, you are out of the regime from that same year. You must report it on modelo 149 within one month. You cannot return either (article 118).
• End of the posting. If your work in Spain ends but you are still resident that year, you report it within one month on modelo 149 (article 119.5).

Common mistakes

• Missing the six months. It is a maximum: after it you can no longer opt in.
• Assuming it works for any autónomo. Only for entrepreneurs with an ENISA report and highly qualified professionals in the cases the law lists.
• Forgetting that salaries from abroad are taxed. All your employment income is treated as obtained in Spain, even if a foreign company pays you.
• Filing modelo 100. In the regime your return is modelo 151.

If the regime does not fit you, your tax will be ordinary IRPF, on the scale we explain in Spain's IRPF tax bands. And if your home country also treats you as resident, see how a double tax treaty works.