Javier Roldán is a retired notary who lives in Madrid and has for years held a portfolio of European shares with an online broker. In 2026 he receives 10,000 € of gross dividends from a Swiss company. Checking the statement, he sees that 6,500 € has reached him: the withholding at source was 3,500 €. A colleague from his old office tells him that he pays a good deal less because he "has the certificate". Javier wonders whether he should ask for one, whom to ask, and whether he can recover what has already been taken.
The certificate Javier needs is the Spanish one, because he is resident in Spain. But what he achieves with it depends on when it reaches the payer and on what the source country requires.
Who owns each part of the problem
When a Spanish resident receives dividends from a foreign company, two States are involved. The source State withholds under its domestic law, unless it is shown that the recipient is entitled to a lower limit under a treaty. Spain taxes the dividend in Javier's IRPF (the Spanish personal income tax) as savings income and lets him deduct, within limits, the tax paid abroad.
What the source country withholds, the form it requires and the deadline for claiming are governed by its own rules: that is confirmed by Javier's adviser in that country or by the payer itself. What is Spanish is the certificate and the calculation of the deduction here.
The certificate the Agencia issues
The second additional provision of Order EHA/3316/2010 regulates the certificate of tax residence in Spain and its version for treaty purposes, which proves resident status in Spain in order to apply a specific treaty. That is the one Javier needs, naming the country in the application.
The same provision contains two rules that are useful here:
- If the foreign administration requires residence to be proved on its own form, the Agencia Tributaria, the Spanish tax agency, may complete the certification on that form provided its content is equivalent to that of the Spanish forms, and may ask for a translation if it is not in Spanish.
- At the taxpayer's request, the certificate can state that they have informed the Spanish administration that they obtained income in a particular country.
Javier's figures
For the example we shall assume that the treaty allows the source country to tax the dividend at no more than 1,500 € on those 10,000 €. It is an illustrative figure, not that of any particular treaty.
At source:
- Gross dividend: 10,000 €.
- Withholding applied: 3,500 €.
- Tax the treaty in the example allows the source country: 1,500 €.
- Excess to claim there: 3,500 − 1,500 = 2,000 €.
In Spain, under article 80 of the IRPF Act, the deduction is the lower of two amounts: what was actually paid abroad in a similar tax, or the result of applying the effective average rate to the part of the base taxed abroad. The average rate is calculated separately for general income and for savings income.
- Suppose Javier's taxable savings base is 40,000 € and his net tax due on savings is 8,560 €. Average rate: 8,560 / 40,000 × 100 = 21.40 %.
- Limit by average rate: 10,000 × 21.40 % = 2,140 €.
- Foreign tax that counts: 1,500 €, what the treaty allowed to be charged.
- Deduction: the lower of 1,500 € and 2,140 €, that is 1,500 €.
- Final cost in Spain of that dividend: 2,140 − 1,500 = 640 €.
Why 1,500 € and not 3,500 €? Because the treaty article that eliminates double taxation usually refers to the tax the other State may charge in accordance with the treaty itself. Spain does not absorb the excess: it is claimed from the country that withheld it. The mechanism is developed in the guide to international double taxation relief.
Avoiding the excess or claiming it back later
| Relief at source | Later claim | |
|---|---|---|
| When | Before the payment | After the payment |
| Document | Spanish treaty certificate or the source country's form, as the payer requires | The source country's refund form, normally with certification of residence |
| Who handles it | The payer or the custody chain for the securities | The source country's administration |
| Cash flow | No money is tied up | The excess stays withheld until it is refunded |
| Risk | That the document does not arrive in time | The other country's deadlines, language and requirements |
Many brokers offer relief at source only for certain countries and with documentation that has to be sent in advance. Others do not offer it at all, and then only the claim route remains. It is worth asking in writing before the first dividend of the year.
If you would like us to work out how much has been over-withheld in recent years and what part is deductible in Spain, you can send us the statements through the certificate form. The claim in the other country is handled by the adviser you appoint there; we coordinate with that adviser and prepare the Spanish certification.
It is tempting to carry the whole foreign withholding into the Spanish return, 3,500 € in Javier's case, and consider the matter closed. If the Agencia checks the return, it may limit the deduction to what the treaty allowed the other State to charge and reassess the difference with interest. The excess is lost if it is not claimed in time in the source country, and there is no guarantee that the claim will succeed.
If the broker is Spanish
When the foreign shares are held with a Spanish institution, it also applies Spanish withholding to the dividend it pays you, calculated on the amount the IRPF rules require. That Spanish withholding is not an additional tax but a payment on account that is deducted in the return. What the Spanish institution does not do is recover on your behalf the excess withheld at source: that step is still taken with the payer's country.
Every year, the same calendar
The Spanish certificate is, as a general rule, valid for twelve months from issue under article 75 of the Regulations on tax management and inspection, and the payer may require it to be in force on each payment date. If you receive dividends several times a year, the practical course is to apply at the start of the year and send it before the first payment. If your register entry is not up to date, fix that first: we explain it in why a certificate is refused.
The opposite case, that of someone who lives abroad and receives dividends from Spanish companies, works with the roles reversed and we explain it in the certificate and Spanish dividends.
The portfolio seen through Modelo 720
A securities portfolio held with a foreign broker may require Modelo 720, the Spanish return on assets held abroad, to be filed in the securities block under code V when its value exceeds 50,000 €. And a new filing in later years if that block rises by more than 20,000 €. The guide on when Modelo 720 has to be filed again explains it.
The Salama Tax page sums up what the Spanish certificate is for with foreign payers. The treaty sets a ceiling; what is recovered in each country depends on its deadlines and on the documents arriving in time.