Buying a house in Spain does not make you a Spanish tax resident. What counts is how you live: where you spend your time, and where your interests and your family are. And it is not a choice: the facts decide. Here are the main rules, to be confirmed with a tax adviser.
The Spanish criteria
You are considered a tax resident in Spain if any of the following applies:
- you spend more than 183 days in Spain in the calendar year, and occasional absences may be counted unless you prove tax residence in another country;
- the main centre of your business activities or economic interests is in Spain;
- your spouse (if not legally separated) and your dependent minor children normally live in Spain, which creates a presumption of residence.
If France also considers you a resident
Both countries can claim you at the same time. The France-Spain tax treaty then decides using a series of tie-breaker tests: your permanent home, then your centre of vital interests, then where you habitually stay, then your nationality.
What Spanish residence changes
- You are taxed in Spain on all your worldwide income, not just the income linked to your property.
- You must declare assets and accounts held outside Spain above certain thresholds.
- Wealth tax and inheritance tax follow different rules, specific to Catalonia.
- Some pensions remain taxable in France depending on their type: this is notably the case for public-sector pensions.
The most common case
Most of our clients spend a few weeks to a few months a year on the Costa Brava and remain French tax residents. Their Spanish obligations are then limited to the taxes linked to the property, and their French obligations are covered in our article declaring your property in France.
If you are thinking of living more than six months a year in Spain, talk to a French-Spanish adviser before taking the plunge, not after.
