Marco changes job in his third year
Marco Bellini is an Italian risk analyst who arrived in Barcelona in 2024, hired by a technology company. He filed Modelo 149, the form used to opt into the special regime for workers moving to Spain, in time, and since then he has been taxed under the regime of article 93, commonly called the Beckham regime. Now, in his third year, another company is offering him 110,000 € a year. His current contract ends on 30 June and the new one would start on 1 October. In between, a former client has proposed a three-month consultancy project for 12,000 €. He wrote to us with a single question: if he leaves, does he take the Beckham with him?
The answer is that changing company does not, on its own, make him lose the regime. What could make him lose it is the summer project.
What the law requires and when
Article 93.1.b of the IRPF Law (Spanish personal income tax) requires the move to Spain to take place, in the first year of the regime or the year before, as a result of one of the circumstances it lists: an employment contract, becoming a company director, an entrepreneurial activity or the provision of services as a highly qualified professional. It is a condition about the origin of the move: it explains why the person came.
Once the option has been properly exercised, the IRPF Regulations govern how you leave the regime, and they do so by three routes: the period running out, the waiver in article 117 and the exclusion in article 118. Exclusion happens when the taxpayer "fails to meet any of the conditions that determine its application". A change of employer does not appear as a breached condition in any provision. Other things do appear, and that is where you have to look.
The situations that do take you out
| Situation | Consequence | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Starting a business activity other than the permitted ones | Exclusion in the same year | Art. 93.1.c of the IRPF Law and arts. 113.2 and 118 of the Regulations |
| Obtaining income through a permanent establishment in Spain | Exclusion in the same year | Art. 93.1.c of the IRPF Law |
| Ceasing to be tax resident in Spain | No regime return for that year | Art. 93.1 of the IRPF Law |
| Ending the posting without losing residence | It must be reported within a month | Art. 119.5 of the Regulations |
| Giving the regime up voluntarily | Effective from the following year | Art. 117 of the Regulations |
Exclusion has two features that make it especially harsh. It takes effect in the tax period in which the breach occurs, which means it sweeps away the whole year, including the months before. And under article 118.5, anyone who is excluded cannot opt again.
Marco's summer project in figures
The consultancy project is a self-employed business activity that is neither entrepreneurial with an ENISA report (the favourable report from the Spanish state company that assesses innovative projects) nor the provision of services to a start-up. If he accepts it, he breaches article 113.2 of the Regulations and is excluded from 1 January of that year.
Let us see what it would cost him on his 110,000 € salary alone, leaving the consultancy aside:
- In the regime: 110,000 × 24 % = 26,400 €.
- Under ordinary IRPF, state portion: suppose his payslip shows 4,500 € of Social Security contributions. Net income is 110,000 − 4,500 − 2,000 of expenses under article 19 = 103,500 €. Applying the state scale in article 63 up to 60,000 € gives 8,950.75 €, and the remaining 43,500 € at 22.5 % adds 9,787.50 €. Total: 18,738.25 €. Less the scale applied to the personal allowance of 5,550 €, which is 527.25 €: 18,211.00 €.
- Regional portion: it depends on Catalonia's scale, which we do not reproduce here. If, purely as a working assumption, it were identical to the state scale, it would add another 18,211.00 €.
- Total under the ordinary system on that assumption: 36,422.00 €, against 26,400 € in the regime.
On that assumption, a 12,000 € job would cost Marco around 10,000 € of extra tax on his salary, before he paid tax on the job itself, and he would also lose the years he has left in the regime. It is worth running the calculation with the real scale of the region where you live before deciding.
The months without a salary are still months of the regime. What you do in them counts just as much as what you do under contract. A self-employed project, a paid directorship in a company with an establishment in Spain or a "small" business activity can be enough for an exclusion that affects the whole year.
If the new job is slow to come: the posting that ends
There is another scenario that rightly causes concern. Suppose Marco does not find a job but stays in Barcelona and is still resident that year. Article 119.5 of the Regulations provides that, when the taxpayer ends their posting without losing tax residence in that year, they must report it within one month. And article 114.2.a attaches a consequence to that notice: income from an activity after that date is not treated as obtained during the regime.
The line between "I am between two jobs" and "my posting has ended" is not precisely drawn in the rules. So when the gap grows longer or plans change, the sensible thing is to review it with the papers in front of you rather than wait for the annual return.
What you do have to do when you change company
The regime is not "transferred" from one employer to another, because it was never tied to the first. But the new company knows nothing about it. Article 119.4 of the Regulations states that the certifying document issued after Modelo 149 serves to prove your status to whoever has to withhold tax, and that the taxpayer gives them a copy. In practice:
| Step | Why |
|---|---|
| Give the new company the certifying document | So that it withholds at 24 % from the first payslip |
| Check the first payslip | If it withholds as for an ordinary taxpayer, the difference is only recovered in Modelo 151 |
| Keep both withholding certificates | Modelo 151, the regime's annual return, for the year of the change covers both payers |
| Watch the year's total | Above 600,000 € of employment income, the excess is taxed at 47 % |
This last point affects few people, but it is worth knowing: article 93.2.f says that the 47 % withholding applies to the excess when the pay from a single payer exceeds 600,000 €. With two payers in the year, neither of them may exceed it and yet the sum may, so the tax due in Modelo 151 would leave something to pay.
If the change is to another way of working
Moving from one company to another is not the same as moving from employee to director of your own company, or to self-employed. If you are thinking of setting up on your own, first read whether you can be in the regime as self-employed. And if what you want is to leave voluntarily because it no longer pays, the route is giving up the regime, which has its own calendar.
If you are negotiating a move and want to review the timing and what you will do in between before signing, you can tell us about it on the Beckham form. The guide on leaving the article 93 regime completes the map of how the regime ends.
What we cannot tell you
We cannot guarantee that the tax authorities will not challenge a doubtful situation, and when it comes to exclusion the nuances matter. What we do is read your case against the law, mark where the risk lies and tell you whether a specific decision, such as accepting a job, could cost you the regime.
Following up changes of job, payslips and notices over the six years of the regime is described on the Salama Tax page on workers moving to Spain.