This is an overview, not tax advice. The rules are individual and they change. We are glad to point you to a tax adviser who works with both your home country’s law and Spanish law — that is the only calculation you should base a decision on. Swedish readers: the Swedish version of this guide covers SINK and utflyttning specifically.
Three concepts that get mixed up all the time
- Deregistering at home — telling your home country’s authorities that you are leaving. A notification, not a decision about your tax.
- Continuing ties — most countries can keep taxing you as fully resident if you retain a strong connection: a home, family, a business, directorships. This is the most common trap, and Nordic countries in particular apply it strictly.
- Non-resident taxation — the special rules that may apply to certain home-country income once you are genuinely resident abroad, usually after an application.
Tax resident in Spain
Spain normally treats you as tax resident if you spend more than 183 days here in a calendar year, or if the centre of your economic interests is here. Once resident, you are taxed in Spain on your worldwide income — not only what you earn here. Entirely different rules then apply to your annual return, to wealth and to inheritance.
If you are not resident but own a home here, you pay tax instead as a non-resident owner. That is done through Modelo 210.
The questions to have answered before you move
- Do I keep ties to my home country that mean I remain fully taxable there, and what would it take to end them?
- What kind of pension do I have, and what does the tax treaty say about that specific kind?
- What happens to my investment accounts, funds and my home back home?
- Will I become tax resident in Spain, and from which date?
- How do wealth tax and inheritance tax in Andalusia look in my situation?
Why we raise this before the first viewing
Tax decides what you actually have left each month — and therefore which property is sensible. Working backwards from the tax to the budget, instead of the other way round, is the single most useful thing you can do early.
We are estate agents, not tax advisers. But we know which questions must be asked and who should answer them. Get in touch and we will go through your situation and point you in the right direction.