Paco served in the Guardia Civil for thirty-five years; Conchi was a nurse at the hospital in Badajoz. Both retired, in January 2026 they sold the car, shut up the flat in Badajoz and settled in Tavira, in the Algarve, where they had spent their summers for years. He receives 28,000 € a year from clases pasivas (the civil service pension scheme); she receives 21,000 € from Social Security. In March, the usual withholding still appeared on both their payslips. A Portuguese neighbour told them that, living in Portugal, they no longer had to pay anything in Spain. For Conchi that may be true. For Paco, probably not.
First: check that they really have stopped being resident
Before talking about treaties, the premise has to be confirmed. If in 2026 Paco and Conchi spend more than 183 days in Spain, or keep the centre of their economic interests here, they will remain tax resident in Spain that year and be taxed here on everything, as always. Living an hour from the border makes coming and going easy, and every week in Badajoz adds days. If Portugal also considers them resident, the tie is broken by the treaty criteria: permanent home, centre of vital interests, habitual abode and nationality.
Assuming the move is real and complete from January, 2026 is already a non-resident year in Spain, and what has to be done is to see what happens to each pension.
Two pensions in one marriage, two paths
The double taxation treaty between Spain and Portugal, as is usual in treaties signed by Spain, separates pensions for past employment from pensions for services rendered to the State. The specific wording of each article is what governs, and it must be read in the text published in the BOE (the Spanish official gazette); here we reason with the usual structure of the OECD model, which is the one normally followed.
| Pension | Origin | Usual article | Foreseeable result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paco, clases pasivas | Services as a Guardia Civil officer, public functions | Public pensions | Taxed in Spain, unless he is a national and resident of Portugal |
| Conchi, Social Security | Statutory staff of a public hospital, contributed to the general scheme | Borderline: it has to be examined | May fall under the private pensions article and be taxed in Portugal |
Conchi's case is the interesting one. She worked at a public hospital, but her pension is paid by Social Security for contributions to the general scheme, not by clases pasivas. The payer being a public body does not turn the pension into a "public" one for treaty purposes: what is examined is whether it rewards services rendered to an administration in the exercise of public functions, and how the treaty treats Social Security pensions. It is the kind of case in which the pension decision and the treaty text are read together. The general analysis is in public or private pension.
What it costs each of them, with figures
As non-residents, if Spain taxes a pension it does so under non-resident income tax (IRNR), with the scale in article 25.1.b) of the act: 8 % up to 12,000 €, 30 % from 12,000 to 18,700 € and 40 % above that.
Paco, clases pasivas pension of 28,000 €:
- 12,000 € at 8 %: 960 €.
- 6,700 € at 30 %: 2,010 €. Running total: 2,970 €.
- 28,000 − 18,700 = 9,300 € at 40 %: 3,720 €.
- Annual total: 6,690 €.
If the treaty reserves his pension to Spain, that is his Spanish tax as a non-resident, and the withholding must be adjusted to it. How he then declares that pension in Portugal, and whether it is taken into account there, is Portuguese law: the adviser they have there confirms it.
Conchi, Social Security pension of 21,000 €:
- If the treaty gives it to Portugal and she proves her residence: Spanish withholding of 0 €.
- If nobody proves anything and the payer applies the scale: 2,970 + (21,000 − 18,700) × 40 % = 2,970 + 920 = 3,890 € a year that would not be owed in Spain and would have to be claimed back.
Why Modelo 247 is not their route
Paco found Modelo 247, the "notice of relocation abroad", online and thought it was what he had to file. It is not. Article 32 of the non-resident income tax act provides for that notice for employees who are going to become non-resident because they are moving abroad: the administration issues them a document so that their employer starts withholding from them as non-residents.
A pensioner has no employer. What Paco and Conchi need is to prove their tax residence in Portugal to each payer with the certificate issued by the Portuguese tax administration, stating expressly that they are resident for the purposes of the treaty with Spain. The payer of Paco's pension needs it to apply the non-resident scale instead of IRPF (resident income tax) withholding. Conchi's payer needs it to stop withholding if the treaty allows. Modelo 247 is explained in Modelo 247 when you leave, and proving residence to the payer in Social Security withholds tax as if I were resident and I am not.
The new country's administration cannot always certify residence in the first weeks or months: its own register does not yet reflect the change. In the meantime, the Spanish payers will keep withholding as before. It is not money lost, but it only comes back by claiming the refund, year by year and within the deadline. It is advisable to start the Portuguese procedure as soon as possible and to keep the payslips for those months.
The shut flat in Badajoz
Having left the flat shut up and with it no longer their main home, Paco and Conchi, as non-residents, have to declare imputed income on it with Modelo 210 (the Spanish non-resident income tax return). Suppose a valor catastral (cadastral value) of 70,000 € not revised in the last ten years:
- Percentage: 2 % of the cadastral value (article 85 of the IRPF act, applicable by reference from the non-resident act).
- Imputed income: 70,000 × 2 % = 1,400 €. For each of them, 700 €.
- Applicable rate: 19 %, because they live in Portugal, a European Union State.
- Tax for each: 133 € a year.
It is little money, but it is the obligation most often forgotten and the one that generates the most formal requests years later. We cover it in I live abroad but kept my flat.
If you are preparing a similar move, or have already made it, the pensioners form collects what we need: date of the move, origin of each pension and the properties you keep in Spain.
What we cannot say on your behalf
Portugal has its own rules for residents who arrive and for foreign pensions, and they have changed in recent years. Whether any Portuguese regime suits you, how Paco's pension is declared there or which documents the Portuguese administration asks for is something your adviser in Portugal confirms; we coordinate with that adviser by supplying the Spanish side so that the two returns add up.
The move of Spanish pensioners to another European Union country, with the review of each pension against the treaty and the notice to the payers, is one of the situations Salama Tax describes in its line for pensioners abroad.