Digital Nomad Visa Tax Spain: Rate, Cap & Deadline (2026)

Spain lets a digital nomad visa holder elect Article 93 of the Ley del IRPF, the framework known as the Beckham Law, since the 2023 Startups Law opened it to remote workers. Electing it swaps ordinary progressive income tax for a two-bracket flat rate that runs for a fixed number of tax years. This guide sets out the digital nomad visa tax rate, the cap, and the Modelo 149 election deadline.

How is a digital nomad visa holder taxed in Spain?

Digital nomad visa holders can elect Spain’s Article 93 regime, the Beckham Law framework extended to remote workers by the 2023 Startups Law, and pay a flat rate on Spanish-source income up to a set cap in place of ordinary progressive tax.

By default, a digital nomad visa holder pays ordinary Spanish income tax like any other resident, on a worldwide-income basis. Electing Article 93 changes that: it substitutes Non-Resident Income Tax rules, applied only to income from Spanish sources with one statutory exception covered below, for the six tax years the regime covers. The law names the international telework visa itself as proof that the remote-work trigger for the election is met, for an employee holding it under Ley 14/2013. Electing the regime is a choice, not an automatic consequence of holding the visa, and it is exercised through a separate filing covered further down this page.

What is the special tax regime digital nomads can elect, and where does it come from?

The regime is Article 93 of the Ley del IRPF (Ley 35/2006), informally known as the Beckham Law. With effect from 1 January 2023, the Disposicion Final Tercera of Ley 28/2022, the Startups Law, amended Article 93 and extended eligibility to teleworkers, entrepreneurs and professionals who had not previously qualified, according to Agencia Tributaria’s own manual. The same amendment shortened the prior-non-residence lookback from ten years to five.

A digital nomad visa holder who elects Article 93 uses the same statutory framework as an employee relocated to Spain by their employer, an entrepreneur or a highly qualified professional. What differs by category is which trigger in Article 93.1 an applicant has to satisfy, and the international telework visa itself satisfies the remote-work trigger for the employee track.

How does the flat rate work, and what’s the cap?

The Article 93 scale has two brackets: 24% on the general taxable base up to €600,000, and 47% on the amount above that, according to the LIRPF text on BOE (article 93.2.e). There is no single flat rate that covers every euro: a digital nomad earning above the €600,000 cap pays the higher band on the excess, not the lower band on the whole amount.

The six-tax-year duration is the year the regime starts plus five more; the section on renewal further down this page shows how that figure is built and what the starting year turns on.

See whether the reduced-rate regime applies to your situation

The 24%/47% scale above is fixed. Whether you qualify to use it is not: Article 93.1 sets conditions on the five years before your move and on which trigger applies to your case, and the digital nomad visa is only one of several routes into the regime. Getting that wrong costs you the Modelo 149 deadline covered further down this page, not just the rate.

A Spain-qualified advisor can confirm whether your own move, employer relationship and residence history satisfy Article 93.1 before that deadline runs out.

How does this compare to paying ordinary Spanish income tax?

Article 93’s flat scale suits a high earner more than a modest one. Ordinary IRPF residents pay a state scale of six bands, from 9.5% on the first €12,450 to 24.5% above €300,000, according to LIRPF article 63, plus a separate scale each comunidad autonoma sets on top of it. A combined top marginal rate of around 45-47% is commonly cited, but it depends on which region you live in and is not one fixed national figure the way the Beckham scale is.

What counts as taxable income also changes. An ordinary resident is taxed on worldwide income. A Beckham-regime taxpayer is taxed on Spanish-source income only, with one statutory exception: employment and entrepreneurial income earned while the regime applies is deemed Spanish-source by law, regardless of where the work is physically performed or which country pays it, per LIRPF article 93.2.b). That fiction does not reach investment income such as foreign dividends or interest, which follows ordinary source rules on its own. Whether the trade-off favors you turns on your own income mix and level, not a blanket answer.

Is this the same thing as the Beckham Law?

Yes, in practice. “Beckham Law” is the informal name for Article 93 as a whole, not a separate scheme limited to one group of arrivals. Spain’s Beckham Law regime covers the article’s original audience: employees relocated to Spain by their employer.

The 2023 Startups Law extended that same article to new categories, including teleworkers who hold the international telework visa and, for the self-employed track, professionals who meet the visa’s own foreign-client rule. A digital nomad visa holder who elects Article 93 opts into the identical statute, the identical 24%/47% scale and the identical six-year window that an employer-relocated employee uses; only the qualifying trigger differs.

How and when do you apply for the special regime?

You apply by filing Modelo 149, a one-time election communication to Agencia Tributaria, not a form you file every year.

1. Register with Spanish Social Security, or document your start-of-activity date another way. This date starts the filing clock, according to Agencia Tributaria’s Modelo 149 procedure page.
2. Get a NIF and register in the Census of Obligated Taxpayers, if you are not registered there already.
3. Submit the supporting documentation electronically through Agencia Tributaria’s specific procedure for the special regime, and keep the registration number it returns.
4. File Modelo 149 within six months of the Social Security alta date, or the documentary proof of your start-of-activity date, stating that registration number on the form itself.

A family member added to the application under the 2023 extension has a separate deadline of their own: six months from their own date of entry into Spain, or the main taxpayer’s own deadline if that falls later.

What happens if you miss the deadline or don’t qualify?

Ordinary progressive IRPF applies, with no retroactive fix. Neither Article 93 nor its implementing Reglamento sets a late-filing grace period for a missed Modelo 149 deadline. A taxpayer who does not validly exercise the election in time, or who does not meet Article 93.1’s conditions, is taxed as an ordinary IRPF resident on worldwide income under the general progressive scale.

The same finality runs forward too. Once you opt in, you can renounce the regime only in November or December of the year before the renunciation takes effect, and you cannot opt back in after renouncing or after being excluded from it.

How long does the special regime last, and can you renew it?

It applies for the tax year you acquire Spanish tax residence plus the five tax years that follow, six tax years in total, according to the Reglamento del IRPF (article 115). The year you acquire residence is the first calendar year, after your move, in which you spend more than 183 days in Spain.

The window is fixed, and the regime carries no renewal option. It ends after six years, and a taxpayer who wants to keep working from Spain afterward reverts to ordinary IRPF residency taxation on worldwide income.

What does it cost to get advice on the election?

The fee depends on the scope of the engagement. Ask for a written quote that states whether it covers eligibility review, the supporting-document submission, Modelo 149 and any work outside the election itself.

Talk to a Spain-qualified advisor about your digital nomad visa tax situation

Whether your case is a straightforward Modelo 149 election or one that mixes employment and freelance income, the advisor handling your case works through it with you.

Rates, thresholds and legal references on this page are current as of 24 August 2026.