Tomás, a Social Security start date of 3 March and a payslip that does not add up
Tomás Wieland is a German engineer. In February he signed a permanent contract with a company in Valencia for 95,000 € gross a year, paid in twelve monthly instalments. His registration with Spanish Social Security is dated 3 March. On 20 April he filed Modelo 149, the form used to opt into the special regime for workers moving to Spain (commonly called the Beckham regime), with all the paperwork, and since then he has logged into the tax office's online portal every Friday hoping to see something. His first full payslip, for March, arrived with tax withheld as if he were an ordinary taxpayer under IRPF (Spanish personal income tax), and April's did too. He asked us two things: how long he has to wait, and whether the extra money withheld is lost.
The short answer to the first question is in article 119.4 of the IRPF Regulations: having seen the communication filed, the tax authorities will issue, where appropriate, "within a maximum of the ten working days following" a document certifying that the taxpayer has opted for the regime. The answer to the second is that the money is not lost, but it takes a while to come back.
What exactly you are waiting for
It is worth being clear about what Modelo 149 produces, because many people expect an "approval" in the sense of a discretionary grant, and that is not what it is. The regime in article 93 of the IRPF Law is an option open to any taxpayer who meets the requirements. What the Agencia Tributaria, the Spanish tax agency, does after reviewing the communication is issue a certifying document. That piece of paper has a very specific practical function, which article 119.4 itself describes: it proves your status as a taxpayer under the regime to whoever has to withhold tax from you, and the worker gives a copy to the payer.
Put another way: the document does not create the right, but without it the company has no cover for withholding at the regime's rate. That is why the wait shows up in your payslip and nowhere else.
How the ten working days are counted
Working days exclude Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, and the count starts on the day after filing. With Tomás's dates, in 2026, it works out like this:
| Step | Date |
|---|---|
| Modelo 149 filed | Monday 20 April |
| Working day 1 | Tuesday 21 April |
| Working day 5 | Monday 27 April |
| Working day 9 | Monday 4 May, because Friday 1 May is a public holiday |
| Working day 10 | Tuesday 5 May, if there is no local or regional holiday |
1 May has already pushed the deadline back by a day; any regional or local holiday affecting the office concerned would move it again. That is why we never give a client an exact date without looking at that year's calendar.
The regulations set a maximum period for issuing the document, but they do not say that, if it passes with no answer, the regime is recognised. If the document does not arrive, do not take anything for granted: check whether there is a pending request for information in your electronic mailbox and, if there is not, ask for information before your company changes the withholding on its own initiative.
What goes with the communication, depending on the route in
Many of the delays we see do not come from the tax authorities but from a Modelo 149 that arrives incomplete and triggers a request for more documents. Article 119.2 of the Regulations lists what must be attached. There is a common core for everyone: proof of registration with Spanish Social Security, or the documents that allow you to stay under the social security legislation of your home country, or, if registration was not compulsory, a document proving the date your activity began; and the residence permit that applies, where relevant. Then each route adds its own requirements:
| Route in | Specific document |
|---|---|
| Employment relationship with an employer in Spain | A letter from the employer acknowledging the relationship, the registration date, the workplace with its address and the length of the contract |
| Posting ordered by the company | A copy of the posting letter and a statement giving the start date, the workplace and the length of the posting |
| Remote work without an order from the employer | A letter from the employer acknowledging the relationship, the start date and the estimated length of the work in Spain |
| Director of a company | A document showing the date the position was taken up and, if the company is an asset-holding one, proof that the shareholding does not make it a related party |
| Entrepreneurial activity | A favourable report from ENISA (the Spanish state company that assesses innovative business projects), unless the residence permit for entrepreneurs is provided instead |
The most common mistake in the first row is an employer's letter that leaves out the workplace or the length of the contract. It looks like a detail, and it is exactly what the regulations ask for. In our guide to Modelo 149 we go through each route at a slower pace.
Meanwhile, payroll: working out what is paid in advance
This is the part that worries people most. Suppose, because that is what his payslips showed, that Tomás's company applied a 30 % withholding rate in March and April because it did not have the document. His monthly salary is 95,000 / 12 = 7,916.67 €.
- Tax withheld in those two months: 7,916.67 × 30 % × 2 = 4,750.00 €.
- Tax that would have been withheld at the regime's rate, which article 93.2.f of the Law sets at 24 % for employment income: 7,916.67 × 24 % × 2 = 3,800.00 €.
- Amount paid in advance over the odds: 950.00 €.
Those 950 € are not claimed back from the company. They are payments on account of the year's tax and are counted in the regime's annual return, Modelo 151, which is where the final tax bill is settled. If at the end of the year the tax withheld exceeds the bill, the difference is refunded. The real cost to Tomás is one of cash flow: for a few months that money sits with Hacienda, as the Spanish tax office is commonly called, and not in his account.
Once he has the document, he gives it to his company and the following payslips should move to 24 %. What is not advisable is to ask the company to withhold at 24 % before you have the document "because I have already filed it": the withholder is answerable for its own withholding and needs the paper.
If a request for information arrives instead of the document
Sometimes what appears in the mailbox a few days later is not the document but a request for information: the employer's letter is missing, the registration date does not match the date in the contract, or there are doubts about whether the person was resident in Spain in any of the previous five tax years, which is one of the conditions of article 93.1.a. A request is not a refusal. It is answered within the period it states, with documents rather than general explanations.
If you have filed Modelo 149 and would like us to check whether your file is complete before you are asked for anything, you can tell us about it on the Beckham form. If what has arrived is already a refusal, the path is a different one, and we explain it in what to do if your 149 is refused.
Three mistakes that stretch out the wait
| Mistake | Practical consequence |
|---|---|
| Filing Modelo 149 with a registration date that differs from the real one | A request to clarify which date opens the six-month period |
| Attaching the contract but not the employer's letter the regulations require | A request for information and extra weeks of ordinary withholding |
| Not watching the electronic mailbox after filing | The deadline to answer runs with nobody answering |
The third does the most damage, because an unanswered request can end in an unfavourable decision that a single document would have avoided.
One thing that does not depend on the wait: the filing deadline
Everything above assumes that Modelo 149 was filed in time. Article 116 of the Regulations requires it to be filed within a maximum of six months of the start date of the activity shown in the Social Security registration (or in the equivalent documents). The ten working days are the authorities' deadline to reply; the six months are yours to apply, and they cannot be extended. If you work remotely for a company based abroad, the paperwork changes quite a lot, and we cover it in remote work for a foreign employer.
When the document is finally in your hands
Keep it with the Modelo 149 filing receipt and the employer's letter. Every payer will ask you for it, and you will need it if you change company during the six years of the regime, a situation we explain in whether you lose the regime when you change jobs. It is also worth keeping a note of the exact date it was issued: it is the reference you will use to show from when your company was able to withhold at the special rate.
Processing Modelo 149, reviewing the file and following up on the withholding are part of what we describe on the Salama Tax page on the regime for workers moving to Spain, in case you want to see how it fits with the annual return.