Investing from Spain is perfectly doable. But it comes with a bureaucratic layer that investors in the UK, Germany, or the US simply don’t have to deal with. If you’re choosing a broker as a Spanish tax resident, you can’t just pick the cheapest option — you need to factor in tax reporting obligations, the Modelo 720, and how different broker structures affect your annual filing burden.
I’ve been investing from Barcelona since 2013. I’ve navigated Modelo 720 filings, dividend withholding credits, and the joys of explaining foreign brokerage accounts to Spanish tax advisors. This article covers what actually matters for investors living in Spain — the tax context, which brokers make sense here, and why for passive index fund investors, the answer might surprise you.
If you want deep-dive reviews of the major European brokers — Interactive Brokers, DEGIRO, Scalable Capital, eToro, and Trading 212 — I’ve covered those in detail in my Best Online Stock Brokers in Europe guide. This article focuses specifically on the Spain angle.
Why Spain Makes Broker Selection More Complicated
Spain has a functioning stock market and a reasonably sophisticated financial system, but Spanish banks and brokers are — in my experience — expensive, bureaucratic, and not particularly investor-friendly. The big banks (Santander, BBVA, CaixaBank) offer brokerage accounts as an afterthought, with commissions that have no place in a serious investment strategy.
The result is that most savvy Spanish investors end up with foreign brokers. That’s fine — and for many asset classes, it’s clearly the better choice. But it creates a reporting burden that doesn’t exist if your assets stay in Spain.
The two obligations you need to know about:
- Modelo 720 — Annual declaration of foreign assets (bank accounts, securities, real estate) with a combined value over €50,000. Filed with the Agencia Tributaria. Miss it or get it wrong and you’re looking at potential penalties.
- Modelo D-6 — Annual declaration of investments in foreign companies and funds. Less talked about than Modelo 720 but also mandatory. Filed with the Registro de Inversiones at the Ministry of Economy.
Neither of these declarations means you owe more tax — they’re disclosure obligations, not tax events. But they add administrative complexity and, if you’re paying an accountant to handle them, real cost. This is the lens through which you should evaluate broker choice in Spain.
The Modelo 720 Question
Modelo 720 was introduced in 2012 during Spain’s financial crisis, ostensibly to catch capital flight. The original penalty structure was savage — disproportionate to the point that the EU Court of Justice ruled it incompatible with EU law in January 2022. Spain revised the penalties. But the filing obligation itself remains.
The threshold is €50,000 per asset category (bank accounts, securities, real estate) held outside Spain as of December 31. If you hold more than €50,000 in a foreign brokerage account, you file. Once you’ve filed an initial declaration, you only need to refile if the balance has increased by more than €20,000 since the last declaration, or if you’ve closed positions.
In practice, if you’re a serious long-term investor with a growing portfolio, you’re filing Modelo 720 every year or every other year. It’s not the end of the world — I do it annually and it’s become routine — but it’s something to plan for. I have a full guide to Modelo 720 in Spain if you want the details.
The key broker implication: assets held at a Spanish broker do not trigger Modelo 720. If your entire portfolio lives at a Spanish institution, this obligation disappears entirely.
MyInvestor: The Best Option for Spanish-Based Passive Investors
If your investment strategy is buy-and-hold index funds — which is mine, and which I’d argue is the right approach for most people — then MyInvestor deserves serious attention.
MyInvestor is a Spanish neobank and broker backed by Andbank, a well-established Andorran banking group. It’s regulated by the Banco de España and covered by the Spanish deposit guarantee scheme (FGD) up to €100,000. Not a startup. Not a crypto platform dressed up as a broker.
Here’s what makes it stand out for index investors in Spain:
Commission-Free Index Fund Investing
MyInvestor gives you access to institutional-class Vanguard and iShares index funds with zero purchase commission. These are the same funds used by pension schemes and large institutional investors — low expense ratios, broad diversification, the real thing. Access to these funds through a Spanish bank with no entry fees is genuinely unusual.
