The Beckham Law is the popular name for Spain’s special tax regime for inbound assignees, set out in Article 93 of the Spanish Personal Income Tax Law (LIRPF). It is not technically a standalone law, but an optional tax regime within Spanish income tax legislation that allows qualifying individuals to be taxed as non-residents (Non-Resident Income Tax, IRNR) while remaining tax resident in Spain for other purposes.

Eligible individuals include those who acquire Spanish tax residency due to an employment relocation, an appointment as director of an entity (without a significant shareholding, unless the entity is a holding/asset-management company), or a relocation to carry out an economic activity classified as entrepreneurial or highly qualified, provided they have not been Spanish tax residents in the five tax years prior to relocation (Art. 93 LIRPF, as amended by Law 28/2022).

It applies in the tax year of the change of residence and the following five years (six years in total), with no possibility of extension. Once that period ends, the taxpayer is taxed under the general Personal Income Tax regime as a resident.

Only employment income is taxed at the special flat rate (24% up to 600,000 euros, 47% on the excess). Capital gains, dividends and interest are taxed under Non-Resident Income Tax (IRNR) at the savings income scale (19%-30%), not at the regime’s flat rate; it is a common misconception that the entire regime is taxed at 24%.

No. Individuals who opt into the regime are taxed as Non-Resident Income Tax (IRNR) payers (Art. 93.2 LIRPF), and the obligation to report assets held abroad (Form 720, 18th Additional Provision of the General Tax Law) only applies to tax residents under the general Personal Income Tax regime. This is one of the lesser-known advantages of the regime compared to ordinary taxation.

The obligation arises from the first tax year in which the individual is taxed as an ordinary resident, if the thresholds of 50,000 euros per category (bank accounts, securities, real estate) set out in Articles 42 bis, ter and quater of the General Tax Application Regulations (RGAT, Royal Decree 1065/2007) are exceeded. The current penalty regime is the one reformed by Law 11/2021, following the Court of Justice of the EU ruling of 27 January 2022 (Case C-788/19), which held the original penalty regime contrary to EU law for being disproportionate.

Yes, since the reform introduced by Law 28/2022 (the «Startups Law»), which extended the regime to individuals who relocate to Spain to work remotely for a non-resident employer, with no need for a Spanish entity to formalise the relocation; before this reform, this was not possible.