The Beckham law: how Spain's impatriate regime works for Americans

Yes, it's named after the soccer star, and yes, regular Americans can use it. If you're moving to Madrid for work, it can cap the Spanish tax on your salary at 24% for six years. Miss a six-month deadline, though, and the door closes.

The short version

• The régimen especial para trabajadores desplazados, nicknamed the Beckham law, taxes you like a nonresident: only on Spanish-source income, with work income at 24% up to EUR 600,000 (about USD 670,000) and 47% above that [1][2].
• Since the Startup Law (Ley 28/2022) took effect for 2023, you qualify if you weren't a Spanish tax resident in the previous 5 years (down from 10), and remote workers on Spain's digital nomad visa, entrepreneurs and some startup professionals can now use it [1][2].
• It covers the year you move plus the next 5 tax years [1].
• You opt in on Form 149 within six months of registering with Spanish Social Security [2]. There's no late option.
• For your US return, you still file, and Spain's 24% may leave a gap Uncle Sam fills. The regime also takes you out of Spain's treaty residence, which changes how credits work [1].

USD conversions use the Federal Reserve H.10 rate of October 30, 2026 (EUR 1 = USD 1.1163), rounded.

Who qualifies after the 2023 changes

The old regime was built for executives posted to Spain by their employer. The Startup Law widened it a lot. According to the Agencia Tributaria, you must not have been a Spanish tax resident in any of the five tax periods before your move, and the move has to happen in the first year of the regime or the year before. It must be based on one of these [1]:

One more condition: you can't earn income through a permanent establishment in Spain, except on the entrepreneur and highly qualified routes [1]. In plain terms, a freelancer with Spanish clients is usually out, while a salaried employee or a remote worker for a US company is the classic fit.

Your family can come along

New since 2023: your spouse and your children under 25 (any age if disabled) can also opt in, as can the other parent of your children if you're not married. They need to move with you or join before your first regime year ends, become Spanish tax residents, and together earn less than you do each year [1].

How the tax actually works

Under the regime you are a Spanish tax resident, but you're taxed under the nonresident rules (IRNR), on Spanish-source income only [1][2]. Three things follow:

1. Your salary is taxed at 24% up to EUR 600,000 a year, and 47% above that [1][2]. Compare that to Spain's normal progressive scale, where combined national and Madrid rates on a good salary land well into the 40s.
2. All your work income during the regime counts as earned in Spain, even days you spend working from your parents' place over Thanksgiving [1].
3. Foreign investment income is out of Spain's reach. Dividends from your US brokerage account, interest from your US savings and rent from your house in Texas aren't taxed in Spain at all under the regime. Spanish-source investment income is taxed at separate savings rates.

The regime also shrinks your other Spanish paperwork. You're excluded from Modelo 720 reporting of foreign assets while it applies [3], and for wealth tax you're taxed only on assets in Spain [2].

You file your annual return on Form 151, not the regular Renta form [1].

Applying: the six-month clock

This is where people lose the benefit. Here's the order of operations:

1. Get your NIE and visa or residence card sorted.
2. Register with Spanish Social Security, which your Spanish employer does when you start. Remote workers for foreign employers may instead have a certificate of continued US coverage.
3. File Form 149 within six months of the Social Security registration date, or of the date you asked to keep paying into your home system [2]. The current version of the form took effect on December 16, 2023 [1].
4. Attach the supporting documents listed in Article 119 of the income tax regulations: your contract or posting letter, proof of start date and so on [1].
5. Wait for the Agencia Tributaria's certificate, which you give your employer so it withholds at 24%.
6. File Form 151 each spring for the regime years.

If you're on Social Security in the US rather than Spain, the US-Spain totalization agreement lets a posted worker keep paying into US Social Security for a period; that certificate date then drives the deadline. Ask HR which date applies to you, and file early rather than on day 179.

How it works with your US return

Here's the part Spanish advisers often skip, because it's the IRS's problem. As a US citizen, you file a Form 1040 every year no matter where you live.

The foreign tax credit math

Most Americans in Spain use the foreign tax credit (Form 1116) rather than the foreign earned income exclusion, because Spanish taxes are high. The IRS lets you credit qualifying foreign income tax against US tax on the same income [4]. Under the Beckham law, though, Spanish tax on your salary is only 24%. If your US rate on that income is higher, you'll owe the difference to Uncle Sam. On a big salary, that gap is real.

That's where the foreign earned income exclusion (Form 2555) can come back into the picture for part of your pay. You can't claim a credit on income you exclude, and switching between the two methods has consequences [4]. Run both scenarios before choosing.

Investment income: Spain's silence is the IRS's opportunity

Because Spain doesn't tax your US dividends and capital gains under the regime, there's no Spanish tax to credit against them. Your US investment income is simply taxed by the US as if you still lived stateside. That's not a penalty, but it surprises people who expected Spain's tax to offset it.

The treaty wrinkle

The Agencia Tributaria says people in the regime aren't treated as Spanish residents for double tax treaty purposes [1]. The US-Spain income tax treaty dates from 1990, with a protocol signed in 2013 [5], and US citizens are covered by its saving clause anyway, so the practical effect is limited. But a Spanish tax residence certificate under the treaty may not be available to you during the regime, which matters if a third country or a US payer asks for one. A US expat tax preparer can check your situation, ideally alongside your Spanish adviser.

FBAR and 8938 still apply

Your Spanish accounts still go on your FBAR once your foreign accounts top USD 10,000 together, and on Form 8938 above the thresholds for Americans abroad [6].

When the Beckham law isn't worth it

It's not a no-brainer for everyone. Under the regime you give up most Spanish personal and family deductions, and your worldwide investment income escapes Spain but not the IRS. If your salary is modest, Spain's regular rates on that income may not be much higher than 24%, and the normal regime lets you use the full foreign tax credit to wipe out most US tax on your salary. People with large Spanish-source investment income, or who plan to stay in Spain well past six years, should also run the numbers.

Americans who've used it in Madrid trade notes on timing and HR quirks in our community group for Americans in Spain.

Sources

1. Agencia Tributaria: Special regime for impatriates (nonresident taxation handbook)
2. Garrigues: Tax measures to attract talent in the Startup Law (2022)
3. Guía Fiscal: Modelo 720 step by step (updated August 2026)
4. IRS: Foreign tax credit
5. IRS: Spain tax treaty documents
6. IRS: Comparison of Form 8938 and FBAR requirements

Keep reading

• Modelo 720 and Spain's wealth taxes for Americans
• Spain's digital nomad visa
• Spain taxes for Americans
• Foreign earned income exclusion vs foreign tax credit