The Traspaso Tax Advantage
Spain has a tax rule that exists nowhere else in Europe: you can switch between investment funds without triggering a taxable event. This is called a traspaso (fund transfer), and it’s one of the most valuable tax tools available to Spanish investors.
In practical terms: if you hold a Vanguard Global Stock Index Fund and want to rebalance into a bond fund, you can make that switch without paying capital gains tax on the accumulated gains. The tax is deferred until you eventually sell out of the fund system entirely. Over a long investment horizon, this is a meaningful compounding advantage.
The catch: this only works with funds domiciled or registered with a Spanish share class. ETFs don’t qualify — only mutual funds (fondos de inversión). And both the source and destination fund need to be available at the same broker, or the broker needs to support outgoing transfers.
MyInvestor supports traspasos between its fund range. This alone makes it worth considering for anyone building a long-term fund portfolio in Spain.
No Modelo 720
Because MyInvestor is a Spanish entity, assets held there are not foreign assets. No Modelo 720 filing. No Modelo D-6. Your Agencia Tributaria reporting is straightforward — MyInvestor provides an annual tax report and pre-populates the relevant sections in the Renta declaration.
For investors approaching or above the €50,000 threshold, this is a real practical advantage.
Robo-Advisor Option
If you want a fully automated approach, MyInvestor offers a robo-advisor product that builds and rebalances a diversified index fund portfolio based on your risk profile. The fees are low by Spanish standards. It’s a reasonable option for investors who want simplicity over control.
My take: if you’re comfortable choosing your own funds, skip the robo-advisor and build the portfolio yourself. The fund selection at MyInvestor is good enough that you don’t need the wrapper.
International Brokers for Spanish Residents
For investing in individual stocks, ETFs, and assets beyond what Spanish brokers offer, international brokers remain the better choice. They’re cheaper for stock trading, offer broader market access, and have better platforms. The trade-off is the Modelo 720 and D-6 filing obligations if your holdings exceed the thresholds.
I use DEGIRO as my primary broker for ETF and stock investing. It’s solid, low-cost, and the platform works well for buy-and-hold investing. For more active traders or those with larger portfolios, Interactive Brokers is the professional-grade option — deeper market access, better margin rates, more sophisticated order types.
For detailed reviews of each broker — fees, platforms, pros, cons — see my Best Online Stock Brokers in Europe guide. What follows here is the Spain-specific context for each.
DEGIRO — Spain Tax Notes
DEGIRO handles W-8BEN automatically, which reduces US dividend withholding tax from 30% to 15%. You’ll still need to declare this on your IRPF and claim a foreign tax credit for the 15% withheld — but at least you’re not giving the IRS 30% off the top. DEGIRO provides an annual tax report that makes this manageable.
Currency conversion costs are worth watching. DEGIRO charges a small FX fee when buying US-listed stocks in dollars. Not a deal-breaker for buy-and-hold investors, but it’s a real cost to factor in.
Modelo 720 applies once your DEGIRO portfolio exceeds €50,000. Read my full DEGIRO review for platform details.
Interactive Brokers — Spain Tax Notes
Interactive Brokers is the strongest all-round platform for sophisticated investors. For Spanish residents, it offers something valuable: clear, detailed tax reporting that makes Modelo 720 preparation straightforward. Their annual reports break down positions, valuations, dividends, and transactions in the format you need.
IB also handles W-8BEN and offers direct access to a huge range of international markets including European exchanges that DEGIRO doesn’t cover. If you’re investing in anything beyond mainstream ETFs and stocks, Interactive Brokers is worth the slightly higher complexity.
eToro — Spain Tax Notes
eToro is fine for commission-free stock investing, and the social/copy trading features appeal to a certain type of investor. From a Spanish tax perspective, it works like any other foreign broker — Modelo 720 applies above the threshold. Their tax reporting has improved but is still not as clean as DEGIRO or Interactive Brokers. Read my eToro review for the full breakdown.
