Most articles still describe a Beckham Law that was rewritten in December 2022. Anyone applying in 2026 under the old summary will misfile, miss the window, and pay the difference. The régime is broader on paper, narrower in practice, and the people who reliably save money on it look almost nothing like the footballers it was named after.
The Beckham régime (Régimen Especial para Trabajadores Desplazados, Ley 35/2006 art. 93, as amended by Ley 28/2022 — the Startup Law) lets a new Spanish tax resident pay a flat 24% on Spanish-source employment income up to €600,000 and 47% on the marginal slice above that, for the year of arrival plus the next five tax years (six years total). Foreign-source income — dividends, interest, foreign rentals, foreign capital gains — sits outside Spanish tax with the single exception of foreign employment income, which is taxed in Spain. You must apply within six months of registering with Spanish Social Security via Modelo 149 to AEAT. Get the math right and the régime saves a Marbella-bound executive earning €500K-1M roughly €80,000-220,000 per year versus the standard IRPF progressive scale. Get the math wrong — particularly on the foreign-employment trap and on residency in the prior five years — and the savings collapse.
The Beckham régime was reformed by Ley 28/2022 de 21 de diciembre (Ley de Startups), with implementing rules in Real Decreto 1008/2023 and effective for tax years from 2023 onwards. By 2026 the reform is fully bedded in. Five concrete changes matter to a new applicant.
The 5-year prior non-residency rule is the most useful change. Anyone who left Spain in 2021 or earlier can now move back in 2026 and qualify. Under the old rule they would have had to wait until 2034.
The family extension is materially valuable. A spouse with €200K of foreign rental income or dividend flows can join the régime alongside the principal applicant, and that foreign income falls outside Spanish IRPF — provided the spouse meets the technical conditions (their own Spanish income must not exceed the principal applicant's, and they must not have been Spanish tax-resident in the previous five years).
The digital-nomad route is the headline addition. A non-EU founder or highly-skilled professional who relocates to Spain on the new digital-nomad residence visa (introduced by Ley 28/2022, processed via Unidad de Grandes Empresas) can now access Beckham — provided they generate at least 80% of their billings from non-Spanish clients, hold qualifications recognised under Spanish law, and earn at least 200% of the Spanish minimum wage. This is the route most US, UK, and Israeli tech founders relocating to Marbella in 2026 actually take. See our US tech-founder relocation guide for the full visa-tax stack.
Spanish IRPF (general scale) for Andalucía in 2026 runs progressively from 19% on the first €12,450 to 47% on income above €300,000. Beckham flattens this to 24% up to €600K, 47% above. The crossover only matters at certain incomes.
Worked examples on Spanish-source employment income (single filer, no deductions, residing in Andalucía):