Spain's digital nomad visa: requirements and taxes

What Spain's digital nomad visa is and who can apply

Spain's digital nomad visa is the visa or residence permit for international remote work created by the Startup Law (Ley de startups). It lets you live in Spain if you are from outside the EU and work remotely for foreign companies. In 2026 you must prove means of about €2,849 gross a month if you come on your own and, if you work for yourself, register as self-employed (autónomo).

The rules are in articles 74 bis to 74 quinquies of Law 14/2013, added by Law 28/2022 (the Startup Law) with effect from 23 December 2022.

There are two profiles, taxed differently:

• Employee: you have an employment contract with a foreign company. You can only work for companies based outside Spain.
• Self-employed professional (autónomo): you have commercial contracts with one or more foreign companies. You can also work for companies located in Spain, as long as that work does not exceed 20% of your total professional activity (article 74 bis.1 of Law 14/2013).

As a self-employed person you have to register with Hacienda (the tax authorities) and Seguridad Social, and file quarterly taxes.

Digital nomad visa requirements in 2026

The requirements come from two articles of Law 14/2013: the general ones in article 62 and the specific ones in 74 ter. The UGE's frequently asked questions spell them out.

If your job requires in-person supervision or client visits, the UGE may refuse it.

How much money you need: 200% of the minimum wage

The law asks for "sufficient" financial means and the UGE sets the amount: 200% of the minimum wage (SMI, salario mínimo interprofesional) per month for the main applicant, at least 75% of the SMI for the first family member and 25% for each additional one. These are gross figures which, according to question 19 of the UGE's frequently asked questions, must come "from employment income" (payslips or invoices). If they fall short, the UGE's document list for initial applications lets you make up the difference: you prove with up-to-date bank certificates, in your name and stamped or signed by the bank, that you have "savings or other liquid income that cover the difference for the whole term of the permit".

For 2026, Royal Decree 126/2026 sets the SMI at €1,221 a month in 14 payments, €17,094 a year, with effect from 1 January. The UGE refers to "200% of the SMI monthly" without saying whether it counts 12 or 14 payments. Here we use the annual SMI spread over 12 months (€1,424.50 a month), which gives the higher figure and is therefore the cautious one:

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Based on the €1,221 monthly payment, the minimum would be €2,442; the cautious move is to be above €2,849. The UGE asks for payslips or invoices for the previous three months and a stamped or signed bank certificate with those payments marked.

How to apply: from your country or from Spain

Your route sets how long the permit lasts:

The consulate's deadline is 10 working days (article 75.5 of Law 14/2013), unless your case needs the prior consultation under article 22 of the Visa Code. The UGE's deadline (20 days) and approval by silence are in article 76; they are working days under article 30 of Law 39/2015. If you are asked for documents, the clock can stop.

From abroad you can only apply for the visa. Non-lucrative residence does not allow you to work, so it cannot prove you were already working remotely.

The steps, in order

1. Gather proof of your work. Contracts of at least three months, permission to work remotely and a certificate from the commercial register (or equivalent) showing one year of activity.
2. Prepare your personal documents. Passport, degree or experience, criminal record certificates (apostilled and translated if needed), health insurance and income.
3. Get your NIE and pay the fee. At the UGE, €73.26 per person, online and before you submit.
4. Submit the application. At the consulate with an appointment, or electronically to the UGE, yourself or through a representative.
5. Register with Seguridad Social and Hacienda. Straight away, if you are self-employed.
6. Choose your tax regime. If you can use the Beckham regime, you have six months from the start of your activity to opt in.

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Social security: registering is mandatory

According to the UGE, if you work from Spain you must be registered with Spanish Seguridad Social. Two cases:

• Employees: your foreign company registers with Seguridad Social and enrols you in the General Scheme (Régimen General), or you keep your home country's cover if there is an agreement and the certificate is issued under it.
• Self-employed: you register yourself in the RETA (Régimen Especial de Trabajadores Autónomos, the self-employed scheme). Question 6 of the UGE's FAQ says it is mandatory, "with no room for importing the entitlement on the basis of a bilateral agreement". Some consulates, such as Bogotá, accept a certificate of applicable legislation instead where there is an agreement (for Colombia, form ES-CO.3). If you plan to use one, confirm the approach with the UGE first.

The UGE recommends taking your decision to a Business Support Point (PAE, Punto de Atención al Emprendimiento), which handles both registrations at once. With Hacienda you register on Form 036 (modelo 036): Form 037 was abolished on 3 February 2025 by Order HAC/1526/2024. Step by step: registering as self-employed.