Tax Guide for Spanish Investors
Understanding how your investment income is taxed in Spain is non-negotiable if you’re going to do this seriously. The Spanish tax system treats investment income separately from earned income, which is actually favorable compared to countries that tax everything at the marginal rate.
Capital Gains Tax (Ganancias Patrimoniales)
Capital gains from investments are taxed at the following rates in 2025/2026:
- First €6,000: 19%
- €6,000 – €50,000: 21%
- €50,000 – €200,000: 23%
- €200,000 – €300,000: 27%
- Over €300,000: 28%
These rates apply to gains realized from selling shares, ETFs, and funds. Note that capital gains and losses can be offset against each other within the same tax year. Losses can also be carried forward for up to four years to offset future gains.
Dividend Taxation
Dividends are taxed using the same progressive scale as capital gains (the base del ahorro). Foreign dividends add a layer of complexity because they’re typically subject to withholding tax at source before they reach your account.
For US dividends specifically: without a W-8BEN form on file with your broker, the IRS withholds 30%. With a W-8BEN, it drops to 15% under the US-Spain tax treaty. That 15% withheld is claimable as a foreign tax credit in your Spanish Renta declaration, so you’re not paying double tax — you’re paying Spanish rates with a credit for what the US already took. Your broker should handle the W-8BEN; confirm that it does before investing in US-listed assets.
Modelo D-6
This one catches people off guard. Modelo D-6 must be filed annually with the Directorate-General of International Trade and Investments (part of the Ministry of Economy) whenever you hold investments in foreign companies or funds. The filing covers your position as of December 31 of the prior year and any transactions during the year.
It applies regardless of the amount — there’s no €50,000 threshold like Modelo 720. If you have a single share in a foreign company, technically you should file. In practice, enforcement has been patchy, but it’s a real obligation. If you work with a tax advisor (gestora), make sure they know about this one — not all of them do.
The Fund Switching (Traspaso) Advantage, Explained
This deserves more attention than it usually gets in personal finance discussions in Spain.
Most Spanish investors focus on fees and platform quality when choosing a broker. The traspaso advantage is less visible but potentially more valuable over a long time horizon.
Here’s a concrete example. Say you’ve built up €100,000 in a Vanguard Global Stock Index Fund over ten years. Your cost basis is €60,000 — so you’re sitting on €40,000 of unrealized gains. You decide you want to shift 20% into bonds as you approach your goals.
With an ETF (which you’d hold through DEGIRO or Interactive Brokers), selling €20,000 worth would trigger a capital gains event. Depending on your total gains for the year, you’d owe somewhere between 19% and 23% on the realized profit. That’s real money leaving your portfolio before you’ve even redeployed it.
With a fund held at MyInvestor via traspaso, you transfer the equivalent amount directly into a bond fund with no taxable event. The tax on those gains stays deferred — potentially for decades, continuing to compound in the meantime.
Over a 20-30 year investment horizon, the difference in after-tax outcomes is substantial. This is the kind of structural advantage that systematic investors should build around.
The limitations are real: traspaso only works between mutual funds, not ETFs; both funds need to be accessible at your broker; and the fund range available at Spanish brokers is narrower than what you can access via international platforms. But for the core index fund portion of a long-term portfolio, the traspaso makes a strong case for keeping that portion at MyInvestor.
My Setup and Recommendation
Here’s how I actually invest from Spain, for whatever it’s worth.
I use DEGIRO as my primary broker. Most of my portfolio is in ETFs — broad market index funds, mostly Vanguard and iShares. DEGIRO’s platform is good, the fees are low, and I’m comfortable navigating the Modelo 720 filing each year. It’s become a routine part of my annual tax process rather than a burden.
