The Beckham regime in 2026: who qualifies, the six-month deadline and what 24 % really covers

Every month someone arrives at our desk in Fuerteventura with a job offer, a company to run or a laptop that works from anywhere, and the same question: does the «Beckham law» apply to me, and what would I actually pay? The regime is article 93 of the income-tax law, rewritten by the startup law at the start of 2023, and it does one thing: for the year you become resident and the five years after, it taxes you as if you were a non-resident, at 24 % on employment income up to €600,000, instead of the ordinary scale whose marginal rate reaches 50.5 % in the Canaries. This piece reads article 93 and its regulation as they stand in September 2026: who can opt, the six-month clock that has no cure, what 24 % covers and what it does not, the wealth tax and the foreign-assets declaration, and three salaries compared so that you can see where the regime stops being a bargain. Quotations are in Spanish with the reading in English; the comparison figures are ours, computed on the 2026 state and Canary scales.

Five doors into the regime, and two conditions at each

Article 93.1 lets Las personas físicas que adquieran su residencia fiscal en España como consecuencia de su desplazamiento a territorio español — natural persons who acquire tax residence in Spain as a consequence of moving to Spanish territory — opt to be taxed under the non-resident income-tax rules durante el período impositivo en que se efectúe el cambio de residencia y durante los cinco períodos impositivos siguientes — during the tax year in which the change of residence takes place and the five following tax years — while remaining income-tax taxpayers. Two conditions come first. You must no hayan sido residentes en España durante los cinco períodos impositivos anteriores — not have been resident in Spain during the five tax years before the move (93.1.a); until 2023 the rule said ten. And you must no obtenga rentas que se calificarían como obtenidas mediante un establecimiento permanente situado en territorio español — obtain no income that would count as obtained through a permanent establishment in Spain (93.1.c), which is the clause that shuts the door on the ordinary autónomo, with the two exceptions below.

Then the move itself must be caused by one of five circumstances (93.1.b), in the first year of the regime or the year before:

• An employment contract (b.1.º) with an employer in Spain, or a posting ordered by a foreign employer with a carta de desplazamiento, or — the 2023 novelty — work performed a distancia, mediante el uso exclusivo de medios y sistemas informáticos, telemáticos y de telecomunicación — remotely, using exclusively computer, telematic and telecommunication means. The law adds that the condition se entenderá cumplida — is deemed met — for employees holding the international-teleworking visa of the Ley 14/2013, the one our digital-nomad piece walks through; the visa is sufficient, not necessary, and an EU citizen working remotely for a foreign employer qualifies without it. Professional athletes are the one excluded contract.
• Becoming a director of a company (b.2.º). Any company, with one limit: if the company is a entidad patrimonial — an asset-holding entity under the corporate-tax law — the director may not hold a stake that makes them a related party under article 18 of that law, whose 18.2 sets the threshold: la participación deberá ser igual o superior al 25 por ciento — the holding must be 25 % or more. In an operating company the shareholding is free, which is why the founder who moves here to run the SL they own is inside the regime.
• An entrepreneurial activity (b.3.º), meaning one calificada como actividad emprendedora under article 70 of the Ley 14/2013: innovadora y/o tenga especial interés económico para España — innovative and/or of special economic interest for Spain — with a favourable report from ENISA, the public innovation company, and, for non-EU nationals, the entrepreneur residence permit obtained before the move (regulation, article 113.2).
• A highly qualified professional (b.4.º) providing services to a startup within the meaning of the Ley 28/2022, or carrying out training, research, development or innovation, where that remuneration is más del 40 % de la totalidad de los rendimientos empresariales, profesionales y del trabajo personal — more than 40 % of all business, professional and employment income.
• The family (93.3): the spouse, children under twenty-five or of any age with a disability, and, where there is no marriage, the other parent, provided they move with the main taxpayer or before that person's first year in the regime ends, become resident, meet the five-year and no-permanent-establishment conditions, and, year by year, have a combined taxable base inferior a la base liquidable del contribuyente — lower than the main taxpayer's.

