Over the past two decades, many wealthy people in Spain moved to Portugal for its favourable tax regime. Now that the Iberian neighbour’s fiscal perks are running out, they’re looking to return to Spain to get tax benefits via the Beckham Law.
Taxes can be high in Spain, higher than many people think given the stark differences in tax brackets.
The highest earners, more specifically those who make more than €300,000 per year, pay up to 47 percent income tax on Spain’s progressive scale.
In addition, sometimes they are subject to wealth tax in their region and solidarity tax, the latter if they own worldwide assets worth over €3 million.
To get around paying large amounts to the taxman, in recent years many Spaniards and Spain-based foreigners have packed up and moved across the border to Portugal, attracted by a fixed 20 percent personal income tax rate and several other wealth-related benefits.
Among them is the Spanish Prime Minister brother David Sánchez, currently embroiled in corruption scandals, and who is said to have formally moved his tax residence to Portugal to benefit from the neighbouring country’s tax advantages.
However, many of these affluent Spaniards now want to move back to Spain, hoping to capitalise on lower tax rates using what’s known as the Beckham Law.
The Beckham Law is a special tax regime, named after footballer David Beckham, who was one of the first to benefit from it.
READ ALSO: What foreigners in Spain should know about the ‘Beckham Law’ tax regime
Essentially, it allows certain people to move here and pay a flat tax rate of 24 percent up to €600,000, if they meet the requirements.
The main reason many wealthy Spaniards are now returning from Portugal and wanting to take advantage of the Beckham Law tax regime is mainly because there was a time limit on the amount of time they could benefit from lower tax rates in Portugal.
In 2009, Portugal created the Non-Habitual Resident (NHR) regime. This included a 20 percent fixed Income Tax (IRS) rate for ten years.
During the years when this rate applied, the number of NHR registered taxpayers jumped from 25,686 in 2018 to 74,258 in 2022, according to the Portuguese Court of Auditors.
Many high-net individuals from Spain took advantage of the scheme.
READ ALSO: Spain rules Beckham Law foreigners must pay tax on primary residences
The scheme was so successful that Portugal became a victim of its own success, and locals were the first to suffer.
Property prices in both Lisbon and Porto skyrocketed and many Portuguese were priced out of several key parts of the country. As a solution, the government first axed the golden real estate visa, and then the NHR.
Portugal officially terminated the NHR programme in January 2024, with no new applications accepted after March 31st 2024, and the final cut off for those applying during the transition set as March 31st 2025.
The NHR time limit is beginning to run out for many who applied in 2016, which means those from abroad who became Portuguese tax residents now face a larger tax burden in 2026.
As a result, Spanish newspaper El Confidencial has reported that many of these Spanish low-tax seekers now want to move back to Spain again to continue paying less. And one way they’re looking to do this is the Beckham Law regime.
As mentioned above, the Beckham Law allows for a fixed 24 percent tax rate up to €600,000 on Spanish-based income for the first six years.
While some believe this regime is only for foreigners, it’s not actually true. The key requirement is not having been a tax resident in Spain in the last five years. This is a requirement that those living in Portugal for the last decade would meet.
Siro Barro, a partner at Edf Abogados, told El Confidencial, “there is no general prohibition against combining tax regimes designed to attract talent between countries”.
According to Barro, you only have to justify the reason for the move back to Spain. This could be an employment contract or starting your own business for example, but there are other requirements they must also meet.
It’s worth keeping in mind that you cannot move back to Spain under the Beckham Law for retirement purposes or on the non-lucrative visa and earn passive income.
It can be tricky to qualify for the Beckham Law though and you’re not guaranteed to get it simply if you haven’t lived in Spain for the last five years.
What’s more, many won’t know if they’ve been accepted for it straight away. This is because you have to apply for it within six months of registering with Spanish Social Security. This means most people will have already likely moved back before knowing if they can benefit from it or not.
Guillem Domingo Pérez de Leceta, tax lawyer and CEO of Harboury Legal & Business Services, explains that so far in 2026, 4,942 applications have been submitted to take advantage of the Beckham Law, but only 3,453 have been accepted.
This means there’s only an acceptance rate of 69.9 percent for Beckham law applicants.
In recent years, there has been evidence of people abusing the tax regime and giving false information to try and qualify, even when they’re not really supposed to.
It’s also worth noting that according to legal experts, the Beckham Law is really only advantageous once you earn over €60,000 per year.