If I were starting fresh today — or if I were building a pure index fund portfolio without individual stock picking — I’d give MyInvestor serious weight, particularly for the traspaso advantage and the simplified tax reporting. The no-Modelo-720 benefit matters less to me personally since I’m already in the habit of filing it, but for someone just starting out and building toward that €50,000 threshold, keeping assets in Spain is a real simplification.
My practical recommendation for most Spanish investors:
- For index fund investing (your core long-term portfolio): MyInvestor. No Modelo 720, traspaso advantage, Vanguard and iShares access, zero commission. Hard to beat for passive investors.
- For ETF investing, individual stocks, or broader market access: DEGIRO for most investors; Interactive Brokers if you need professional-grade tools or access to non-standard markets.
- For pure simplicity: MyInvestor only. Accept the narrower investment range in exchange for zero administrative overhead and the fund switching advantage.
One thing I’d avoid: putting serious investment capital with Spanish banks. The fees are still too high, the fund selection is often restricted to their own products, and the platforms range from mediocre to bad. There are better options.
If you’re new to investing in Spain and want broader context, my best banks in Spain guide covers the banking side. And if you’re looking at crypto as part of your portfolio, see my guide to buying Bitcoin.
The Spanish tax system for investors is genuinely manageable once you understand it. The Modelo 720 sounds intimidating, but after the first year it’s routine. The traspaso advantage is a legitimate edge worth using. And the broker options available to Spanish residents today — between MyInvestor locally and DEGIRO or Interactive Brokers internationally — are genuinely good.
Don’t let the bureaucracy stop you from investing. Figure out the filing requirements once, set up the systems, and get on with building your portfolio.
eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk. Past performance is not an indication of future results. Trading history presented is less than 5 complete years and may not suffice as basis for investment decision. Copy Trading does not amount to investment advice. Cryptoasset investing is highly volatile and unregulated in some EU countries. No consumer protection. Tax on profits may apply.
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I’m originally from Denmark but live in Spain now. I speak a bit of Spanish, but my level is not exactly amazing.
I’m 40 and I want to invest around €30,000 and just let the money grow over time for my retirement or possibly to buy or build a house one day. I know nothing about investing, so I would like to do something passive. Do you think InBestMe is the best option for me, or would going to ING be better?
Hey Jean. Great article
Do you know of any platform that automatically reports your capitals gains/loss to the authorities here in Spain?
I live in Spain, and im tax resident here, and would like to start investing here. But Im trying to find a platform that will report everything automatically, so I dont need to report gains and losses myself once a year.
How do you have an eToro account if you are not Spanish but pay your taxes in Spain? It does not accept my NIE tax number so it’s basically useless.
Great article Jean. You mentioned in a separate piece that BBVA is a decent option for a Spanish current account. Do you have an opinion on the investment options within the BBVA app?
Thanks James. I don’t use any banking apps for investment purposes so can’t help on that unfortunately.
Hi Jean,
do I understand correctly that if you use DEGIRO as a Spanish tax resident to buy stocks & ETFs etc. this wouldn’t have to go into your modelo 720? I am a bit confused because when I look it up, DEGIRO is based in the Netherlands, therefore outside of Spain.
Thanks for clarification if I misunderstood something
Mike
You’d have to report it in Modelo 720 Mike.
If holding negotiable assets like shares, ETF’s, bonds, etc. with a broker domiciled outside Spain (eg. eToro, DeGiro, etc) then you have to fill in and report Modelo D6 before 31 January … &…. Modelo 720 before 31 March …. & Modelo 100 before 31 June.
Hi Jean,
great article, thank you for sharing it!
One question I don’t yet really get is, how trading via DEGIRO helps to avoid having to fill out the Modelo 720. When I look it up on wikipedia, DEGIRO is a Dutch company, so this would be “outside Spain” and therefore everything I do in a DEGIRO account still needs to go into the modelo 720, so I would still need to file that, correct?
Thanks! Mike
Just because you are trading outside Spain does not mean it is not taxable income. You are taxed where you are living and have tax residence. Trading stocks is income tax as it is produced where you live. So it will be your responsibility to inform the Spanish tax authorities about your trades and income.
