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Tax residence in Spain for Germans and Britons: the 183-day rule and the treaties

Where you are tax resident decides in which country you declare your worldwide income. This guide explains the Spanish criteria, what happens if two countries treat you as resident and what form 030 is for. It gives no figures and does not tell you where it pays to be taxed.

Sources checked on 24 October 2026 · 5 min read

General information. It does not replace the advice of a professional.

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Photo: Towfiqu barbhuiya (Unsplash)

The basic idea

Tax residence is the link that decides where you are taxed on all of your income. In Spain, IRPF taxes the taxpayer’s income “regardless of where it was earned”, and the taxpayers are individuals whose habitual residence is in Spanish territory Act 35/2006, arts. 2 and 8.

It is a different matter from your residence permit and from local registration: the IRPF act sets its own criteria, and holding a residence card is not among them art. 9. For the former, see the NIE and first steps.

If you move to Spain for an employment contract or to run a company, there is a special regime for posted workers, known as the “Beckham law”, with its own requirements and deadlines for applying art. 93. If it might apply to you, ask before you arrive or as soon as you start work.

When you are tax resident in Spain

Under article 9 of the IRPF act, your habitual residence is in Spain if any one of these applies:

  1. You stay more than 183 days during the calendar year in Spanish territory. Occasional absences count towards the days, unless you prove that you are tax resident in another country.
  2. The main base or centre of your activities or economic interests is in Spain, directly or indirectly.

It is also presumed, unless proven otherwise, that your habitual residence is in Spain if your spouse (not legally separated) and your dependent minor children live here.

One circumstance is enough: spending fewer than 183 days in Spain does not stop you being resident if your centre of economic interests is here. And the reference period is the calendar year, not the British tax year (which runs from 6 April to 5 April).

If two countries treat you as resident

Each country applies its own rules, so you can meet the criteria of two at the same time.

  • Germany. Its Tax Code places your habitual abode where you stay in circumstances showing the stay is not merely temporary, and a continuous stay of more than six months counts as habitual from the start, with exceptions for private stays for visits, holidays or cures Abgabenordnung, § 9. That is one German criterion among others.
  • United Kingdom. HMRC measures residence by the days you spend in the country during the British tax year and combines it with automatic tests and a sufficient ties test. If you move, the year can be split into a resident and a non-resident part GOV.UK.

That is what the double taxation treaties are for. If an individual is resident in both states, both the treaty with Germany and the one with the United Kingdom settle it in this order Treaty with Germany, art. 4 Treaty with the United Kingdom, art. 4:

  1. the person is treated as resident only of the state where they have a permanent home available;
  2. if they have one in both, of the state with which their personal and economic ties are closer;
  3. if that cannot be determined, of the state where they have their habitual abode;
  4. if they have it in both or in neither, of the state of which they are a national;
  5. and if it is still a tie, the authorities of both states settle it by mutual agreement.

The treaty does not let you choose, and it only comes into play if each country, under its own rules, treats you as resident.

The two treaties, in a table

GermanyUnited Kingdom
Treaty in forceSigned in Madrid on 3 February 2011, with its protocol. Published in the BOE on 30 July 2012 Agencia Tributaria.Signed in London on 14 March 2013, with its protocol. Published in the BOE on 15 May 2014 Agencia Tributaria.
ReplacedThe 1966 treaty, published in 1968.The 1975 treaty, published in 1976.
What it coversTaxes on income and on capital.Taxes on income and on capital, including gains on disposals.

How each kind of income (employment, rent, pensions, interest, property sales) is allocated is set out in the text of each treaty and is not the same for all. This guide does not summarise it: read it on the BOE or ask a tax adviser with international experience.

Form 030

Form 030 is the census declaration for individuals who have no business or professional activity and receive no income subject to withholding. It is used to Agencia Tributaria:

  • register in the census of taxpayers;
  • request a NIF if you are a foreign national, will carry out transactions with tax relevance and do not have an NIE;
  • report a change of tax address, which must be done within three months of the change;
  • change personal details or marital status, and register phone numbers and emails for the tax agency’s notices.

It is submitted to the tax agency office for your tax address, on paper or online, and booking an appointment is recommended. If you work for yourself, the change of address is made on form 036 or 037.

Form 030 reports your address and your details. Whether or not you are tax resident is decided by the criteria in article 9, not by the form.

How to get your situation in order

These steps are practical advice from this guide, not an official list:

  1. Note in a calendar the days you spend in each country, calendar year by calendar year.
  2. Review the second criterion: where the centre of your activities or economic interests is.
  3. Take into account where your spouse and your minor children live.
  4. Check the rules of your home country: for the UK there is an official tool on GOV.UK, and in Germany, among others, § 9 of the Tax Code counts.
  5. If both countries treat you as resident, read article 4 of the relevant treaty.
  6. Get the NIE and, if you change your tax address and have no activity, form 030.
  7. Consult a tax adviser or a lawyer with experience in international cases: how to tell them apart is in Self-employed or company.

What this guide does not do

It does not calculate taxes, give figures or rates, tell you in which country it is better to be taxed, or replace a professional. Treaties, laws and forms change: always check the source. If you have pensions, rental income, a company or assets in two countries, the combination is delicate enough to raise before you decide.

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Sources and date checked

Official sources checked on 24 October 2026. Procedures, requirements and amounts change: always check the source before you act.

General information. It does not replace the advice of a professional.

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