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Digital Nomad Taxes in Spain 2026: Complete Guide

When you become tax resident, who can pay the 24% and who cannot (freelancers cannot), how and when to opt in, what the general scale costs, the 2026 autónomo contributions, VAT on foreign clients and double taxation. Every claim with its official source.

By MoveToSpainUpdated 16 min read

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Quick Answer

Tax resident: on the visa, almost certainly (over 183 days or centre of interests in Spain)

The 24%: only for employees of foreign companies on the visa; freelancers pay the general scale

Deadline: Form 149 within 6 months of social security registration, not of the authorisation

Self-employed 2026: contributions by income bracket (minimum base from €653.59), €80 flat rate the first year; no VAT to foreign clients

Double taxation: 99 treaties; someone in the regime is not a treaty resident

Table of Contents

The digital nomad visa arrived with a promise repeated everywhere: "you pay 24%". It is true for some of the people who hold it and false for the rest, and one phrase in article 93 of the income tax law draws the line: employees. If you are employed by a foreign company, the regime exists and is worth taking. If you invoice as a freelancer, which is most people on this visa, you pay the general scale like any other resident.

This guide explains both situations from the text of the law, the income tax regulation and the Tax Agency's own pages, plus 2026 social security, VAT on foreign clients and double taxation. Every claim points to an official source at the end. Where no 2026 rule exists, we say so. And as always with tax: this guide places you; a tax adviser signs your return.

First: are you tax resident in Spain?

On the digital nomad visa, almost certainly yes. Article 9 of the income tax law makes you tax resident if any of these holds:
  • More than 183 days in the calendar year in Spanish territory. Sporadic absences count as presence unless you prove tax residence in another country.
  • The main centre of your activities or economic interests is in Spain, directly or indirectly.
  • Family presumption: if your non-separated spouse and dependent minor children habitually live in Spain, you are presumed to as well, unless you prove otherwise.
Being tax resident means Spain taxes your worldwide income, not only what you earn here. The one exception is the special regime in the next section, which treats you as a non-resident for the tax even though you live here.

The 24% regime: who qualifies and who does not

The special regime for inbound workers (article 93 of the income tax law, the "Beckham law") lets you be taxed as a non-resident for the year you move and the five following years: a flat 24% up to €600,000 of income and 47% above.

Common conditions:

  • Not having been tax resident in Spain in the five years before the move.
  • No income obtained through a permanent establishment in Spain.
  • The move results from one of the reasons the law lists. This is where the line is.
Employees of a foreign company: yes. The law says the condition is met when "the work is performed remotely, using exclusively IT and telecoms means", and adds that it is met "in particular" for employees who hold the international remote-work visa.
Self-employed and freelancers: no, except in two narrow cases. The law admits business activity only through two routes: an entrepreneurial activity with a favourable ENISA report and the entrepreneur residence authorisation obtained before the move, or a highly qualified professional serving startups or doing training and R&D for more than 40% of their income, with the matching authorisation. The income tax regulation closes it completely: during the regime, "the only economic activities" those in it may carry out are those. Invoicing your usual clients from Spain is neither.
If you are self-employed, skip to "If you pay the general scale". If you are an employee, read on.

What exactly someone in the regime pays

  • Employment income: all of it, wherever earned, at 24% up to €600,000 and 47% above. Your employer withholds at 24%.
  • All other income (savings, rentals, gains): only Spanish-source, on the savings scale: 19% up to €6,000, 21% to €50,000, 23% to €200,000, 27% to €300,000 and 30% above. That top rate rose to 30% on 1 January 2025; some pages, including one in the Tax Agency's own manual, still print 28%. The consolidated text of the law says 30.
  • No offsetting between types of income: they are taxed cumulatively.
  • Wealth tax: by real obligation only, meaning only assets located in Spain.
  • Form 720 (foreign assets): the Tax Agency confirms that someone in the regime is not required to file it. Family members who are resident and not in the regime may be.
  • Tax paid abroad: the double-taxation deduction applies to employment income earned abroad, capped at 30% of the tax corresponding to that income.
The trade-off nobody mentions. Someone in the regime "is not considered a resident for the purposes of applying a Double Taxation Convention", in the Tax Agency's words. You can obtain a certificate of tax residence in Spain, but not, in principle, one valid for treaty purposes. In practice: your home country may keep treating you as its resident, and for a US citizen nothing changes, because the United States taxes its citizens wherever they live.