Written from my iPhone so don’t expect Tolstoy.
I think there is some confusion here. Mike asked about the modelo 720. This is about a Spanish tax resident holding assets abroad (>50k per asset class). So if you are with DeGiro, which is a subsidiary of the German FlatEx Bank now, and you hold either more than 50k in shares or in cash (they give you a bank account with a German IBAN) then you need to mention that in the modelo 720. I have filled it in and it is not really that big of a deal though.
What Michael refers to is INCOME. As a Spanish tax resident you simply declare this as “ganancia” with fixed tax rates ranging from 19% to 26% (as of 2021, for 2020 the max tax rate is still 23%).
Correct.
My bad. I’ve been trying to find tax country to trade shares from that is not expensive on living expenses and have so far been informed that all trading is taxed as income tax bracket. Quite interested to see those fixed tax percentages which makes Spain interesting.
Written from my iPhone so don’t expect Tolstoy.
I think there are several countries in Europe that have fixed tax brackets for these types of income. E.g., Germany & Netherlands (~25%), Iceland (22%), Portugal (20%), Poland (19%), Moldova (12%), Switzerland (0% if you hold the shares for >6 months and have a low trading volume so you cannot be considered a professional trader)
I’ve been trading with eToro since the end of last year as it was the platform with the lowest fees. Any reason why you chose DEGIRO over eToro? I’m also still looking for a low cost broker with whom I can invest in Vanguard index funds – just in case anyone around here knows one.
Both are good Lisa, but DEGIRO offers a Spanish IBAN and some people prefer having that. They are also oriented to different kinds of investors in my opinion, although you can use eToro for regular trading just like DEGIRO. Why can’t you use DEGIRO for index fund ETFs?
Actually, with eTorro you don’t own the shares outright as you would do with DEGIRO and other stock brokers. And you can transfer your shares to another broker. I do recommend reading the terms of service
Written from my iPhone so don’t expect Tolstoy.
Yes that’s true, so one other reason I prefer DEGIRO for long-term holdings.
1. etoro has a huge hidden commission. look at the spread, it’s humongous there. it might be acceptable if what you wanna do is not to trade but invest buying underlying assets (see n.3). but then the selection is very scarce but probably one doesn’t need much for a simple passive portfolio (please note that simple doesn’t mean bad, for the majority of people it’s actually much better ie gives better returns long-term than a complicated one).
2. etoro’s specificity – working mostly with CFDs (which is why “you don’t own the shares outright”). Therefore you don’t have access to the “usual things” like order book etc.
3. having said that, on etoro you can actualy get some ETFs and cryptos (probably some stocks as well, I’ve not looked into that) that are not CFDs but underlying assets. And among them there are some Vanguard ETFs there are tracking some indices (eg $VOOG $VOOV).
4. IMHO in the end etoro is not good for trading cause of big spreads (among several other reasons) and it’s not good for investement cause of scarcity of options (among several other reasons). It might (quite arguable) be a good starting point cause it’s very easy to start doing something in terms of registratration/assets and interface but not in terms of what’s behind – CFD is not an entry-level instrument I’d say, it’s quite advanced in my opinion. So you might not notice it as of now when the trend is mega-bullish and as a result getting the nubmers to grow is almost a no-brainer. But when the trend changes…
5. As Jean already mentioned a good way to invest into Vanguard index funds is through ETFs. Beware the for Europe you need to look for UCITS ETFs. There are some commission-free Vanguard ETFs on DEGIRO (ie IE00B3XXRP09 that tracks SP500). A very good ETF screener for europeans is “justetf”, I totally recommend checking it out if you haven’t already
again, all of the above is just my opinion and “not an investment advice” as they’d say, hopefully it somehow helps you figuring out what works best for you.
