TAX LAW DIVISION
With Binding Ruling V1207-25 of 3 July 2025, the Directorate General for Taxation (Dirección General de Tributos, “DGT”) has issued a decision of particular practical relevance concerning the continued application of the special tax regime for inbound workers (commonly known as the “Beckham law”) when there is a change in the circumstances that originally justified opting for the regime prior to the entry into force of the new wording of Article 93 of the Personal Income Tax Act (IRPF).
The case analysed concerns a taxpayer who moved to Spain in the 2021 tax year and opted for the special regime. Subsequently, in 2024, the employment relationship that prompted the relocation came to an end and, several months later, the taxpayer became a remunerated director of a Spanish company in which he held a shareholding exceeding 25%—a circumstance that, under the wording of Article 93 of the IRPF in force in 2021, prevented access to the regime.
The key issue addressed in this ruling is whether taxpayers who opted for the regime prior to the reform enacted in the 2023 tax year may rely on the new grounds for exercising the option in order to maintain its application in cases where the employment relationship that originally gave rise to the option has ceased.
On this basis, the DGT reasons that a strictly formal interpretation of the original qualifying ground could lead to automatic exclusion following termination of employment. However, it adopts a purposive interpretation and concludes that, where the taxpayer comes to fall within a new qualifying circumstance, and provided that the remaining requirements of Article 93 of the IRPF continue to be met under its current wording, the regime should not cease to apply.
In short, Binding Ruling V1207-25 reinforces a clear principle: taxpayers who were already applying the Beckham law prior to the 2023 tax year may continue to do so when the new qualifying situation arises as a result of one of the circumstances introduced by the reform.