The clock: six months from the Social Security start, and no cure

The option is exercised on Modelo 149, and the regulation fixes the window. For the main taxpayer it runs en el plazo máximo de seis meses desde la fecha de inicio de la actividad que conste en el alta en la Seguridad Social en España o en la documentación que le permita, en su caso, el mantenimiento de la legislación de Seguridad Social de origen — within a maximum of six months from the start date recorded in the Spanish Social Security registration or in the document that keeps the foreign social security applicable (article 116.1.a); where no registration is compulsory, from the document proving the start of the activity. For a spouse or child it runs six months from entry into Spain, or the main taxpayer's deadline if that is later (116.1.b). The tax office's own instructions repeat the rule and list what goes with the form: the Social Security registration, the residence permit where there is one, and the employer's letter, the company's appointment, the ENISA report or the startup's registration depending on the door.

Two things about that clock. The regulation calls it a maximum, and the tax office treats a late Modelo 149 as an option not exercised: there is no late filing with a surcharge and no second chance in year two, and we have not seen a late one accepted. And it is counted from the Social Security date, not from the day you arrived, signed the lease or got the NIE; an employee whose contract started on 1 March has until 1 September, whatever the date on the passport stamp. The other communications go through the same form: a waiver durante los meses de noviembre y diciembre anteriores al inicio del año natural en que la renuncia deba surtir efectos — during November and December before the year in which it is to take effect (article 117); an exclusion en el plazo de un mes desde el incumplimiento de las condiciones — within one month of breaching the conditions (article 118), with income tax then applied from the moment of the breach; and the end of the posting within a month. Once inside, the regime lasts the year of arrival plus five (article 115), and the annual return is Modelo 151 instead of the ordinary Modelo 100.

What 24 % covers, and what it leaves untaxed

The regime does not lower your tax on everything; it changes what is taxed and how. Article 93.2 applies the non-resident rules for income obtained without a permanent establishment, with specialities, and the first speciality is the one that matters most: La totalidad de los rendimientos de actividades económicas calificadas como una actividad emprendedora o de los rendimientos del trabajo obtenidos por el contribuyente durante la aplicación del régimen especial se entenderán obtenidos en territorio español — all the income from an entrepreneurial activity and all the employment income obtained while the regime applies is deemed obtained in Spain (93.2.b). A remote employee paid by a company in Berlin or Boston pays Spanish tax on that salary at the regime's rate; there is no «foreign employment income stays abroad» reading. The regulation carves out only income deriving from an activity carried out before the move or after the end of the posting (article 114.2.a).

Everything else follows the non-resident logic: it is taxed in Spain only if it is Spanish-source under the non-resident law. Dividends from a foreign company, interest on a foreign account, rent from a flat abroad, the gain on selling shares held abroad: outside the return. Spanish-source savings income — dividends from a Spanish company, interest here, the gain on a Fuerteventura flat — is taxed at the regime's own savings scale of 93.2.e.2.º: 19 % to €6,000, 21 % to €50,000, 23 % to €200,000, 27 % to €300,000 and, since 2025, 30 % above, the same rates the ordinary scale applies.

The base is gross. Non-resident rules build it por su importe íntegro … sin que sean de aplicación … las reducciones — from the gross amount, without the reductions (non-resident law, article 24.1), so the Social Security contributions, the €2,000 of general expenses and the €5,550 personal minimum of the ordinary tax do not appear, and neither do the family, housing or regional deductions. Article 93.2.a also makes the regime deaf to most of the non-resident exemptions, keeping one: work income in kind of article 14.1.a of that law. From the tax due only two things are deducted, the donations deduction and the withholdings already suffered (non-resident law, article 26), plus one credit the regulation adds for the remote worker taxed twice: the foreign-tax credit of article 80 on employment income taxed abroad, con el límite del 30 por ciento de la parte de la cuota íntegra correspondiente a la totalidad de dichos rendimientos — capped at 30 % of the tax on that income (article 114.2.b). Withholding follows the same scale: 24 % on the payroll, and Cuando las retribuciones satisfechas por un mismo pagador … excedan de 600.000 euros, el porcentaje de retención aplicable al exceso será el 47 por ciento — when the pay from one payer exceeds €600,000, 47 % on the excess (93.2.f).

