- #
- 1
Spain: An attractive country for investment
- 2
Setting up a business in Spain
- 3
Tax System
- 4
Investment aid and incentives in Spain
- 5
Labor and social security regulations
- 6
Intellectual property law
- 7
Legal framework and tax implications of e-commerce in Spain
-
Downloads
- AI
Company and Commercial Law
- AII
The Spanish financial system
- AIII
Accounting and audit issues

- Introduction
- Central government taxes
- Corporate Income Tax
- Personal Income Tax
- Nonresident Income Tax
- Wealth Tax
- Inheritance and Gift Tax
- Spanish Value Added Tax
- Transfer and Stamp Tax
- Excise and Special Taxes
- Custom Duties on Imports
- Tax on Insurance Premiums
- Tax on Financial Transactions
- Tax on certain Digital Services
- Reporting obligations relating to Assets and Rights Abroad
- Tax on fluorinated greenhouse gases
- Excise tax on non-reusable plastic packaging
- Tax on waste sent to landfill, incineration and co-incineration
- Temporary taxes introduced by Law 38/2022 of December 27, 2022
- Special regime for startups
- Special Regimes of certain Autonomous Communities
- Local taxes
- Exhibit I - Corporate income tax incentives for investment
- Exhibit II - Treaty tax rates
- Exhibit III - Practical examples
- Exhibit IV - Case of Application of the Regime for foreign-securities holding companies (ETVE)...
- Exhibit V - Nonresident case study: Income obtained without a permanent establishment
- Exhibit VI - VAT case study
Exhibit V Nonresident case study: Income obtained without a permanent establishment
The Dutch company TPC, B.V. posted one of its employees to Spain in September 2023. This employee worked in the Netherlands until August of the same year. The employee’s salary corresponding to the September-December period amounts to €12,000, and is paid by the Spanish branch. The employee continues making contributions to the Dutch Social Security System, amounting to €800 for those four months.
In addition, the employee opened a bank account in Spain and he received interest amounting to €100 and bore a withholding tax of €21 on said interest.
In 2023, he buys and sells shares of a Spanish company and obtains a capital gain of €100. On another transaction of the same type with shares in another Spanish company, he obtains a capital loss of €20. He also transfers shares of a Dutch company and obtains a capital gain of €50.
The employee will be considered as a nonresident in Spain for tax purposes in 2023, as he was not physically present in Spain for more than 183 days and his center of economic interest was not located in Spain this year.
The employee will be taxed separately on each item of income obtained and the tax will accrue when the income falls due or on the date of actual payment if it is sooner.
- Salary income: The Spanish branch pays his salary and, therefore, it must pay each month (or every three months if its volume of operations in the previous year was less than €6,010,121) withholdings on the gross salary paid, without deducting any expenses. As a result, in this case, the branch would have to pay, in total and in the periods mentioned, to the tax authorities 24% of the gross salary paid to the employee, which amounts to €2,880.
- Interest on the bank account: As a nonresident, the employee could claim a refund of the €21 withheld by the Bank, as the interest obtained from nonresidents’ bank accounts is exempt from tax.
- Shares: Only the sale of Spanish shares is subject to taxation. Additionally, gains and losses cannot be offset against each other.
Therefore, the capital gain obtained from the sale of the first shares would be taxable at the rate of 21%.
However, according to the Tax Treaty between Spain and the Netherlands, that capital gain can only be taxed in the Netherlands, as the country of residence of the employee, and as a result, it will be exempt in Spain.