True. For example with eTorro CFDs Apple AAPL might be listed at $120 per star on the NASDAQ but eTorro will list it at $122 a two dollar difference but if you’re buying ten or thousand shares it makes a difference in how much this spread is costing you $20 or $2000. Then suddenly a broker charging a fixed fee if $2.95 doesn’t seem all that bad. I will always chose a low commission broker than commission free broker
Agreed, nothing comes for free 🙂
Well, Interactive Brokers is not so amazing since you’re paying 4 eur minimum commission per order. if you’re investing monthly (which you should) say 400 euro, then you’re losing 1% on commission right away. and this is only if you invest into one asset, the more assets you choose to invest to the more you losses are. so unless you can invest 4-5 thousands it doesn’t differ much from investing into some mutual fund that will get around the same commission as well but will relieve you the additional pain.
That’s true, IB is for investors with more money to invest, or those who invest it at one go. I don’t mind the fee as I tend to invest it at one go rather than putting in something every month.
I’ll review a few more brokers that are more suitable for this kind of investment, but perhaps you can have a look at DEGIRO too.
yup, I’m using it. DEGIRO’s commission-free ETFs is an extremely nice alternative for investment. for me personally the downside of DEGIRO is that they don’t have a publicly available API. but that’s okay for the majority of retail investors I guess
I see, and you would need the API for use with trading software I imagine, right?
Not necessarily only to connect to the trading software (that as well of course). But even only using it for investment it’s nice to do some rebalancing. And I prefer tolerance bands-based rebalancing over time-based rebalancing. But I don’t wanna go check the account every so often and perform calculations ‘manually’, I’d rather connect a small script that does that for me and notifies me when the rebalancing is needed. And then makes all the calculations and potentially the needed trades. But… it’s not possible with degiro.
Thanks – very interesting. The currency exchange observations/considerations are spot on – do you know which platform will also let me credit directly in Australian dollars?
what are your thoughts on Oanda?
I haven’t tried Oanda, sorry.
Just wasted a couple of hours trying to open a degiro account. The android app just comes up as “unavaiable in your country” when trying yo download the Spanish version, on a Spanish Phone in Spain.
Degiro is available in Spain, I’m not sure why that would have happened. You can easily open an account through the web.
I had this same problem and I might have just solved it after a few days of trying.
The problem here is that Degiro is asking to finish your registration via mobile app… So, the web site is not enough.
I traveled recently and set my Google Play payments profile to other country. When I moved back to where I live I noticed that there is a restriction for only changing countries once a year in Google Play, only God knows why.
So I removed my Google Play profiles except the Spanish one, but it did not fix it. Notice that it is said that you need to add a payment method to activate a profile and it might take up to 48 hours to do so.
Finally today I removed all cache and storage data from my Google Play app and when I entered again, I could find Degiro app and install it normally, no more blocking message.
It took me several days and many tries but I think that the steps above are the ones that mattered, hope it helps.
Great article, thanks, i just started investing this year closed my isa in UK and and moved some funds to an etoro account. Now realising reading this im going to have to fill out this modelo 720, do i still need to declare if gains are below 6000 euro before 31st march? Are there reduced rates like in the us for holding a stock long term? How difficult is this modelo 720 really, is it recommended to hire a gestor/accountant to do it for you?
You need to consider the total value of the investments you have in the UK, not alone shares.
Do not even considering doing the 720 yourself!
You will need to get a statement from the last day of trading in 2020 with a value of all the stocks you have. Each will need to be declared individually. Also any share sales or purchases will need to be declared as separate line items.
SUMMARY OF THE RULES….
Modelo 720 has three reporting categories, based on bank accounts, investments and immovable property. You have to report all assets in a particular category if the value of your total assets in it amounts to over €50,000. This only applies to assets located outside Spain.
In general, you are obliged to report assets if you are the owner, a settlor of a trust, an effective beneficiary from a trust, authorised signatory, or you have the authority to dispose of the asset. This includes assets held by a company, trust or fiduciary.
