Spain's Régimen Especial para Trabajadores Desplazados — known informally as the Beckham Law — lets newly-relocated employees and qualifying self-employed expats pay a flat 24% on Spanish-source income up to €600,000 for six years, instead of progressive IRPF rates of up to 47%. For high-earners moving to Spain, it can be the single most valuable piece of tax planning available.
Get a Health & Business Insurance Quote WhatsApp Our TeamThe Régimen Especial para Trabajadores Desplazados a Territorio Español — Spain's special tax regime for workers posted to Spanish territory — was introduced in 2005 and earned its nickname after David Beckham used it on signing for Real Madrid. It lets newly-relocated tax residents be taxed, for most income purposes, as if they were still non-residents — paying a flat 24% on Spanish-source employment income up to €600,000 (47% above), instead of progressive IRPF rates that top out at 47%.
The legal base sits in Article 93 of the IRPF law — Ley 35/2006 del IRPF ↗. It was reformed by Spain's Startups Law — Ley 28/2022 ↗ — which took effect in January 2023 and widened access: the prior-non-residency window was cut from ten years to five, qualifying autónomos in innovative or highly-qualified activities were added, Digital Nomad Visa (DNV) holders were brought in, and family members (spouse and dependent children under 25) can now apply alongside the principal.
The headline benefit is twofold: a flat 24% rate roughly half the top marginal IRPF rate, and — crucially — foreign-source income (other than employment) is generally not taxable in Spain while the regime applies. For a London banker, US tech executive or Frankfurt engineer with overseas investments, that exemption is often more valuable than the 24% rate itself.
The regime sounds simple — flat 24% for six years — but its real shape lives in the eligibility rules and the boundary between Spanish and foreign-source income. These are the six things every applicant needs straight in their head before they sign their employment contract.
You must be newly relocated to Spain (your move must be the reason you become tax resident), you must not have been Spanish tax resident in any of the prior five tax years, and your work in Spain must fall into one of the eligible categories: an employment contract (including remote work for a foreign employer), a posting by a foreign employer, an administrator role in a Spanish company, certain entrepreneurial activities, or qualifying autónomo work in innovative or highly-qualified activities.
Spanish-source employment income is taxed at a flat 24% up to €600,000 per year and 47% above that threshold. There is no progressive scale within the regime — the first euro and the €599,999th euro are both taxed at 24%. For employees earning €150,000–€600,000, the saving against ordinary IRPF can run to tens of thousands a year.
The regime applies for six tax years in total: the tax year in which you become resident, plus the following five. At the end of year six you automatically exit and revert to ordinary IRPF — taxed as a normal Spanish resident on worldwide income, with the full progressive scale and worldwide reporting obligations.
You apply by filing Modelo 149 ↗ with Agencia Tributaria within six months of registering with Spanish Social Security (or, if you are not Spanish-employed, within six months of starting the qualifying activity). Miss the window and you cannot opt in for that move. The annual return inside the regime is Modelo 151, not the standard Modelo 100.
Since the 2023 reform, holders of Spain's Digital Nomad Visa working remotely for non-Spanish employers can opt into the Beckham regime, as can administrators of Spanish startups and qualifying highly-qualified or innovation-related autónomos. This was the single biggest broadening of the regime since 2005 — see Agencia Tributaria's Régimen Impatriados portal ↗.
Here is the real prize. While you are under Beckham, foreign-source income (other than employment) is generally outside Spanish tax — overseas dividends, foreign interest, foreign rental income, foreign capital gains on non-Spanish assets. You are also exempt from Wealth Tax on non-Spanish assets and (currently) from the Solidarity Tax on Large Fortunes on non-Spanish assets. Modelo 720 reporting obligations on foreign assets do not apply while you sit under Beckham.
The Beckham Law is unusually well-targeted: it is most valuable for high-earners with overseas wealth being relocated to Spain. These are the profiles where the regime regularly saves five and six figures a year.
Most Beckham Law disasters are not about the rate — they are about timing, scope and assumptions about foreign income. These are the six mistakes we see most often.
The Beckham Law gives you a clean Spanish tax position. It does not give you a clean insurance position. High-earning expats moving to Spain still need premium private health cover for themselves and their families, business and professional liability cover for any Spanish operating vehicle, and autónomo-grade cover if any element of their income runs through a self-employed structure. That is where we come in.
We are fully authorised by Spain's insurance regulator, the Dirección General de Seguros y Fondos de Pensiones.
Policy wording, claims and renewals — all handled in plain English by people who actually live in Spain.
We answer when you need us — weekends and bank holidays included. Relocations do not respect office hours.
Private health, business liability, life and home cover structured for inbound executives, DNV holders and high-earning autónomos.
Full-cover Spanish private health policies — no copays, English-speaking doctors, fast specialist access — exactly what high-earners and their families expect.
Professional indemnity, civil liability and business interruption cover for Beckham-eligible autónomos and Spanish administrators.
The Beckham regime is one piece of relocating well. Make sure the rest of your cover is in order too.
Premium policies for Beckham executives, DNV holders and their families — English-speaking doctors and fast specialist access.
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Professional indemnity, civil liability and business interruption cover for Spanish administrators and operating vehicles.
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Self-employed cover for innovation, highly-qualified and entrepreneurial autónomos using the Beckham regime.
Read the guide ›Other essential reading for high-earning expats relocating to Spain:
The Beckham regime gives you a clean tax position. We give you the insurance side to match — premium private health for the family, business and autónomo cover for the Spanish operating side, and English-speaking support seven days a week. DGSFP-registered and built for high-earning expats.
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