Tax & Financial Services in Spain: Advisors and Accountants

Who Needs Tax, Accounting, Banking or Financial Help in Spain

Advisors in Spain handles five specialist services on this hub: tax advisors for general filing, accountants for ongoing bookkeeping, Beckham Law specialists for the expat tax regime, US expat tax specialists, and bank-account assistance for non-residents.

Five jobs bring people to this page. Each lands on a different service:

• Filing a Spanish tax return. Residency status, income and capital gains feed one annual return, and a tax advisor works out what you owe.
• Keeping ongoing books. A gestor or a chartered accountant files routine returns and payroll paperwork, month after month.
• Qualifying for the Beckham Law regime. Employees relocating for work check whether the special inpatriate tax status applies before their first Spanish return.
• Meeting US filing obligations. American citizens in Spain owe a return in both countries and need a specialist who works across the treaty and FBAR rules.
• Opening a bank account. Buyers and visa applicants inside a property-lawyer or immigration engagement usually get this bundled in free; everyone else books it as its own service.

Filing Taxes in Spain (Residency, Rates and Reporting)

Filing a Spanish tax return starts with your residency status. Under Article 9 of the Ley del IRPF, you are a Spanish tax resident if you spend more than 183 days here in the calendar year, or if your main economic activities and interests sit in Spain. Four of the guides below carry their own embedded qualification form.

• Income tax rates and brackets. National and regional bands both apply once you are resident; the rates guide names them by comunidad.
• Capital gains tax. A gain on an asset sold while resident follows its own scale, covered in the capital gains guide.
• Wealth tax. Non-residents owe it only on assets situated, exercisable or enforceable in Spain, an obligacion real under Agencia Tributaria’s rule; the wealth tax guide carries the regional figures.
• Non-resident tax and Modelo 210. Non-residents who own Spanish property file Modelo 210 even with no rental income; the guide names the deadline.
• Modelo 720. Agencia Tributaria’s informational return on assets and rights held abroad, filed by Spanish tax residents; the guide covers the thresholds.
• The two tax calculators. The Spain tax calculator and the autonomo tax calculator estimate what you owe before you enquire.
• Exit tax. A charge on a large shareholder’s unrealized gain when Spanish tax residency ends, under Article 95 bis of the Ley del IRPF; the exit tax guide names the thresholds.

Day-to-Day Accounting and Bookkeeping (Gestoria)

A gestor and a tax advisor split the same broad job into two different rhythms of work. A tax advisor plans: residency status, a one-off filing, or a decision such as Beckham Law eligibility. A gestor, working alongside a chartered accountant, runs the calendar instead: monthly VAT and payroll filings, employee paperwork, and routine correspondence with the Agencia Tributaria and Seguridad Social. Neither is a lawyer, and a gestor is not a chartered tax advisor either. A gestor administers paperwork and cannot represent you in a dispute or give the planning advice a tax advisor gives.

For a company, the same accountant usually handles two further items: preparing the annual accounts the Registro Mercantil requires, and keeping the filings calendar so nothing is missed month to month. Accountants and gestors in Spain covers both in full.

The Beckham Law Special Expat Tax Regime

Spain’s special inpatriate tax regime, commonly called the Beckham Law, lets an employee relocating to Spain for work opt into a fixed tax treatment for the years right after the move, under Article 93 of the Ley del IRPF. It draws relocating employees from the UK, the US, Germany and the Netherlands alike, each running into the same one qualifying test: did the move happen for a genuine work reason, inside the window the regime sets. The Beckham Law service and its guides name the current numbers, and eligibility turns on facts specific to the move.

A Beckham Law case combines an Article 93 eligibility check with the regime filing. Ordinary Spanish tax work covers residency status, returns and planning outside that election.

US Citizens’ Tax Obligations in Spain

US citizens owe a tax return to the United States on their worldwide income no matter where they live, according to the IRS, and Spanish residency does not change that. Living in Spain adds a second return, on that same worldwide income, to the Agencia Tributaria. The US-Spain tax treaty and the foreign tax credit reduce the double taxation that overlap would otherwise create, and the FBAR and Modelo 720 report much of the same foreign-held account information to two different tax authorities under two different rules. None of that removes the filing requirement in either country. US expat tax specialists work this overlap daily, coordinating the treaty position, the foreign tax credit and both countries’ reporting deadlines.

Opening and Running a Bank Account in Spain

Spanish bank-account opening splits into two tracks. A non-resident applicant opens a personal account, usually with a passport and, at some banks, a NIE; a foreign-owned company opens a corporate account for its Spanish SL, a heavier file that adds a UBO declaration and the company’s own NIF. Buyers and visa applicants inside a property-lawyer or immigration engagement typically get this bundled in free, the same rule named above; property lawyers in Spain and immigration lawyers in Spain cover the bundle in full. Everyone else books it as its own service. Non-resident bank accounts in Spain covers the documents, the KYC file and the timing for both tracks.