Digital nomad · Taxes

Digital nomad taxes in Spain: special regime or general scale

Taxes are calculated separately from your visa. We explain who can use the art. 93 LIRPF special regime, what you can deduct under the general regime, and how not to confuse income for the permit with your taxable base.

Based on arts. 9, 30 and 93 LIRPF, art. 24 TRLIRNR and art. 69 of Ley 37/1992

Your visa does not choose your tax regime

The remote-work permit lets you live and work in Spain, but taxes are calculated separately. You become a Spanish tax resident under art. 9.1 of the LIRPF (personal income tax law) if you spend more than 183 days in the calendar year in Spain, or if the core of your activities or economic interests is here. From there you have two routes: the general regime with the ordinary scale, or the special regime under art. 93 LIRPF.

§ Art. 9.1 LIRPF (Ley 35/2006): residence by 183 days or by the core of activities or economic interests. If, on those same criteria, your spouse (unless legally separated) and your dependent minor children habitually live in Spain, the law presumes you are resident too, unless you prove otherwise.

The art. 93 LIRPF special regime: who can use it

Someone who becomes a Spanish tax resident by moving here can opt to be taxed under the non-resident income tax (IRNR) with special rules, while remaining an IRPF taxpayer. The regime applies in the tax year of the change of residence and the five following years, so up to six years. The law sets three conditions.

  1. Five years without residenceYou were not a Spanish resident in the five tax years before the one in which you moved.
  2. The move happens for one of the listed reasonsAn employment contract (the rule expressly names employees holding the remote-work visa under Ley 14/2013), becoming a company director, an entrepreneurial activity under art. 70 of Ley 14/2013, or a highly qualified professional serving start-ups or working in training, research, development and innovation, earning more than 40 % of total income from it.
  3. No permanent establishmentYou do not earn income that would count as obtained through a permanent establishment in Spain (with an exception for the entrepreneurial and highly qualified professional grounds).
Who is not named expressly
A freelancer working under a service contract for a foreign client is not expressly in the list of grounds: it names employees with the remote-work visa, directors, entrepreneurs and highly qualified professionals. Whether your activity fits one of them depends on what it is. Also, the rule speaks of the remote-work visa, and the text of the article does not say how it applies to a permit obtained inside Spain. It is worth settling both questions before you choose a regime.

Family members can opt in too: the spouse, children under 25 (no age limit if disabled) or, where there is no marriage, the other parent. The same conditions apply (five years without residence, no permanent establishment), and the sum of their tax bases must be lower than the holder's (art. 93.3).

How tax is calculated under the special regime

Rate
24 % and 47 %
Scale for the main income: 24 % up to 600,000 € a year, 47 % above (art. 93.2.e).1º LIRPF). Savings income follows a separate scale (art. 93.2.e).2º), which we do not reproduce here.
Base
No deductions or offsetting
The year's income is taxed cumulatively, with no offsetting between items (art. 93.2.c), and a non-resident's base is the full gross amount, without reductions (art. 24.1 TRLIRNR).
Source
All work income counts as Spanish
All employment income earned while the regime applies is treated as earned in Spain (art. 93.2.b).

Withholding on employment income is 24 %, and 47 % on the part of payments from a single payer that exceeds 600,000 euros in a year (art. 93.2.f). Anyone who opts for this regime is also subject to wealth tax on a real-obligation basis (art. 93.1). The procedure for exercising the option is set by the Ministry of Finance in a separate act. We have not verified its text or deadline in our materials, so confirm both before your first filing.

§ Art. 93.1 and 93.2 LIRPF (Ley 35/2006); art. 24.1 TRLIRNR (RDLeg 5/2004).

General regime: what you can deduct if you work for yourself

If you do not opt for the special regime, or it does not apply, your income is taxed on the ordinary IRPF scale: one part for the State and one for the autonomous community. Exact rates depend on the region and the year, so we do not list them. For activity under direct estimation (estimación directa), the law expressly names several expenses.

