Hannah Weiss is Austrian and works remotely for a company in Vienna. Since 2022 she has owned a flat in Málaga that she used to let to students; she took it back in June 2026 and moved in on 1 July. In March she had spent eight days in Málaga looking for a school for her daughter, and at Christmas she will go back to Vienna for ten days. In March she also sold a parking space in Málaga, while still a non-resident, and the buyer withheld 3 % of the price. Her question is whether she declares 2026 in Spain as a non-resident until June and as a resident from July. The short answer is no: the year is not split.
One year, one single status
Article 12 of the IRPF Act, the law on Spanish personal income tax, provides that the tax period is the calendar year and that the tax accrues on 31 December. Article 9 says who is resident: anyone who stays in Spain for more than 183 days in the calendar year, or who has the main centre or base of their activities or economic interests here, directly or indirectly. And it presumes resident, unless proven otherwise, anyone whose spouse, not legally separated, and dependent minor children live in Spain.
With those rules there is no resident stretch and non-resident stretch. If, at the end of 2026, Hannah meets any of the criteria, she is an IRPF taxpayer for the whole year, on her worldwide income. If she does not meet them, she is a non-resident for the whole year and is taxed in Spain only on income obtained here, under the non-residents' tax.
Counting Hannah's days
The days test looks arithmetical and is not entirely so. Article 9.1.a) counts sporadic absences, unless the taxpayer proves tax residence in another country, and it draws no distinction between moving days and visiting days. Counting in this example the day of arrival as a day of presence:
| Arrival date | Days until 31 December | With the 8 days in March | More than 183? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 July | 184 | 192 | Yes, even without the visit |
| 2 July | 183 | 191 | Only with the visit |
| 15 July | 170 | 178 | No |
The ten Christmas days in Vienna are a sporadic absence: they still count as a stay in Spain unless Hannah proves, with a certificate from the Austrian authorities, that she is tax resident there in 2026. If she had arrived on 15 July, the days would not be enough, but the second test would still have to be looked at: with her daughter at school in Málaga, the home here and her work carried out from here, the centre of economic interests may be in Spain all the same.
The date of registration on the padrón (the municipal register of residents), on the register of EU citizens or on the rental contract does not fix tax residence on its own. They are pieces of evidence among others. What is examined is physical presence, day by day, and where the centre of economic life lies. Keep tickets, boarding passes and card statements from day one.
If two countries treat you as resident
In a year of moving, it is usual for Austria also to treat Hannah as resident, at least for the first half. What Austrian law says is something her adviser there must review; from Spain we can say how the conflict is resolved. The double taxation treaty between the two countries contains tie-breaker rules which, as in most treaties, look in this order at the permanent home, the centre of vital interests, the habitual abode and nationality.
That tie-breaker does not change the Spanish whole-year rule, but it can limit which income Spain taxes and which is reserved to the other State. In a year of changing country, how the first half is shared out depends on the wording of the specific treaty and on the facts, and there is no automatic answer. The step-by-step analysis is in the guide on the dual residence conflict.
What was already paid as a non-resident
This is the part that worries people most and that the law resolves better than is usually thought. If Hannah turns out to be resident in 2026, the gain on the sale of the parking space goes into her 2026 IRPF return like any other gain. But she does not have to claim back the withholding or rectify anything first: article 79.d) of the IRPF Act allows a taxpayer who acquires that status through a change of residence to subtract, when working out the final tax due, the withholdings and payments on account of non-residents' tax made in the year of the change, as well as the non-residents' tax paid and accrued in that period. Article 99.8 confirms that those withholdings count as payments on account of IRPF.
Let us assume, for the example, that she sold the space for 30,000 € and had bought it for 21,000 €:
- 3 % withholding made by the buyer: 900 €.
- Gain: 9,000 €, which as a resident goes into the savings base.
- Approximate IRPF: 6,000 € at 19 % plus 3,000 € at 21 %, 1,770 €.
- If at the time she filed the 210 for the gain, the non-residents' tax was 9,000 × 19 % = 1,710 €, of which 900 € had already been paid through the withholding and 810 € with the 210 itself.
- In her 2026 IRPF return she subtracts the 1,710 € already paid as a non-resident. That leaves 60 € to pay on that gain.
If she never filed that 210, what she subtracts is only the 900 € withholding, and the difference is paid in the IRPF return.
The let to the students from January to June follows the same principle. Under the annual calendar now in force, the 210 for the 2026 rental is not due until April 2027. If by then it is clear that Hannah was resident in 2026, that 210 is not filed: the rent is declared in the 2026 IRPF return as income from real estate capital, with its expenses and whatever reductions apply.
If she turns out not to be resident
If she had arrived later and her centre of interests had remained in Austria, 2026 would be a full non-resident year. Hannah would then file the 210 for the January to June rental, at 19 % and with expenses because she is resident in the European Union; the 210 for imputed income for the days when the flat was at her disposal and not let, under the non-residents' tax rules; and the one for the gain on the parking space. And she would do well to have the Austrian tax residence certificate for the year, which is the proof that she was not resident in Spain. The next step, 2027, would very probably be her first year as a resident.
If you are in that year of transition and want to know which regime applies to you, you can send us your calendar of days and what you have filed so far through the form for non-residents.
Obligations that appear in the first year
Being resident on 31 December brings obligations that a non-resident did not have:
- The income tax return for the whole year, including the Austrian income and the double taxation relief of article 80 for the tax paid there.
- Modelo 720, the return on assets abroad, if her accounts or securities abroad exceed the reporting thresholds.
- Spanish wealth tax on a personal basis, if her worldwide wealth exceeds the limits.
- Updating the tax office's census with her new tax address.
If her move is due to an employment contract or to remote work for a foreign company and she has not been resident in Spain in the previous five years, article 93 allows her to opt for the special regime for workers posted to Spain, with a limited option period counted from the start of the activity in Spain. If it interests her, it is explained on the page on the impatriate regime, and it is worth looking at before that period runs out.
And if the move is the other way round
Anyone who leaves Spain half-way through the year does not split the tax year either: if in that year they stayed more than 183 days or kept their centre of interests here, they remain resident for the whole year. The law also has rules of its own for that case, such as bringing outstanding income into the last period and, for certain shareholdings, the exit tax. They are dealt with in if I leave Spain, am I still liable and in the guide on the exit tax.
The year of arrival or departure is the one that accumulates the most mistakes. The page on Salama Tax for non-residents explains how we work on those transition years and which documents are needed to close them with a single conclusion.