Art. 93 LIRPF · Inbound workers regime
If you move to Spain, you can pay a flat 24% for six years instead of a progressive scale that reaches 47%.
As a regular resident, your salary falls into a scale that rises bracket by bracket to almost 47%. Under the inbound workers regime you pay a flat rate of 24% and only on what you earn in Spain, except employment income, which is taxed worldwide.
Enter your income and you'll see how each item is classified: what is taxed at 24%, what goes to the savings-income scale and what is simply not taxed in Spain.
Indicative estimate using the 2025 personal income tax scales. The 24% inbound workers rate is national and doesn't vary between regions. For the standard regime we use the default regional scale in art. 65 LIRPF as a middle reference: your region may raise or lower the bill by a few points. Social Security contributions up to the maximum base (58.914 €) and 2.000 € of other deductible expenses are subtracted, and the personal allowance is applied; under the inbound workers regime tax is paid on gross income with no reductions or personal allowance, as set out in art. 93 LIRPF. It does not include regional deductions, family circumstances, double tax treaties or tax already withheld. It does not replace a personalised study.
Moving isn't enough: the law requires the move to have a specific reason. These are the four ways in.
You are hired by a Spanish company, or transferred within your group. It also covers international remote work: you work remotely for a foreign company with the digital nomad visa. Professional athletes are excluded.
You come to Spain to manage a company. If it is an asset-holding entity, your stake must be below 25%; if it isn't, there is no percentage limit.
You start an activity in Spain that qualifies as entrepreneurial. It requires a favourable report from ENISA on the innovative nature of the project.
You provide services to startups or carry out training, research, development and innovation. That income must account for more than 40% of your total earnings.
The regime extends to your spouse and children under 25 (or with a disability, of any age) if they move the same year or the next and their combined taxable bases are lower than yours. In practice, the whole family can benefit.
You live in Spain but are taxed almost as if you didn't: only on your Spanish income. The exception is employment income, which is taxed wherever it comes from.
| Income | Taxed in Spain? | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Salary, wherever it comes from | Yes | 24% up to 600.000 € and 47% on the excess. It is the only income taxed worldwide. |
| Spanish dividends and interest | Yes | Savings-income scale: 19% to 30%. |
| Foreign dividends and interest | No | Outside the Spanish tax base. |
| Gains from selling Spanish assets | Yes | Savings-income scale, like any non-resident. |
| Gains from selling foreign assets | No | This is the big advantage for anyone selling shares or portfolios abroad. |
| Wealth Tax | Yes | Only on a limited basis: assets and rights located in Spain. Not your worldwide wealth. |
| Form 720 (assets abroad) | No | You don't file it while the regime lasts, because Form 720 only applies to those taxed on their worldwide income. Note: in the first year you return to the standard regime you do have to file it, with everything you hold abroad at 31 December. |
Under the inbound workers regime there is no personal allowance, no reductions and practically no deductions: you are taxed on the gross from the first euro. That's why, with salaries below roughly 55.000 € – 60.000 € the standard regime is usually cheaper. And if you have a lot of foreign-source income, the balance tips the other way. It's a decision about numbers, not headlines, and it's made only once.
This is where most people get it wrong. You don't apply when you arrive or when you register with the town hall: you apply from the start of your activity.
The deadline to file Form 149 is six months from the start date of your activity. And it's worth spelling out what that means, because this is where almost everyone gets confused.
The start of activity is not the day you started working, nor the day you arrived. It is the date you are formally registered in Spain to carry out the activity that justifies your move: the one shown in your registration with Spanish Social Security. If you keep your home country's Social Security, it is the date shown in that documentation (form A1 or equivalent). And if you don't have to register anywhere, it is the start date of activity shown in your supporting documents.
In other words, the clock is started by a document with a date, not by your everyday life in Spain.
It depends on when you registered, not when you arrived. If six months haven't passed since the start date of your activity, you're in time. The first thing we do is check that date.
No. Form 149 is filed after the move, not before. What does make sense is planning it beforehand, because the registration date and how you get paid shape the outcome.
Registering with the town hall has no tax effect on its own. It's a municipal register: it doesn't start the deadline, make you tax resident or end it.
If you spend more than 183 days in Spain in a calendar year, you are tax resident even if your stay is temporary. And then the comparison between the two regimes affects you fully.
The most common case: you live here, invoice or pay yourself from your company in another country and have been declaring it there. If you spend more than 183 days in Spain, you are already a Spanish tax resident, wherever you declare it. Your start of activity will be the date of the registration you use to regularise your situation here — but first the years you've already spent here need to be resolved.
They can, and it's the first thing we check. The regime requires not having been tax resident in Spain in the previous five years. If you already were, even if you paid tax elsewhere, each of those years counts against you. That's why this situation is urgent: the sooner it's looked at, the more options there are.
The six months are a strict, non-extendable deadline: there's no extension or way to recover it. You'll be taxed under the standard regime. It's then worth reviewing what other optimisation routes you still have.
You can opt out in November and December, with effect from the following year. But once you opt out, you can't come back: that's why the calculation is done before, not after.
We check the five years of non-residency, the reason for the move and the date that starts the deadline. And we calculate whether it pays off: with your real figures, not an example.
Contract or assignment letter, Social Security registration or A1, non-residency certificates, ENISA report if you're an entrepreneur. We tell you exactly what to request and from whom.
We file the notice of option with the Spanish Tax Agency (AEAT). You receive the certificate confirming your regime, which your employer needs to apply the 24% withholding.
For the six years you file Form 151 instead of Form 100. We handle it and check every year that you still meet the requirements.
Six months from registration. It's a strict deadline: there's no extension or way to recover it.
We check your date, confirm whether you qualify and tell you with numbers whether it pays off. If it doesn't, we'll tell you that too.
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