Your 401(k), your brokerage account and your crypto under the Beckham regime: what Spain can tax and what it cannot

Most Americans who move to Spain arrive with three things the Spanish tax system was not designed around: a 401(k) or an IRA, a US brokerage account and, more and more often, some crypto. Under the general Spanish income tax, all three would be taxed here and reported on a foreign-assets return. Under the Beckham Law, most of that goes away for six years. Not all of it, and not forever.

Here is what Spain can tax under the regime, what it cannot, the two exceptions that surprise people, and what changes on the day the regime ends. The US side, which never goes away, comes at the end.

This article is general information, not tax advice.

The rule behind everything: taxed like a non-resident

Article 93 of the Spanish income tax law (LIRPF) keeps you a Spanish tax resident, but calculates your tax under the rules of the non-resident income tax, with a handful of changes. Two of them shape everything else:

• All your employment income is taxed in Spain, wherever you do the work and whoever pays you: 24% up to €600,000 and 47% above (art. 93.2.b).
• Everything else is taxed only if it has a Spanish source, under the non-resident source rules (art. 13 of the non-resident income tax law, TRLIRNR). Spanish dividends, interest from a Spanish bank, a rental in Spain, a gain on Spanish shares.

So the question for every asset you bring is not “is it foreign?” but “does Spanish law give this income a Spanish source?”. Most of the time, for a US account, the answer is no. The two exceptions are the ones worth understanding.

Your 401(k) and your IRA

While the money stays in the account, Spain taxes nothing. The account is not Spanish and nothing has been paid to you. The US–Spain tax treaty, since the 2013 Protocol in force from 27 November 2019, also says pension-fund income is taxed only when it is paid out of the fund, and its memorandum of understanding lists 401(k) plans, traditional and Roth IRAs, 403(b) and 457(b) plans and the Thrift Savings Plan among the US pension funds it covers.

A withdrawal is where it gets interesting. In Spanish law a pension from an employment-related plan is employment income, and the regime taxes all employment income. But the regulation carves out income that comes from work done before you moved (art. 114.2.a of the income tax regulation, RIRPF). And under the non-resident rules, a pension only has a Spanish source if it comes from work done in Spain or is paid by a Spanish payer (art. 13.1.d TRLIRNR).

The DGT, the Spanish tax authority’s rulings office, has applied exactly that reasoning to foreign pensions received by people under the regime:

• V1998-20 (18 June 2020): a UK military pension, not taxed under the regime.
• V2039-16 (12 May 2016): a lump sum from a Luxembourg employer pension plan, all contributions made before the move, not taxed.
• V1919-25 (15 October 2025): German deferred compensation for work before the move, not taxed.

No ruling names a 401(k), but the logic carries over: a withdrawal of money built up by work you did before moving, paid by a US plan, is generally outside Spanish tax while the regime lasts.

Three caveats keep this from being a blanket rule:

1. Contributions made after you move. If you keep working for a US employer from Spain and keep contributing, part of the account comes from work done in Spain. For stock compensation, the DGT splits the income by time worked before and after the move (V0813-23); a similar split for retirement money is the likely reading, but it has not been confirmed.
2. Retiring can end the regime. The regime depends on the activity that brought you here. In V1946-23 (5 July 2023), someone who retired with no new qualifying activity was excluded from that same year. A retiree drawing down a 401(k) may already be under the general regime.
3. Contributions are not deductible in Spain under the regime (V2126-23), so a 401(k) does not lower your Spanish tax while you work.

Your US brokerage account

This is the cleanest part. Under the non-resident rules, a gain on shares has a Spanish source only when the shares are issued by a Spanish company (art. 13.1.i TRLIRNR), and dividends only when the company paying them is Spanish (art. 13.1.f). Where you hold them does not matter: the DGT has said a gain on Spanish shares is taxed even when the sale goes through a platform abroad (V0376-24), and a gain on UK shares is not taxed at all (V2195-22).

For an American with a US brokerage account, that means:

• US stocks, US ETFs and their dividends: outside Spanish tax.
• An Irish or Luxembourg ETF: outside Spanish tax too, because the issuer is not Spanish. For the IRS it is a different story (see the US section).
• Shares of a Spanish company, or a Spanish fund: taxed in Spain on the savings scale, 19% to 30%, wherever the broker is.

Two details of the regime apply here. Each income item is taxed on its own, so a loss never offsets a gain (art. 93.2.c). And there is no Modelo 720 for the account while the regime lasts (more on that below).

Your crypto: the exception that catches people

Crypto has no issuer and no country, so the DGT had to decide where it is. Its answer turns on who holds the private keys:

• A custodian in Spain, or a foreign platform with a Spanish branch or establishment: the crypto is located in Spain, and gains on it are taxed.
• A custodian with no establishment in Spain: located abroad, and gains are outside Spanish tax under the regime (V0376-24). Staking rewards from such a platform follow the same logic.
• Self-custody, a hardware or software wallet where you hold the keys: located in Spain, because that is where you live (V1662-23, 13 June 2023). Gains are taxed in Spain at the savings rates.

That last point turns the usual advice upside down. Moving crypto from an exchange to your own wallet, often recommended for safety, can bring the gains inside Spanish tax under the regime. Before you move coins, check where the platform that holds your keys is established; many large exchanges serve Spain through an entity in another EU country, and which entity holds your account is what counts.

Wealth tax, the Modelo 720 and the crypto declaration

Under the regime you pay wealth tax only on assets located in Spain (art. 93.1, last paragraph). A 401(k), a US brokerage account and US real estate are not Spanish assets. Where self-custodied crypto stands for wealth-tax purposes has not been settled by any ruling we found; ask the professional if it is a significant amount.