  1. Health insurancePremiums for your own cover, your spouse and your children under 25 living with you: up to 500 € per person and up to 1,500 € per person with a disability.
  2. Home utilitiesIf part of your main home is used for the activity: water, gas, electricity, phone and internet, at 30 % of the share of floor area used for the activity (unless you prove a different percentage).
  3. MealsMeals in restaurants and hospitality venues paid by electronic means, within the daily allowance limits set by regulation.
  4. Hard-to-document expensesUnder the simplified method, provisions and hard-to-document expenses together cannot exceed 2,000 € a year. The simplified method applies if the previous year's net turnover did not exceed 600,000 €.

Other business expenses (equipment, software, coworking, professional services) are deductible under the general rules of art. 28 LIRPF when documented.

§ Arts. 30.1 and 30.2 LIRPF: rules 4.ª and 5.ª (health insurance, utilities, meals and hard-to-document expenses).

VAT when your client is abroad

Under art. 69.Uno.1º of Ley 37/1992, a service to a business is treated as supplied in Spain when the recipient has its seat of activity or a permanent establishment here or, failing that, its domicile or habitual residence. If your client is a company operating abroad, those conditions are not met, and as a general rule Spanish VAT is not charged on that service. For clients who are not businesses and for certain types of service the rules differ (arts. 69.Uno.2º, 69.Dos, 70 and 72), and if the client is in another EU country there are formalities we do not cover here.

§ Art. 69.Uno.1º Ley 37/1992 (VAT law): the place of supply of services to businesses is determined by where the recipient is.

Be careful with promises of a specific percentage

Nomads are sometimes promised a universal 10 % or 13 %. That figure does not appear in our material and the law does not set it. The special regime uses the flat 24 % and 47 % scale with no deductions. On the general scale the final rate depends on income, region and real deductions, so no percentage can be guaranteed in advance.

Income for the permit and taxable base: different numbers

For the permit you must show monthly income of at least 200 % of the minimum wage (SMI). As a planning guide, count on an average of €2,849 gross a month: €34,188 a year, which is 200 % of the annual 2026 SMI (€17,094, Royal Decree 126/2026: €1,221 a month × 14). Amounts are gross, before tax and social security withholdings. Income can be proven by any means, through an individual assessment: contracts, payslips or invoices, and a bank certificate covering the three months before the application. The taxable base, by contrast, is calculated after deductions and depends on the regime you chose. That is why reducing your income to pay less tax is risky: the immigration authority looks at the income you can prove, not the net base.

Why the income threshold differs between sources

No rule states the euro amount. The Joint Instruction of the Directorate-General for Spaniards Abroad and the Directorate-General for Migration (29-30 March 2023), point tercero 1.a), speaks of the “amount that represents monthly 200% of the SMI”. A digital nomad is not only an employee: the 14 payments do not apply to a nomad, so the annual sum is divided by 12. Immigration assesses the real ability to earn income, not compliance with labour law.

For planning we take the larger base: €2,849 a month, €34,188 a year. Family add-ons use the same base: 75 % is €1,068 and 25 % is €356. Some Spanish consulates state a lower figure, calculated on the monthly SMI of €1,221: €2,442 (and €916 and €305 per family member). That the larger base is the better one for planning is our conclusion. Amounts around €2,650 and €2,762 come from the same calculation with the 2024 and 2025 SMI, so they are out of date.

What to do
If your provable income falls between €2,442 and €2,849, the shortfall can be covered by savings, shown with a bank certificate for the whole validity of the permit. No law fixes either figure, so it is safer to have a margin or have your case checked in a consultation.
§ Joint Instruction 2023, point tercero 1.a); Royal Decree 126/2026, art. 1.
How to avoid the mistake
Keep your records so that payslips or invoices and bank movements match each other. That is what the immigration side needs, while the tax side is calculated separately. Income requirements at renewal are covered on the renewal page.

Where to start

  1. Work out whether you will be a tax residentCount your days in Spain and consider where the core of your activity and interests lies.
  2. Work out which ground applies to youEmployee with the visa, entrepreneur, qualified professional or freelancer: the special regime depends on it.
  3. Find out the procedure and deadline for the optionThe Ministry of Finance sets them, and a mistake here can cost you the regime.
  4. Keep your documentsPayslips, invoices, statements and the contract with your client: they serve both immigration and tax.