How and when to opt in: the deadline people miss

You opt in with Form 149, and the deadline is six months from the start date recorded in your Spanish social security registration, or in the certificate that keeps you under your home country's social security, or in the document proving the start if registration were not compulsory. Not from the date of the UGE authorisation, and not from the day you land. People who register and then "wait and see" tend to discover the deadline once it has passed, and then there is no regime.
Form 149 is filed with a document from the employer acknowledging the employment relationship, the start date recorded in the registration and the expected duration of the work in Spain.
Then, every year: the return is filed on Form 151, in the same window as the general income tax return (the 2025 campaign ran from 8 April to 30 June 2026).
Leaving the regime: you can renounce in November and December of the year before it takes effect. If you breach a condition, you are excluded from that same year and have one month to report it. Anyone who renounces or is excluded cannot opt in again.
Family members (spouse, children) can join the regime with the main taxpayer; their deadline is six months from entering Spain, or the main taxpayer's deadline if later.
Filing the forms requires a digital identity: how to get Cl@ve and the digital certificate.

If you pay the general scale (freelancers and anyone not opting in)

You are tax resident and pay on worldwide income under the general scale, which is the sum of a state scale and a regional one. The state scale is the same across Spain (article 63 of the law); each region sets its own. As an example, the Community of Madrid's scale in force in 2026:
Taxable baseStateMadridCombined
Up to €12,4509.50%8.50%18.00%
€12,450 to €20,20012.00%10.70% (to €19,004)22.70%
€20,200 to €35,20015.00%12.80%27.80%
€35,200 to €60,00018.50%17.40%35.90%
€60,000 to €300,00022.50%20.50%43.00%
Over €300,00024.50%20.50%45.00%
Madrid's regional brackets do not line up exactly with the state ones (they start at €13,362, €19,005, €35,426 and €57,320); the table maps them to the nearest state bracket to give the picture. Other regions sit above or below. These are marginal rates: each applies only to the slice of income in its bracket.
Savings income (interest, dividends, gains) is taxed separately: 19% up to €6,000, 21% to €50,000, 23% to €200,000, 27% to €300,000 and 30% above.
Self-employed obligations with the Tax Agency:
  • Form 130 (income tax instalment): quarterly, 1 to 20 April, July and October, and 1 to 30 January.
  • Form 303 (VAT): same dates.
  • Form 100 (annual return): April to June of the following year.
VAT on foreign clients. The place-of-supply rule (article 69 of the VAT law) says a service supplied to a business is deemed supplied where the client is, "regardless of where the supplier is established". Invoicing a company outside Spain is therefore not subject to Spanish VAT: an EU business client is invoiced without VAT under the reverse charge (and reported on Forms 303 and 349); a non-EU one without VAT. For consumers outside the EU, the services listed in article 69.Two (consulting, data processing, translation, IT services and similar) are also not located in Spain. What you keep filing is Form 303 every quarter, even at zero. Guide to being autónomo in Spain.

Social security: the 2026 autónomo contribution

The visa requires you to be in Spanish social security. What you pay depends on how you work:
Employee of a foreign company. The company registers with Spanish social security as a company without a workplace in Spain and registers you in the General Scheme, or you stay under your home country's system with a certificate of coverage under a bilateral agreement. In that second case you pay no Spanish contributions.
Self-employed (RETA). Since 2023 contributions follow net-income brackets. There is no 2026 budget law, and Royal Decree-Law 3/2026 orders the 2025 table to apply; Order PJC/297/2026 publishes it. Some brackets:
Net income per monthMinimum baseMaximum base
Up to €670€653.59€718.94
€900 to €1,166.70€849.67€1,166.70
€1,700 to €1,850€1,143.79€1,850
€2,330 to €2,760€1,356.21€2,760
€3,620 to €4,050€1,601.31€4,050
Over €6,000€1,928.10€5,101.20
The 2026 rates apply to the chosen base: 28.30% for common contingencies, 1.30% for professional ones, 0.90% for the intergenerational equity mechanism and 0.90% for cessation of activity, about 31.4% in total. One example with our own arithmetic, not an official figure: someone earning €2,442 a month (the visa minimum) contributing on the minimum base of their bracket, €1,356.21, pays about €426 a month.
Flat rate. A first registration, or one with no registration in the previous two years, gives a reduced quota for 12 months, extendable for 12 more if annual net income stays below the minimum wage (€17,094 in 2026). The law says the amount is set each year by the budget law; the last one set was €80 a month for 2023 to 2025, and the Treasury keeps applying €80 (€88.64 with the equity mechanism) in 2026 because there is no new budget. Confirm it when you register.