On the reporting side:

• Modelo 720 (foreign accounts, securities and property above €50,000 per category): the AEAT says expressly, in its FAQ, that taxpayers under the regime do not file it, because the return only concerns those taxed on their worldwide income.
• Modelo 721 (crypto held abroad with a custodian, above €50,000): the AEAT has not published the same express answer, but the 721 is regulated alongside the 720 and the reason it gives for the 720 applies equally, so the usual reading is that the regime takes you out of it as well. Self-custodied crypto is never reported on the 721.

The day the regime ends

The regime covers the year you become resident and the five following years. On 1 January of the seventh year you are an ordinary Spanish resident, and three things change at once:

1. Worldwide income. US dividends, gains on US shares and crypto, wherever held, are taxed in Spain on the savings scale. A 401(k) withdrawal becomes employment income taxed at the general rates, without the treatment of a Spanish pension plan (V0251-25). A Roth IRA is treated like a savings product: only the growth is taxed (V1291-22).
2. The Modelo 720 and 721. Your first returns cover the assets you hold on 31 December of your first ordinary year, and are due between 1 January and 31 March of the following year. Your IRAs go on the 720 too: the DGT treats traditional and Roth IRAs as a form of life insurance for this purpose, because the money can be withdrawn (V1291-22). The penalties that made the 720 notorious were struck down by the EU Court of Justice in 2022 (case C-788/19) and replaced by the general penalty rules (Law 5/2022), but filing late still costs money.
3. No step-up. Spain does not revalue your assets when the regime ends. A gain built up during the regime, outside Spanish tax at the time, is taxed in full when you sell after it, measured from what you originally paid (art. 35 LIRPF).

That third point is why the last two years of the regime are when portfolios get reorganised. Selling a US share or fund and buying it back before the regime ends resets its Spanish cost with no Spanish tax. For an American, though, that sale triggers US capital gains tax now. Whether it is worth it is a two-country calculation, not a reflex. When the Beckham Law ends covers the rest of the transition, including why leaving Spain at that point does not trigger the exit tax.

For Americans: two tax systems at once

None of the above changes your US return. The US taxes its citizens and green-card holders on their worldwide income wherever they live, and the treaty’s saving clause (art. 1.3) lets it go on doing so. What the treaty does is decide who gives way when both countries tax the same income.

• Your salary. Spain taxes it at 24%. For the IRS it is foreign-source income, so you use the Foreign Tax Credit (Form 1116) or the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (Form 2555). FEIE or Foreign Tax Credit under Beckham compares the two.
• Your brokerage account. Spain does not tax it under the regime; the US does, as if you lived in Ohio. There is no double taxation to solve, just US tax.
• A 401(k) withdrawal. The US taxes it, with the 10% additional tax before age 59½ unless an exception applies. If Spain does not tax it under the regime, there is nothing to credit.
• Self-custodied crypto. Here both countries can tax the same gain. How much of the Spanish tax the IRS will credit depends on how the gain is sourced, so get it modelled before you sell.
• Funds from your Spanish bank. A Spanish or EU fund or UCITS ETF is usually a PFIC for the IRS, with punishing tax and a Form 8621 every year. The fund that is tax-neutral in Spain can be the worst thing to hold in your US return.
• Reporting. FBAR (FinCEN 114) above $10,000 in aggregate and Form 8938 above its thresholds continue as before. The Beckham regime removes the Spanish foreign-assets return, never the American ones.

One treaty point is often misread. Because people under the regime are not treated as Spanish residents for treaty purposes (DGT V2918-17, on the identical wording of the UK treaty), a non-American on the regime can lose the reduced US withholding on US dividends. That problem does not apply to US citizens or green-card holders, who are not subject to that withholding in the first place.

Summary

Where to start

The free diagnosis checks the route and your Modelo 149 date, and the savings calculator compares the regime with the general one on your salary. Beckham Law for US citizens collects everything on the American side. If you are bringing significant investments, crypto in your own wallet or a retirement account you will draw from in Spain, you can ask for a review: we will look for a registered lawyer or tax advisor to look at both sides, with a fixed quote before you commit to anything.

Sources

• Law 35/2006 on Personal Income Tax, arts. 35, 93 and 95 bis (consolidated text, BOE)
• Royal Decree 439/2007, Personal Income Tax Regulation, arts. 114 and 120 (consolidated text, BOE)
• Royal Legislative Decree 5/2004, Non-Resident Income Tax Law, art. 13 (consolidated text, BOE)
• US–Spain income tax treaty (consolidated text, BOE) and 2013 Protocol and memorandum of understanding (BOE)
• DGT binding rulings database (search by number): V1998-20, V2039-16, V1919-25, V0813-23, V1946-23, V2126-23, V0251-25, V1291-22, V2195-22, V0376-24, V1662-23, V2918-17
• AEAT: Modelo 720 FAQ, who must file
• AEAT: Modelo 721 FAQ
• AEAT: Personal Income Tax 2025 manual, content of the special regime
• Law 5/2022 amending the Modelo 720 penalty regime (BOE)
• Cuatrecasas: more on crypto under the impatriate regime (in Spanish), 3 June 2024
• IRS: U.S. citizens and resident aliens abroad
• IRS: Spain tax treaty documents
• IRS: Topic 557, additional tax on early distributions from retirement plans
• IRS: About Form 8621 (PFIC)
• IRS: Comparison of Form 8938 and FBAR requirements