Three salaries compared, and where the regime stops paying

The 24 % is flat, and flat is not always low. On the 2026 scales a single Canary resident with no other income or deductions pays, under the ordinary tax, the state scale of article 63 plus the Canary scale of article 18 bis of the islands' consolidated tax law, after the worker's Social Security contributions, the €2,000 of expenses and the €5,550 minimum. Under the regime the same person pays 24 % of the gross.

The two lines cross at about €60,000 of gross salary. Below it the ordinary tax, with its minimum, its expenses and its lower first brackets, is cheaper than 24 % of everything; above it the regime wins, and the gap widens fast because the ordinary marginal rate is 46 % between €60,000 and €93,268 and 50.5 % above €300,000, against a flat 24 % up to €600,000. Two further effects push the crossing point around. Foreign dividends, rents or gains push it down, because under the regime they vanish from the Spanish return; a spouse who does not work and children push it up, because the ordinary tax's family minimums and joint return are lost. The figures are arithmetic on the published scales, not a quote; the crossing point for a real family is computed before the Modelo 149 is filed, not after.

Wealth tax and the foreign-assets declaration

Article 93.1 closes with a line that is worth as much as the rate: El contribuyente que opte por la tributación por el Impuesto sobre la Renta de no Residentes quedará sujeto por obligación real en el Impuesto sobre el Patrimonio — the taxpayer who opts is subject to wealth tax by real obligation. Real obligation is the non-resident's regime in the wealth-tax law, article 5.Uno.b: tax on the assets and rights cuando los mismos estuvieran situados, pudieran ejercitarse o hubieran de cumplirse en territorio español — located, exercisable or to be fulfilled in Spain — and nothing else. A house abroad, a foreign portfolio, a pension fund at home stay outside; a Fuerteventura flat and a Spanish account are inside, with the €700,000 allowance that article 28 of the wealth-tax law extends to real-obligation taxpayers and, since 2021, the right to apply the rules of the region where most of those Spanish assets sit (its fourth additional provision).

The same logic decides the foreign-assets declaration. The tax office's own list of frequent questions on Modelo 720 asks whether a person under article 93 must file it and answers with one word: No. It adds that the regime no resulta extensible al resto de miembros de la unidad familiar, los cuales podrán estar sujetas a la obligación de información sobre bienes y derechos situados en el extranjero en la medida en la que sean residentes fiscales en España — is not extended to the other members of the family unit, who may be subject to the reporting duty on foreign assets in so far as they are tax resident in Spain. That answer predates the 2023 family door; a spouse who has opted under 93.3 is under the regime, a spouse who has not opted and lives here is an ordinary resident with a Modelo 720 to file by 31 March, and we treat the two cases exactly that way. The declaration itself, its three blocks and its €50,000 thresholds are the subject of our next piece.

