The form with which you tell Spain's tax agency that you opt for the special regime for workers displaced to Spanish territory, the Beckham Law. The same form is used later to renounce the regime or to report that you no longer qualify.

When do I have to file Modelo 149?

Within six months of the start of your activity in Spain. The tax rules read that from your registration with Spanish Social Security, or from the Certificate of Coverage if you remain under U.S. Social Security, or from the document that evidences the start where no registration is required. Not from the day you became resident.

Can I file Modelo 149 without a digital certificate?

You need a way to identify yourself at the tax agency's electronic office: a digital certificate, Cl@ve, or a representative who files for you with theirs. A tax advisor can file it on your behalf.

What do I attach to Modelo 149?

Your NIE and passport, the Social Security registration or the Certificate of Coverage, the document that shows the start date of the work in Spain (the employer's letter or contract), and the Digital Nomad Visa resolution. The agency can ask for more.

What happens after I file?

The tax agency issues a certificate confirming you are under the regime, usually within ten working days. You give it to your employer so withholding runs at 24%, or, with a U.S. employer that does not withhold in Spain, you declare the income yourself each year on Modelo 151.

How to File Modelo 149: the Beckham Law Election Step by Step

What Modelo 149 is, and what it is not

Modelo 149 is the communication by which a person who has moved to Spain opts into the special regime for workers, professionals, entrepreneurs and investors displaced to Spanish territory, the regime everyone calls the Beckham Law. The same form serves, later, to renounce the regime or to report that you have stopped meeting its conditions. It is not a tax return. The return you file every year under the regime is Modelo 151, and the two are confused often enough to be worth separating on the first line.

Step 1. Fix the date the six months run from

The election must be filed within six months of the start of your activity in Spain. The regulations say how that date is found, and it is not the day you became a tax resident or the day the visa was approved:

If you register with Spanish Social Security, the clock runs from that registration. A 1099 contractor who registers as autónomo starts the clock on the date of the alta.
If a Certificate of Coverage keeps you under U.S. Social Security, as it does for most W‑2 employees on this visa, the clock runs from the date shown in that documentation.
If no registration is required, it runs from the document that evidences the start of the activity.

Write the date down on the day it happens and put the sixth-month mark in the calendar. For a client I put it there before the flight. The Certificate of Coverage guide explains why its dates deserve checking the day it arrives; a wrong start date on it is a wrong Beckham deadline.

Step 2. Check the conditions once more

Before filing, confirm the four things the agency will test: no Spanish tax residence in the five tax years before the move; a move caused by a qualifying work situation, which for a Digital Nomad Visa holder is the employment or activity behind the permit; no income that would be obtained through a permanent establishment in Spain; and residence under the common tax system, not the Basque Country or Navarra. If one of them is doubtful, a tax advisor looks at it before the form goes in, because a rejected election cannot be refiled after the window.

Step 3. Gather the attachments

The form itself asks for your identification, the date of entry into Spain, the date of the start of the activity and the circumstance you rely on. Alongside it the agency expects evidence:

Your NIE and a copy of your passport.
The Social Security registration, or the Certificate of Coverage if you stay under the U.S. system.
Proof of the work and its start date: the employer’s letter or contract for an employee, the registration and the client contracts for a self-employed applicant.
The Digital Nomad Visa resolution, which ties the move to the qualifying circumstance.

Everything in Spanish or translated. The employer letter issued bilingual for the visa works here too, one more reason to have HR sign it that way from the start.

Step 4. File it at the electronic office

Modelo 149 is filed online at the tax agency’s sede electrónica. You identify yourself with a digital certificate or with Cl@ve, fill in the form, attach the documents and submit. If you do not have either credential yet, the digital certificate guide explains how to get one; many people simply have their tax advisor file as representative, which is what I arrange for clients. Keep the submission receipt with its registration number. It is the proof that the election was in time.

Step 5. What comes back

The agency examines the election and, if it accepts it, issues a certificate stating that you are under the special regime, normally within about ten working days. Two things follow from it:

If you are paid through a Spanish payroll, you give the certificate to the employer and withholding runs at the flat 24%.
If your employer is in the United States and does not withhold in Spain, which is the usual Digital Nomad Visa case, nothing is withheld and you declare the income yourself each year on Modelo 151, paying the 24% then.

If the agency refuses the election, it says why, and the refusal can be appealed. A refusal because the form arrived late cannot.

Mistakes I see

Counting from the wrong date. From the visa approval, or from day 183. The clock runs from the Social Security event.
Waiting for the TIE. The card can take months. The election does not wait for it; the NIE on the resolution is enough.
Filing Modelo 149 and forgetting Modelo 151. The election is step one. The annual return is what pays the tax.
Assuming a 1099 qualifies the same way. Self-employed cases are judged on how the activity is structured. Review first, file second.
Treating the regime as optional later. Once in, leaving is possible, but coming back for the same move is not.

Where this sits in the first months

Approval, Social Security registration or the Certificate of Coverage, then the Modelo 149 window, then the first Modelo 151 the following year. The tax calendar puts all of it on one timeline with the U.S. deadlines beside it, and the first thirty days guide covers the TIE and the registrations that come first. I am your immigration lawyer, not your tax advisor; the election itself I leave to the cross-border specialists I refer clients to, briefed on the dates so the window never slips.

Sources: Agencia Tributaria, Modelo 149 and the special regime for inbound workers · RD 1008/2023, art. 116 RIRPF. This guide is general information, not tax advice. Last updated: 3 October 2026.

How to file Modelo 149: the Beckham Law election, step by step

Key facts