Migratio Lex

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España
Figueres
Migratio Lex

🇪🇸 Legal guidance for global clients
📌 Business, real estate & relocation
🌐 Worldwide services • 70+ nationalities served
✉️ Get in touch ↓

05/06/2026

She sold her home and reinvested what she got into a new property in Spain. Under Spanish tax law, there’s an exemption that means she didn’t owe Hacienda a single euro on that gain. It’s called reinversión en vivienda habitual.

But there’s a condition most people don’t know about until it’s already too late.

Her California apartment had to have been her habitual residence before she sold it. And for Hacienda to recognise it as such, she needed to have lived there continuously for at least three years. Not three years as the owner. Three years actually living there.

She had. So the exemption applied.

Now, she didn’t have to still be living there at the moment of sale. Spanish law gives you up to two years from the day you leave to sell it and still have it count. But those three years of actual residence have to come first.

And once she sold, she had two years to reinvest the proceeds into her new Spanish home. She was already in the process of buying in Costa Brava. The numbers worked.

If you’re planning to sell a property abroad and move to Spain, the timing of when you establish tax residency matters more than most people realise.

Save this if you’re planning a move to Spain and still own property abroad.

03/06/2026

Returning to Spain after years abroad is not a fresh start from a tax perspective. It’s a continuation.

MYTH
“I’ve been gone long enough. I start clean.”

REALITY
Spain doesn’t care how long you were away. The moment you hit 183 days in a calendar year, you’re a tax resident again, and your entire worldwide income becomes taxable here. The years abroad don’t reset anything.

REAL RULES
If you built a portfolio while you were away, Spain will tax the gains on disposal. If you own real estate in another country, Spain wants to know about it. If your company is registered abroad but managed from Spain, the tax authority may argue it’s effectively Spanish for corporate tax purposes. None of this is theoretical. All of it is litigated.

COMMON TRAPS
Assuming Beckham Law is available: it isn’t if you were resident in Spain in the five years before returning. Assuming your foreign structure is untouchable. Assuming the move date doesn’t matter when it determines which tax year triggers full residency.

WHAT CHANGES EVERYTHING
Cross-border tax planning done before the move, not after. Most countries have a double tax treaty with Spain. Those treaties create legitimate planning space, but only if you structure the move before you become resident.

Comment RETURN and we’ll walk you through what your specific situation triggers. 👇

29/05/2026

You signed the arras contract the same day you visited the property.
Weeks later: structural problems.
You want out.

The agency keeps your 10%.
Legally.

Here is how that looks in practice.

Property: €400,000.
Arras deposit: €40,000.
Money lost in one signature: €40,000.

Arras penitenciales (Art. 1454 Código Civil):
You walk away: you lose the deposit.
Seller walks away: they pay you double.
No exceptions.

The clause nobody reads:
“The buyer accepts the property in its current condition.”
Standard in most agency contracts.
Once signed: anything you discover after is your problem.

Before you pay a single euro or sign anything:

→ Legal review of every document the agency puts in front of you
→ Due diligence on the property: ownership, charges, debts, urban planning
→ Structural inspection by an independent professional
→ Confirmation that what you are signing matches what you were verbally promised

The agency works for the seller.
Not for you.

We work with foreign buyers in Spain every day to make sure none of these traps catch them off guard. The review happens before the pressure to sign. Before the “other buyers are interested.” Before anything moves.

Questions about your purchase in Spain?
Book a consultation. Link in bio.

27/05/2026

Roland Garros is 2 hours from Madrid.
No visa required. No border control.

That is what free movement inside the Schengen Area actually means. 29 countries. No paperwork every time you cross a border. No embassy appointments. No waiting.

Most remote workers outside Europe do not realise that a Spanish residence permit is also a Schengen pass. The Digital Nomad Visa gives you legal residency in Spain and unrestricted movement across the entire zone.

Paris for a weekend. Amsterdam for a client. Rome because you want to.

All on the same permit you used to move to Spain.

Save this if free movement in Europe is part of why you want to make the move.

25/05/2026

Every week we hear the same story.
American. European partner. Ready to move to Spain.
And completely stuck.

They’ve been together for years. They know where they want to live. They’ve even looked at apartments. 🏡

But the moment they start looking into the legal side, everything gets confusing fast.

Can they move without getting married? Do they need to have lived together first? Can they work while the process is ongoing? What happens if one of them is already in Spain and the other isn’t? 😰

And underneath all of it, the real fear: what if we do this wrong and end up separated for months because of paperwork?

We see this every single week. American citizens with European partners who are ready to take the leap but don’t know where to start, or worse, started in the wrong place and are now stuck fixing it. 📋

The frustrating part is that the path exists. It’s not complicated when you know what it looks like. But the cost of getting the order wrong, registering in the wrong place, or applying too early, is real. We’re talking months of delays, extra costs, and a lot of unnecessary stress for two people who just want to be in the same city. 💬

There’s a way to do this right from day one.

