RSUs in Spain. RSUs arrive here with a foreign name and no entry of their own in the Spanish code. They are taxed by analogy, under criteria built ruling by ruling, so what holds for one company’s plan need not hold for another’s.
Rachel and an RSU package that started in California
Rachel Kim is an American software engineer who, on 1 May 2025, moved to Madrid to lead her company's European team. She is in the regime of article 93, commonly called the Beckham regime. Her salary in Spain is 420,000 € a year. In January 2024, while still in San Francisco, the parent company granted her restricted stock units (RSUs) that vest in one go on 1 January 2027, with an estimated value on that date of 90,000 €. In 2026 she also received a one-off RSU package linked to the integration of another company, which will vest in December 2026 with a value of 250,000 €, granted when she was already in Madrid.
Her question had three parts: when it is taxed, how much of each package comes into Spain and what happens if she goes over 600,000 €.
When the income arises
An employee's RSUs and stock options are employment income in kind. The general timing rule in IRPF (Spanish personal income tax) places employment income in the period in which it becomes payable. In practice, for RSUs that is usually the moment they vest and the shares are delivered; for options, the moment of exercise. The value taxed is the value of the shares at that moment, less anything the employee paid, if they paid anything.
The grant on its own does not normally produce income. But the grant date matters a great deal for what follows. The guide on the three moments of an option goes through each stage.
What was earned before arriving
Article 93.2.b of the IRPF Law says that all the employment income obtained during the regime is treated as obtained in Spain. But article 114.2.a of the IRPF Regulations adds the limit: income deriving from an activity carried out before the date of the move is not treated as obtained during the regime. And an RSU package that rewards a three-year service period, sixteen months of which were worked in California, derives in part from earlier work.
The most widespread way of making that split is in proportion to the service period the plan requires for vesting. Other approaches are possible, and whichever is applied has to rest on the plan itself and be documented.
Splitting the first package, step by step
2024 package: granted on 1 January 2024, vesting on 1 January 2027, 36 months of service. Rachel moved on 1 May 2025 and spent more than 183 days in Spain that year, so 2025 is already her first year under the regime.
- Months of service before the move: January 2024 to April 2025, 16 months.
- Months of service in the regime: May 2025 to December 2026, 20 months.
- Part attributable to the regime: 90,000 × 20 / 36 = 50,000 €.
- Part attributable to the earlier period: 90,000 × 16 / 36 = 40,000 €.
The 50,000 € goes into Modelo 151, the regime's annual return, for the year of vesting, as employment income. The 40,000 € is not treated as obtained during the regime: it would only be taxed in Spain if it were Spanish-source income under the non-resident rules, and work done in California is not. How the United States taxes that part, and the rest of the package, is something Rachel's adviser there has to confirm.
The 600,000 € mark and the 47 % rate
Article 93.2.e sets the regime's scale for the general base: 24 % up to 600,000 € and 47 % on the excess. All the year's employment income counts, salary and equity included.
In 2026, Rachel's year looks like this:
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Spanish salary | 420,000 € |
| One-off package vesting in December 2026 | 250,000 € |
| General base in the regime | 670,000 € |
- Up to 600,000 € at 24 %: 144,000 €.
- Excess of 70,000 € at 47 %: 32,900 €.
- Gross tax: 176,900 €.
The one-off package was granted when she was already in Madrid, so there is nothing to split: all of it is work during the regime.
Article 93.2.f applies 47 % withholding to the excess when what a single payer pays in the year exceeds 600,000 €. If the salary is paid by the Spanish subsidiary and the shares are delivered by the parent company, it may be that no payer exceeds that amount on its own and nobody withholds at 47 %. The final tax is fixed by Modelo 151, and the difference is paid with the return. It is worth calculating before the vesting date arrives, not afterwards.
What the regime does not allow: the 30 % reduction
Under ordinary IRPF, certain income generated over more than two years can benefit from a reduction. Not in the regime: article 24.1 of the IRNR Law (the Spanish non-resident income tax) takes the gross amount "without the application of" the reductions. A package that would be taxed partly reduced under the ordinary system is taxed in full in the regime, at 24 % or 47 %.
After delivery: selling the shares
Once delivered, the shares in the US parent company are securities issued by a non-resident entity. If Rachel sells them while in the regime, the gain is not Spanish-source income under article 13.1.i of the IRNR Law and does not go into Modelo 151. The acquisition value of those shares will, in principle, be the value that was taxed as employment income when she received them, and it is worth keeping: when the regime ends and she is taxed on her worldwide income again, she will need it. We explain this in selling shares bought before arriving.
Which documents you need to have
| Document | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Incentive plan and grant letter | Fixing the grant and vesting dates and the service conditions |
| Vesting confirmation with the value per share | Quantifying the year's income |
| A record of days worked before and after the move | Supporting the split over time |
| Withholding certificates from each payer | Reconciling Modelo 151 |
If you have a plan with performance conditions, a double trigger or shares that are only delivered after a stock market listing, the analysis changes. We have guides on double-trigger RSUs and on stock options and RSUs under article 93.
If you have a package vesting this year or next and want to calculate the effect before the date, you can send us the plan through the Beckham form. We cannot guarantee that the tax authorities will accept a particular split, but we can support it with the plan in hand and warn you where the risk lies.
A note on the year you leave
If you leave Spain with RSUs that have not vested, the split is also made at the other end: the part linked to months after the posting ends is not treated as obtained during the regime. We cover this in leaving Spain while in the regime.
Calculating equity in the regime's annual return, package by package, is part of the service described on the Salama Tax page on workers moving to Spain.