The catches we see most

• A year of residence in the last five. Any tax year of Spanish residence in the five before the move, including one spent here on a previous contract or a sabbatical that crossed 183 days, closes the door. How the 183-day rule counts is a piece of its own.
• Arriving as a freelancer. Invoicing from Spain as an autónomo is income through a permanent establishment and breaches 93.1.c, unless the activity is an ENISA-certified entrepreneurial one or the qualified-professional case with its 40 % test. The remote-work visa itself allows a professional to work for a Spanish company only siempre y cuando el porcentaje de dicho trabajo no sea superior al 20 % del total de su actividad profesional — as long as that work is no more than 20 % of the total activity (Ley 14/2013, article 74 bis).
• The Social Security date. Six months from the registration, not from the arrival; a contract that started before the paperwork was noticed has been running the clock all along.
• Stopping work. Lose the employment, the directorship or the qualifying activity and the regime is lost from that tax year, with a Modelo 149 due within a month and ordinary withholding from the breach (article 118); a new contract with another employer keeps it, a gap on the beach does not.
• The director of an asset-holding company. A holding that only owns property or portfolios is a entidad patrimonial; a director with 25 % or more of it is outside, however real the appointment.
• The treaty certificate. Article 120 of the regulation lets the taxpayer ask for a certificate of tax residence in Spain, but the certificate that a double-taxation treaty requires is a different document, which the regulation lets the Ministry issue a condición de reciprocidad — on condition of reciprocity — only in the cases it designates (120.2). Whether your home country stops taxing you depends on that certificate, not on the 24 %.
• The family income test. Each year every family member's taxable base must stay below the main taxpayer's; a spouse whose Spanish income overtakes yours leaves the regime.

From Fuerteventura: the cases the regime was written for

The island's typical candidates are three. The remote employee of a foreign company who settles in Corralejo with the teleworking visa: inside through 93.1.b.1.º, 24 % on the whole salary, foreign savings untouched, and the six months counted from the day the foreign social security document or the Spanish registration starts. The founder who moves here to run the SL that will trade from the island: inside as a director through b.2.º, with the salary the company pays them at 24 % and the company's own tax a separate matter. And the family that arrives together: the spouse and children opt with their own Modelo 149 within six months of entry, and their combined base is checked against the main taxpayer's every year.

Our tax desk files the Modelo 149 with its documents inside the six months, sets the 24 % withholding with the employer or on the company's payroll through our labour team, prepares the Modelo 151 each spring, the wealth-tax return by real obligation where it is due and the family's own communications, and runs the crossing-point calculation before anyone opts. Our tax advisory page describes the service, our residency page covers the permit and the NIE that come first, and a consultation can be booked online.

Common questions

I moved to Spain in 2025 and never filed the Modelo 149. Can I still opt?

Only if six months have not passed since the start date on your Social Security registration, or on the document that keeps your foreign social security applicable. If they have, the option is lost for this move; the regulation sets a maximum period and the tax office does not admit late communications. A later move, after five full tax years of non-residence, would open a new window.

Can I be self-employed under the regime?

Not as an ordinary autónomo: income obtained through a permanent establishment in Spain breaches article 93.1.c and excludes you. The two exceptions are an activity certified as entrepreneurial by ENISA under article 70 of the Ley 14/2013 and the highly qualified professional working for startups or in research, development and innovation with more than 40 % of their income from it.

Is my foreign rental income or my foreign dividends taxed at 24 %?

No, and not at any rate: under the regime only Spanish-source income other than employment is taxed, so foreign rents, dividends, interest and gains stay outside the Spanish return, while employment income is taxed wherever it is paid from. Spanish-source savings income pays the 19 % to 30 % scale.

Is the regime always cheaper?

No. On the 2026 Canary scales a single person with only a salary pays less under the ordinary tax below about €60,000 gross, because the minimum, the expenses and the lower brackets are worth more than the flat rate saves. Above that the regime wins, and above €150,000 the saving runs to tens of thousands a year; foreign savings income pushes the crossing point down and a non-working family pushes it up.

Facts verified in September 2026 (Ley 35/2006, article 93 in the wording of the Ley 28/2022 and, for the savings scale, the Ley 7/2024, and articles 19, 57, 63 and 66; Real Decreto 439/2007, articles 113 to 120; Real Decreto Legislativo 5/2004, articles 24 to 26; Ley 19/1991, article 5; Ley 14/2013, articles 70, 71 and 74 bis; Decreto Legislativo 1/2009 of the Canary Islands, article 18 bis as worded by the Ley 9/2025; the tax office's pages on the special regime, the Modelo 149 instructions and the Modelo 720 questions). The scales and the tax office's answers can change with a budget law or a new criterion; the crossing point is recomputed for every client before the option is filed.