Emma Lindqvist is Swedish, 36, and has lived in Barcelona since 2019. Her parents, retired in Stockholm, want to give her 150,000 € to buy a flat, and the same to her brother Oskar, who lives in London. Her father keeps part of his savings in a bank in Málaga, where they have spent their summers for years, and would like to make both gifts from there "to keep it simple". For Emma and for Oskar the Spanish answer is completely different, and the Málaga account changes more than their father imagines.
The question that sorts everything out: where does the recipient live?
In the Spanish gift tax (part of the Impuesto sobre Sucesiones y Donaciones, ISD) the taxpayer is the recipient (article 5.b of Law 29/1987). Their residence sets the scope of the tax:
- Recipient resident in Spain: personal liability (article 6). They are taxed on everything they receive, wherever the money is and wherever the donor lives.
- Non-resident recipient: limited liability (article 7). They are only taxed in Spain on assets located in Spanish territory or rights that can be exercised here.
The donor's residence does not appear in either rule. The fact that the parents live in Sweden does not stop the gift being taxed in Spain if their daughter lives here.
Emma: resident in Cataluña
Emma lives in Spain. She is taxed on the 150,000 € whether the transfer comes from Stockholm or from Málaga.
Which region? For assets that are not real estate, article 32.2.c) of Law 22/2009 assigns the gift to the autonomous community (Spain's regions) where the recipient has their habitual residence, measured by the days in the previous five years (article 28.1.1.º.b). Emma has been in Barcelona for seven years: Cataluña manages the tax and Catalan rules apply, with its own form, its thirty-working-day deadline and its formal requirements for any relief.
If there were a tax on that gift in the parents' country and Emma had paid it, article 23 of Law 29/1987 would allow her to deduct it, up to the Spanish average rate. Whether such a tax exists in Sweden, and how much it would be, is confirmed by the family's Swedish adviser; we give no opinion on foreign law.
Oskar: non-resident, and here where the money is matters
Oskar lives in the United Kingdom. In Spain he is only taxed if what he receives is located in Spain.
- If his father transfers from Sweden to Oskar's account in London: the money has never been in Spain and there is no Spanish gift tax.
- If he gives from the Málaga account: the money is movable property located in Spain, and Oskar is taxed in Spain under limited liability.
In the second case the State's Agencia Tributaria (the Spanish tax agency) manages the tax (second additional provision, section Two, of Law 29/1987) using Modelo 651, the gift tax return. But Oskar is entitled to apply regional rules: letter e) of section One.1 of that provision requires the rules of the community where that movable property has been located for the greatest number of days in the five years before the gift, counted from date to date.
Counting the money's days, step by step
Suppose the gift from Spain is made on 1 June 2026.
- Window: from 1 June 2021 to 31 May 2026. That is 1,826 days.
- The money was in an account in Madrid until 31 December 2022 (579 days of the window) and since then in Málaga (1,247 days).
- More days in Andalucía. Oskar can apply the Andalusian rules, even though he has never lived there.
- If the father had moved the money to Málaga a few months before the gift, the count would still give Madrid. Moving the balance just beforehand does not change the region.
That is why it is worth asking the bank for a history of the balance by branch or account: it is the proof of the count.
| Situation | Taxed in Spain? | Who manages | Applicable rules |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resident recipient, money in any country | Yes, personal liability | Recipient's region of residence | Those of that region |
| Non-resident recipient, money outside Spain | No | — | — |
| Non-resident recipient, money in a Spanish account | Yes, limited liability | State tax agency | Those of the region where the money spent the most days in five years |
The figures on the State scale
To see the order of magnitude without regional benefits, we use the scale in article 21 of Law 29/1987. For gifts, the State rules have no kinship reduction (article 20.5).
- A gift of 150,000 € from one parent: tax of 15,606.22 € + 18.7 % of 30,242.33 € = 21,261.54 €.
- If the money belongs to both parents and each gives 75,000 €: 8,419.34 € per gift, 16,838.68 € in total.
- Difference: 4,422.86 €, simply by reflecting that both of them are giving.
The regions often have significant benefits for gifts from parents to children, almost always subject to formal requirements. We deal with this in where the relief on gifts applies.
If the gift is documented before a foreign notary and is not filed in Spain, article 25.2 of Law 29/1987 means that the limitation period starts to run from when that document is presented to any Spanish authority. Keeping the Swedish deed in a drawer does not make the debt disappear; it leaves it open indefinitely until it is used, for example to show the origin of the funds when buying the flat.
Details that tend to be forgotten
- Exchange rate. If the gift is made in kronor, pounds or dollars, it is converted at the rate on the day of accrual.
- Origin of funds on the purchase. The notary and the mortgage bank will ask where the 150,000 € comes from. The declared gift is the best justification.
- Reporting obligations. If Emma leaves part of the money in a Swedish account and exceeds the 50,000 € threshold in that block, she will have to file Modelo 720, the return reporting assets held abroad.
- Residence on the exact date. Personal or limited liability is fixed on the day of accrual (article 24.2). If Oskar receives the money in London and moves to Spain a year later, that past gift is not taxed here because of his move. Conversely, if Emma left Spain before receiving it, she would not be taxed as a resident either; but a move of convenience, without a real change of life, is exactly what the authorities review.
- Deadline. Thirty working days from the day after the gift, for Oskar with the State as well.
The guide international gifts and reliefs sets out these situations together with property, and if what is being given is a house outside Spain, see I am being given a property outside Spain.
If your parents live abroad and are going to give you money, tell us the residences, the country and account of origin and the planned dates in the inheritance form before the transfer is made. We coordinate with the adviser your family has in its country; we take care of the Spanish side.
Emma's father made the transfer to Oskar from Stockholm, and Emma's, with a deed, from Málaga. Only Emma declared in Spain, in Cataluña and on time.
These cases are the core of Salama Tax for inheritance and gifts: families spread across countries, where each member's residence decides what is paid and where.