If you have not been in the RETA in the previous two years (three if you already had this benefit before), you can ask for the reduced contribution: €80 a month plus the MEI (€88.64 in total) for 12 months, extendable for another 12 if your expected net income is below the SMI, according to the Seguridad Social self-employment guide. Tables: self-employed contributions in 2026.

What taxes you pay as a digital nomad in Spain

Tax residence: the 183-day rule

The visa does not make you tax resident. Under article 9 of the IRPF Law, you are resident if you spend more than 183 days of the calendar year in Spain or if the main hub of your activities or economic interests is here. If you are, you pay tax in Spain on your worldwide income.

General regime: IRPF like any other resident

Without a special regime, your general base (employment, business activity) is taxed on the progressive state and regional scale; savings income has a separate scale (articles 63 and 66 of the IRPF Law). As a self-employed person, you also:

• Work out your income under direct assessment (estimación directa), usually the simplified version, and pay 20% of your cumulative net income in advance each quarter on Form 130, under article 110 of the IRPF Regulation.
• File the annual income tax return (Form 100). See IRPF for the self-employed.

A foreign company with no establishment in Spain normally does not withhold, so you will almost certainly file Form 130. According to the Form 130 instructions, a professional is only exempt if at least 70% of their income in the previous year carried withholding; in the year you start, the quarter's percentage is what counts. A Spanish company withholds 15% for professional services, or 7% in the first year and the next two if you did not carry out a professional activity the year before and you tell them (article 95 of the Regulation); a nomad who was already invoicing abroad does not usually qualify.

VAT: clients outside Spain

For VAT (IVA), what matters is where your client is. Under article 69 of the VAT Law, the general rule for business-to-business services is that they are taxed where the client is established:

There are exceptions. With European clients you need to register in the ROI (the register of intra-EU operators) before your first invoice: see intra-EU VAT.

The Beckham regime for digital nomads: who qualifies and who does not

The special regime for posted workers, known as the Beckham Law, lets you pay tax as a non-resident even though you live in Spain. Under article 93 of the IRPF Law, you pay 24% on your general taxable base (employment and income that is not savings income) up to €600,000 a year and 47% on anything above that; dividends, interest and gains obtained in Spain go on their own scale from 19% (up to €6,000) to 30% (over €300,000). Employment and entrepreneurial income for the period count as obtained in Spain, wherever you are (article 93.2.b). It applies for the year you become resident and the following five.

The law expressly opens it to "employees who hold the visa for international remote work". A self-employed person with an activity in Spain usually has a permanent establishment, which rules them out except through two routes:

• An entrepreneurial activity with a favourable ENISA report, under article 70 of Law 14/2013.
• Being a highly qualified professional who provides services to startups (empresas emergentes) or does training or R&D&I, if that pay exceeds 40% of all your business, professional and employment income.

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If you can use it:

• Opting in: on Form 149, no later than six months after the start of activity shown in your Seguridad Social registration (or the equivalent document), under article 116 of the IRPF Regulation. If you miss it, you lose the regime.
• Annual return: on Form 151 instead of Form 100.
• The trade-off: for wealth tax you are only taxed on assets in Spain, and you lose the general IRPF deductions: you only apply those of non-resident income tax (IRNR), such as donations, and, with a cap, the double taxation deduction, under article 114 of the Regulation.

Worked example: Sofía, a self-employed designer with a US client

Sofía is a Colombian freelance product designer. Since January 2025 she has had a commercial contract with a long-established US company. In November 2025 she applies for the visa at the consulate in Bogotá and gets it: under article 74 quater of Law 14/2013, the visa is enough to live and work remotely in Spain while it is valid. She arrives in Madrid on 30 December 2025 and registers in the RETA and with Hacienda with a start date of 1 January 2026, her first working day here. Figures are without VAT unless stated.

Tax residence. In 2025 she lived in Bogotá as a tax resident there, with her home and activity, no family in Spain and only two days here: she meets none of the article 9 tests, so she was not resident and what she invoiced from Colombia is not taxed here. In 2026 she lives in Madrid all year: she is resident and declares her worldwide income under the IRPF.

Income check. In the three months before applying she invoiced €3,600 a month, even above the cautious €2,849 for 2026. From July 2026 she adds a Spanish client paying €600 a month: €4,200 a month in total.

