Spain is on the verge of passing a digital nomad visa bill in January that would allow Americans and other non-EU citizens to obtain a visa to work remotely for a company outside Spain for more than 90 days out of 180.
Please note that the Spanish visa for digital nomads is only for people with a college degree or equivalent and three years of work experience, one of which must be in the current company.
The visa offers successful applicants various tax incentives and allows foreigners to live in Spain for one to three years while working abroad. The length of stay can be extended up to five years (depending on existing residency position).
Tax advantages of the Digital Nomad Visa?
“Taxwise, the new visa may allow digital nomads to benefit from a special tax regime for non-residents’ income tax with similar conditions to the existing Beckham Rule, says a professional tax lawyer based in Spain, Isaa Abad.
“The Beckham law in Spain is a special tax regime for ex-pats which means that foreigners living in Spain can pay tax on their employment income as non-residents at a flat rate of 24% up to 600.000 euros a year and 47% above that.”
Under the Digital Nomad Visa, “the period during which a taxpayer must have been non-resident in Spain to qualify for the Special Non-Resident Income Tax Regime is reduced from the current 10 to 5 years,” Abad says.
The system will also be expanded to encompass the visa holder’s spouse, civil partner, children, and dependents.
“The Non-Resident Income Tax Ac will be amended to exempt stock options as well as other income form work in kind, under the same conditions s personal income taxpayers,” he added.