Beckham Law in Spain: The 24 Percent Flat Tax for Newcomers

If you move to Mallorca for a job, you normally fall straight into full Spanish income tax with rates of up to 47 percent. The Beckham Law is the exception: it lets newcomers pay a flat 24 percent on their employment income for six years and keep most of their foreign assets out of Spanish taxation. The catch is less about the requirements and more about the deadline. Miss the application window and you are locked out for good. And for many people who only have the headline rate in mind, the regime does not pay off at all.

What the Beckham Law Actually Is

The Beckham Law is a special regime in the Spanish income tax act (Article 93 LIRPF) under which a person who moves to Spain is taxed like a non-resident for six years, even though they are tax resident in Spain. Only Spanish-source income plus worldwide employment income is taxed, at a flat 24 percent up to 600,000 EUR.

The nickname comes from David Beckham, who joined Real Madrid in 2003 and was one of the first prominent users of the regime introduced in 2005. Professional athletes are now explicitly excluded. The official name is Régimen especial para trabajadores desplazados a territorio español; in everyday conversation you will mostly hear "régimen de impatriados".

The core of it is a reversal of the basic rule: normally Spain taxes its tax residents on their worldwide income, as we explain in our guide to tax residency on Mallorca. Under the Beckham regime, your brokerage account back home, the apartment you rent out in your home country and the dividends from a US fund stay invisible to the Spanish tax authorities.

Who Can Use the Regime

Since 1 January 2023, the Startup Law (Ley 28/2022) has relaxed the conditions. The previous ten-year lookback period was cut in half to five years, and the circle of eligible people was widened considerably.

All of these conditions must be met together:

• You were not tax resident in Spain in the five tax years before the move
• The move happens because of an employment contract with a Spanish employer, a posting with an assignment letter, fully remote work for a foreign employer, an appointment as administrador (director) of a company, an activity classified as entrepreneurial, or a role as a highly qualified professional for a startup
• You do not earn income through a Spanish permanent establishment (exception: the entrepreneurial and highly qualified variants)

Important for families: spouses and children under 25 can join the regime if they move with you and the sum of their taxable bases stays below that of the main applicant.

Does the Beckham Law also work for the self-employed? No, not for the classic autónomo with local clients. Only the entrepreneurial activity under the procedure of Article 70 of Ley 14/2013 and the highly qualified startup route open the door. For regular freelancers, the standard path is the autónomo route.

The Deadline That Trips Most People Up

The application runs through the Modelo 149 and must be filed within six months of the date you register with Spanish social security. For remote workers who stay in their home social security system, the relevant document is the one that allows them to remain in it (for EU workers, the A1 certificate).

What the Regime Costs and What It Delivers

The savings come from two places: the tax rate on your salary, and everything Spain does not touch.

In concrete terms: on a gross salary of 120,000 EUR, the difference between the flat rate and the regular progressive scale adds up to a mid five-figure sum over the six years, depending on family status and deductions. On a 45,000 EUR salary with a foreign portfolio that produces little income, the regime can actually cost you more, because you lose all the personal allowances and deductions of the regular Renta. How the regular taxation of securities works is covered in our post on investment income in the Spanish tax return.

The Pitfall Hardly Anyone Mentions

There is one point missing from many promotional articles, and it matters for anyone with income back home: while you are in the Beckham regime, you are not considered resident for the purposes of double taxation treaties. The Agencia Tributaria says so explicitly in its manual, precisely because you are only taxed on Spanish-source income.

In practice this means you cannot invoke the tax treaty between Spain and your home country to reduce withholding taxes or push back against a taxing right. On rental income, occupational pensions or distributions from your home country, the tax bill there can end up higher than you expected when you were only looking at the 24 percent rate. For worldwide employment income, at least, Article 93 LIRPF provides a credit for foreign taxes paid.

Can I leave the regime early? Yes, you can renounce it using the same Modelo 149. The renunciation takes effect from the following year and is final: there is no way back in.

Conclusion

The Beckham Law is not a general tax discount for people moving to Spain, but a tailored instrument for employees, directors and remote workers with a high salary or substantial foreign assets. From roughly 80,000 to 100,000 EUR in annual salary the math usually becomes clear-cut; below that it depends on your assets and family situation. Timing is everything: the check belongs before the move, and the Modelo 149 belongs in the first six months. After that, the door is closed.