Sven and three blocks of shares that look alike
Sven Aalto is Finnish, works as head of product at a company in Málaga and has been in the regime of article 93, commonly called the Beckham regime, since 2024. Before moving he built up three investments that he now wants to sell:
- Shares in a listed Finnish company bought in 2016 for 80,000 €, now worth 400,000 €.
- 8 % of a Spanish limited company, a Seville start-up in which he invested 50,000 € in 2019 and for which he is being offered 200,000 €.
- Holdings in a Luxembourg company set up with some friends, bought for 100,000 € in 2020, whose only assets are six flats on the Costa del Sol. They are worth 180,000 € today.
Three sales, three gains, and a different treatment for each. What decides it is not where Sven holds his securities account or when he bought, but where the issuer is and what it holds.
The underlying rule: only what is obtained in Spain is taxed
Article 93.2 of the IRPF Law (Spanish personal income tax) requires the tax of a taxpayer in the regime to be worked out under the rules of IRNR, the Spanish non-resident income tax. For capital gains, article 13.1.i of the IRNR Law only treats as obtained in Spain, among others, gains on securities issued by persons or entities resident in Spain, and gains that come, directly or indirectly, from property located here. The latter expressly include gains on the transfer of holdings in an entity, resident or not, whose assets consist mainly of property in Spain.
The employment exception, which makes the whole worldwide salary taxable in Spain, does not extend to gains on investments. For those, the source rule applies.
The three sales, one by one
| Investment | Issuer | Spanish source? | In Modelo 151? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Listed Finnish company | Non-resident entity | No | No |
| 8 % of the Seville limited company | Entity resident in Spain | Yes, art. 13.1.i.1.º | Yes |
| Luxembourg company with flats in Spain | Non-resident entity whose assets are mainly Spanish property | Yes, art. 13.1.i.3.º | Yes |
The Finnish gain of 320,000 € is not declared in Spain while Sven is in the regime. How Finland taxes it, if it does, is something his adviser there has to confirm; we do not give opinions on foreign law. Modelo 151, for its part, is the regime's annual return.
Calculating the two sales that are taxed
Gains on disposals are part of the income in article 25.1.f of the IRNR Law, and article 93.2.e.2.º applies the regime's savings scale to them: 19 % up to 6,000 €, 21 % up to 50,000 €, 23 % up to 200,000 €, 27 % up to 300,000 € and 30 % above that.
One caution first: article 93.2.c provides that income is taxed on an aggregate basis, but without any offsetting between items. If one of the sales produced a loss, it could not be set against the other.
If Sven sells both in the same year, the calculation is as follows:
- Gain on the Spanish limited company: 200,000 − 50,000 = 150,000 €, not counting the costs of the transaction.
- Gain on the Luxembourg company: 180,000 − 100,000 = 80,000 €.
- Aggregate savings base: 230,000 €.
- Tax up to 200,000 €, according to the article 93 table: 44,880 €.
- The remaining 30,000 € at 27 %: 8,100 €.
- Gross tax: 52,980 €.
If Sven sold the limited company in one year and the Luxembourg company in another, each gain would go into its own year. With 150,000 € in one year, the tax would be 10,380 € for the first 50,000 € plus 23,000 € for the next 100,000 €, that is, 33,380 €; with 80,000 € the following year, 10,380 € plus 6,900 €, that is, 17,280 €. In total, 50,660 €, against 52,980 € selling everything together. The progressive scale rewards spreading sales, as long as spreading them makes economic sense.
Many taxpayers assume that any company based abroad falls outside the regime. If that company's assets consist mainly of property located in Spain, the gain is taxed here. Before selling holdings in a holding company, a property fund or a foreign family company, check what it holds and in what proportion.
Why the purchase date does matter, even if you are not taxed now
If the sale of the listed Finnish shares is not declared in Spain, why keep the purchase price? For three reasons.
Because the regime comes to an end. If Sven does not sell now and does so in 2030, when he is already taxed under ordinary IRPF, the gain will be calculated on his original 2016 acquisition value and will be taxed in full in Spain. We explain this in the year after the regime ends.
Because you can buy back. If he sells in the regime and buys again, the new acquisition value will be the repurchase price. That transaction has to be provable with documents, dates and prices.
Because the other country may ask. The Finnish tax authority may ask for its own supporting evidence, and that is handled by the adviser Sven appoints there, with whom we coordinate.
What to document for each investment
| Document | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Purchase contract or confirmation with date and price | Acquisition value |
| Costs of buying and selling | Adjusting the gain |
| Articles of association and balance sheet of unlisted companies | Knowing whether the assets are mainly Spanish property |
| Sale confirmation and, if there is one, repurchase confirmation | New starting value |
| Securities account statements | Tracing the money |
For valuing holdings that are not listed, the guide on the market value of unlisted shares explains the usual methods.
And wealth tax
While the regime lasts, article 93.1 makes the taxpayer subject to Spanish wealth tax on a territorial basis only. The Finnish shares are left out. The holding in the Spanish limited company is in. And article 5 of the Wealth Tax Law treats as located in Spain unlisted securities of entities whose assets consist, at least 50 %, of Spanish property, so Sven's Luxembourg company would count too.
What is best avoided
Do not sell in a hurry just because "in the Beckham it's not taxed". If the investment has a Spanish source, it is taxed all the same; if it is foreign, the other country may tax it; and if you buy back, the transaction needs to be real and documented. Nor does it help to move the securities account to another bank or country: the source is decided by the issuer, not the custodian.
If you have investments from before you arrived and are thinking of selling, we can review each one through the Beckham form. We cannot guarantee the tax outcome in another country or that the tax authorities will share every valuation, but we can analyse the Spanish side with the law in front of us. For the rest of your income from abroad, read what happens to your income from outside Spain, and if your shares come from your employer, stock options and RSUs in the regime.
Analysing investments made before arrival, and when it makes sense to part with them, is part of the work described on the Salama Tax page on article 93.