The 20% limit. Article 74 bis.1 of Law 14/2013 sets the cap at 20% "of their total professional activity" without saying how to measure it. As an indicator, from July her Spanish client accounts for €600 of €4,200 a month: 14.3%.

Income per quarter. Each quarter she invoices 3 × €3,600 = €10,800 to the US company, with no Spanish VAT because the service is located in the US (article 69 of the VAT Law). In the third quarter she adds 3 × €600 = €1,800 from the Spanish company, with €378 of VAT (21%) and €270 of withholding (15%): €12,600 of income that quarter.

Deductible expenses per quarter. A base of €900: €265.92 of reduced self-employed contributions (3 × €88.64), which carry no VAT, and €634.08 of coworking in Madrid and software with Spanish invoices. On that €634.08 she pays €133.16 of input VAT (21%), so her actual outlay for the quarter is €1,033.16. For the IRPF the €900 counts; the VAT goes on Form 303.

Cumulative net income (January to September). Article 110 of the Regulation calculates Form 130 on the income "from the first day of the year to the last day of the quarter". Income: €10,800 + €10,800 + €12,600 = €34,200. Expenses: 3 × €900 = €2,700. Difference: €31,500. Under simplified direct assessment you also subtract 5% for hard-to-justify expenses, under article 30 of the Regulation: 5% of €31,500 = €1,575. Cumulative net income: €29,925.

The €2,000 cap on that 5% is annual: if Q4 repeats the same figures, the 5% for the year (€2,160 on €43,200) will exceed it and only €2,000 will be subtracted, also on the Q4 Form 130.

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Q3 Form 130. The 70% exemption does not apply to her either way: in 2025 none of her income carried Spanish withholding and, if 2026 counts as her first year, Q1 and Q2 carry 0% and Q3 carries 14.3% (€1,800 of €12,600). She files Form 130 every quarter. The payments are:

Q1: €10,800 − €900 = €9,900, minus the 5% (€495). Q2: €21,600 − €1,800 = €19,800, minus €990. In Q3 she subtracts the €3,762 already paid and the €270 withheld.

The amounts do not include the reduction of up to €100 under article 110.3.c) (box 13), which, according to the Form 130 instructions, requires net income of €12,000 or less in the previous year; as she was not resident in 2025, check it with your adviser.

Form 303. In Q1 and Q2 she charges no VAT but pays €133.16 of input VAT each quarter, which she can deduct because article 94 of the VAT Law allows it for services provided outside Spain. Both returns show a balance to carry forward: €266.32. In Q3: €378 − €133.16 = €244.84, which she offsets with €244.84 of that €266.32 (box 78), so Form 303 comes to zero and €21.48 is left for Q4 (box 87), according to the 2026 Form 303 instructions. The €10,800 invoiced to the US goes in box 120 each quarter. If she still has a balance in her favour on 31 December, she can ask for a refund on the Q4 Form 303 (article 115 of the VAT Law).

Deadline. The third-quarter Forms 130 and 303 are filed from 1 to 20 October 2026. Sofía cannot use the Beckham regime: she is self-employed, has no ENISA report and does not work for startups or in training or R&D&I. Before her visa expires, in the 60 days beforehand, she will apply to the UGE for the residence permit.

Common mistakes digital nomads make in Spain

• Submitting travel insurance. The UGE does not accept it, nor reimbursement policies or ones with waiting periods or co-payments.
• Sitting right at the minimum. If you are around €2,849 with no savings to cover the difference, one slow month makes renewal harder.
• Delaying RETA registration. If you are self-employed and it is found in a review, the UGE can declare the permit extinguished.
• Counting on the Beckham regime while self-employed. Apart from the ENISA and qualified professional routes, it is for employees. And the six-month deadline for Form 149 is not extended.
• Forgetting Form 130 because nobody withholds from you. That is exactly why you file it every quarter.

How Melso helps

Melso is your AI tax agent, with human professionals behind it, for the self-employed in Spain. For the visa itself, talk to an immigration specialist and confirm with Melso the scope you have contracted. A Melso gestor files your registration with Hacienda and Seguridad Social, then you send your invoices and receipts on WhatsApp so Melso can organise your income and expenses and remind you of the tax calendar. The returns included for your activity and tax profile, such as Form 303 and Form 130, are prepared and reviewed by Melso and its professionals; you approve the exact draft in the app and, with the necessary authorisation, the professional files the approved version with the AEAT, Spain's tax agency. See the pricing and get started at melso.ai or click Message us on WhatsApp.

This article is for information only and does not replace professional advice for your case. Last reviewed: 12 October 2026.