Double taxation

Spain has 99 double taxation treaties in force, the United States among them (the 1990 treaty and the 2013 protocol, in force since November 2019). The general mechanism is the deduction in article 80 of the income tax law: from your Spanish tax you deduct the lower of two amounts, what you paid abroad under a comparable tax, or your average rate applied to the income taxed abroad.
Three typical situations:
  • Freelancer on the general scale: you are a treaty resident and can ask the Tax Agency for the certificate of tax residence "for treaty purposes" so your clients or home country apply the treaty.
  • Employee in the 24% regime: you are not a treaty resident, as the earlier section explains. Your home country decides under its own law whether you remain its resident.
  • US citizen, in either case: the United States taxes its citizens on worldwide income wherever they live. What happens on the American side is a matter for a US tax adviser, not for this guide.

Calendar and the mistakes we see

WhenWhat
6 months from social security registrationForm 149 to opt into the 24% regime (employees only)
1 to 20 April, July and October; 1 to 30 JanuaryForms 130 and 303 (self-employed)
April to JuneForm 100 (general scale) or 151 (special regime) for the previous year
November and DecemberThe only window to renounce the regime with effect the following year
Mistakes that reach the question form:
  1. Counting the six months from the UGE authorisation. They run from social security registration.
  2. Invoicing as a freelancer and assuming 24%. The regime names employees.
  3. Thinking "non-resident for the tax" means non-resident. You live in Spain, you are in Spanish social security, and to your home country you are whatever its law says.
  4. Forgetting RETA. The UGE extinguishes the authorisation of anyone who does not register, and the Tax Agency expects the quarterly forms from the first quarter.
  5. Buying a home without looking at wealth tax. In the regime you are taxed by real obligation: assets in Spain do count.

Conclusion

The digital nomad tax question is not "how much is 24%", it is "does it apply to me". For employees of foreign companies holding the visa, yes, if they opt in within six months of social security registration. For freelancers, no: they pay the general scale with the obligations of any autónomo, contribute to RETA and invoice foreign clients without VAT. In both cases social security is paid from the first month.

If your situation has a detail this guide does not cover, tell us below. We answer by email. And the return itself, with an adviser.

Related guides

Official Sources

The figures and requirements in this guide have been verified against the following official sources. Rules change often — always check the original source before acting.

Frequently Asked Questions

I am self-employed on the digital nomad visa. Do I pay 24%?

No. Article 93 of the income tax law applies the regime to employees holding the visa, and admits business activity only in two cases: an entrepreneur with an ENISA report or a highly qualified professional serving startups or in R&D. A freelancer invoicing clients pays the general scale.

From when do the six months to opt in count?

From the start date recorded in your Spanish social security registration, or in your home country's certificate of coverage, or in the document proving the start if registration were not compulsory. Not from the UGE authorisation or from your arrival.

Do I have to file Form 720 if I am in the regime?

No. The Tax Agency confirms that someone taxed under the article 93 regime is not required to file the foreign-assets declaration. Resident family members who are not in the regime may be.

How long does the 24% regime last?

The year you become tax resident and the five following years. After that you pay the general scale. Anyone who renounces or is excluded cannot opt in again.

Do I charge VAT to my foreign clients?

To businesses outside Spain, no: the service is located where the client is. EU business clients get the reverse charge, reported on Forms 303 and 349; outside the EU, no VAT. For consumers outside the EU, consulting, IT and similar services carry no Spanish VAT either.

How much do I pay as autónomo in 2026?

By net-income bracket: the minimum base runs from €653.59 (up to €670 a month) to €1,928.10 (over €6,000), with about 31.4% applied to it. A first registration gives the flat rate, which the Treasury keeps at €80 a month for 12 months, extendable for 12 more if you earn under the minimum wage.

Can I get a tax residence certificate while in the regime?

You can request the certificate of tax residence in Spain. What the Tax Agency does not consider you is a resident for double taxation treaty purposes, because you are taxed only on Spanish-source income, except in reciprocity cases the Ministry designates.

I am a US citizen. Does the regime free me from US tax?

No. The United States taxes its citizens on worldwide income wherever they live. What you can credit or deduct on the US side is a question for an adviser there.

What happens if I breach a condition of the regime?

You are excluded from the year of the breach, must report it within a month, and pay the general scale from then on. You cannot opt in again.

Does your case have complications?

Tell us whether you are employed or self-employed, which country you come from and since when you have been registered. We answer by email.

Send us your question

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