Comment PAREJA26 and we’ll reach out to guide you through the whole process, from the very first step to your approved residency. 👇

24/05/2026

The NLV looks simple. That is exactly why it costs you. 🚨

If you are still working age and you move to Spain on a Non-Lucrative Visa, you are giving up the most powerful tax regime available. The moment you hit 183 days you become a tax resident, and the Beckham Law is gone.

24% flat rate on Spanish income. Foreign dividends untaxed. No Wealth Tax. No Modelo 720. All of it, lost.

There are three visas that keep that door open. The NLV is not one of them.

Save this before you apply. ✈️

18/05/2026

Shakira was on a world tour.
Spain still came for €54M in taxes.
And the courts said no. ⚖️

Justice just ruled she was not a tax resident in Spain in 2011. Every charge, every sanction, annulled. The reason was simple: they could only prove 163 days of physical presence. Spanish law requires 183.

The scary part? Most people become tax residents in Spain without even realising it. You rent a flat, open a bank account, get your NIE, and start your life. Nobody tells you that at some point, Spain may consider you fully liable for taxes on your worldwide income. Not just what you earn here. Everything.

No warning. No letter. Just a bill, years later, that nobody planned for.

Shakira had the resources to fight back in court for over eight years. Most people don’t. And the truth is, with the right advice before the move, most of these situations are entirely avoidable.

Tax residency in Spain is triggered by more than just the number of days you spend here. Your economic ties, where your family lives, where your assets are based, all of it can count. Understanding your situation before you arrive is not a luxury. It is the smartest move you can make.

Before you move to Spain, know exactly where you stand.

Comment TAX26 below and we’ll send you everything about our Tax Assessment directly. 👇

17/05/2026

What nobody tells you is that you can open a fully operational European bank account using only your passport, before your NIE is issued, before you even land in Spain.

And once your account is open, it works for a lot more than just immigration paperwork.

Paying administrative fees and government taxes. Transferring deposits for a property purchase. Covering legal and notary costs for a real estate transaction.

Settling rent and utilities from day one. Receiving income from abroad directly into a Spanish-accepted account. Managing cross-border payments without the delays of a traditional bank.

You can add your NIE to the account later, within a 90-day window. But you do not have to wait for it to start moving.

Whether you are in the middle of a visa process, buying property in Spain, or simply getting your finances in order before you arrive, having a working bank account early removes one of the biggest friction points in the entire process.

Comment BANK and we’ll send you the full guide with everything you need to know.

16/05/2026

Some people comment on our posts sarcastically telling foreigners to just come by boat instead. “It’s easier that way,” they say. 🙄

What those comments miss is the other side of the story: the entrepreneurs who arrive legally, build companies in Spain, hire local staff, and contribute to the economy. They exist. There are more of them than the comments suggest.

For those people, there are two legal routes in Spain: Self-Employment (Autónomo) and the Startup Visa.

Most go autónomo because it’s the one they’ve heard of. You register, you invoice, you fall under the standard IRPF progressive brackets, which can reach 47% at higher income levels. 📊

The Startup Visa, regulated under Law 28/2022 for the Promotion of the Startup Ecosystem, is built for innovative projects with real economic impact in Spain. And once your project is approved by ENISA, everything changes fiscally. ✅

With the Startup Visa you can access the Beckham Law (Special Impatriate Regime, art. 93 LIRPF): a flat 24% tax rate on Spanish-sourced income up to €600,000, for up to 6 years, instead of the progressive IRPF scale. 💼

For an entrepreneur earning €80,000-€100,000 a year, the difference between autónomo and Startup Visa with Beckham can easily exceed €20,000 annually. That’s not a minor detail. It’s a structural decision that shapes your entire time in Spain. 💰

Drop STARTUP in the comments and we’ll send you the details. 📩

13/05/2026

No contract provided. One employer. Approved in 20 working days.

This is one of the most common situations we see: “I work for a single client, exclusively, and I can’t share the contract. Can I still apply for the Digital Nomad Visa?”

The services agreement is one of the documents the Spanish immigration authorities formally require for this visa. Not submitting it is a real risk. But it doesn’t always have to be a dealbreaker.

In this case, the contract existed but couldn’t be submitted due to confidentiality. What made the difference was the strategy behind the file: a formal company certificate covering role, remuneration, a written remote work authorisation, among others, combined with additional evidence demonstrating that the professional relationship was real and active. Every document worked together to answer the questions the authorities would ask before they asked them.

20 working days. No objections raised. No further requests.

Every case is different. What gets an application approved isn’t a checklist, it’s knowing what story the file needs to tell, and building the evidence around that.

Need help with a complex Digital Nomad Visa application? Contact us for legal assistance.

Dirección

Calle Joan Reglà 5, 3º-B
Figueres
17600

Página web

https://linktr.ee/migratiolex

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