You need to report even if your personal share of assets is less than €50,000. With joint assets, each owner needs to declare the full value (not pro-rated) and indicate their percentage of ownership.
In most cases, assets are valued using the wealth tax rules as at 31st December each year. For assets held within financial institutions (eg bank accounts), you also need to declare the average balance over the last three months of the year.
You need to report the value of the assets in Euros, so any investments held in other currencies need to be converted using the official exchange rate as at 31st December of the relevant year.
Agreed, you should definitely contact an expert. Thanks for the additional information.
This is a great post. Thanks for sharing it.
I’m using Ninety Nine (ninetynine.com) and happy so far. Not perfect if you’re 100% buy&hold but has a good balance if you want to buy&sell on a monthly basis and at the same have some positions in a long time.
Ive been using the Freetrade app in the UK, its basic but for someone just buying small amounts as an interest its enough, and it is free to use. Id love to find something like that here, take out the need for a broker and just keep records for my accountant, perhps it is a little too much to wish for!
From my experience ING is much more expensive than GeDiro as there are also hidden fees which they do not mention (such as the fees levied by the stock exchange). I do have an account with them an when I tried to buy an ETF for 50k at Xetra they wanted to charge me 200€ (so essentially double the advertised amount) for a single transaction. I obviously cancelled the order. For comparison, investing 50k in an ETF with DeGiro will cost you 17€ (2€+ 0.03%).
Also, GeDiro has just been bought by FlatEx (a German bank) and therefore offers a normal bank account now that is protected up to 100k. The downside, this account has a negative interest of 0.5% on amounts over 2500€.
Very good article – could not find a comparable summary in Spanish. I happen to be a U.S: Citizen with fiscal residency in Spain (loving the 720). I was very happy with ING as a broker. However, a few years back ING made me close my account due to U.S. Government reporting regulations (FATCA) for U.S. citizen clients of banks “abroad”. i am trying to find a broker that will accept a U.S: citizen without abusive custodial fees (U.S. now has no trading without commisions and here Santander wants 1% custodial fees. Has anyone solved this issue?
You can use CC Trader, they are based in Malta and I think they would accept you given the conditions you describe.
Hi, what a great post. I was looking exactly for this. I’m in the UK and have an account with IG. With Brexit coming up I was thinking about moving to Spain for the better quality of life and sun. I run my own company in the UK but would like trade from Spain. I guess I can either move everything to Spain and trade from there or let everything be in the UK and VPN in from Spain to do all my stuff. If I’m resident in Spain then I need to pay taxes. How are the taxes for shares and dividends? I can’t imagine how you can document thousands and thousands of share dealings to the tax authorities over the year. Is there no other option
You need to declare in Spain if you spend more than 6 months a year in Spain (you then also need to declare earnings from any assets you may still have in the UK). Tax rates start at 19% for capital gains up to €6k but if you have high gains expect 23%. As for: “I can’t imagine how you can document thousands and thousands of share dealings to the tax authorities over the year. Is there no other option”
Welcome to Espanistan!
And what’s more, you need to declare all your shareholdings on the model 720 if they surpass a certain low limit. That can easily mean tens or hundreds of pages of the form, and a corresponding hefty fee from the accountant/lawyer.
When I moved to Spain there was no need to declare my UK shares held with a UK stockbroker to the Spanish government as I was on Beckham scheme (Royal Decree 687/2005). The Beckhams scheme came to an end for me I’ve had to do the 720 declaration since, which has proven to be a complete nightmare! I have over 50 stocks and my accountant regard it as necessary to declare each one of these as a separate item in the 720 return. Additionally, new sales or purchases need to be declared. Stock names also change to add to the confusion along with share issues etc. Given the potentially severe fines that may be imposed with even minor errors in a 720 declaration I would avoid any share service that requires a 720 return. The first time you do the 720 is not so bad but in supsequent years you need to carefully cross check what has changed from one year to another. The Spanish accountant I used made a complete pig’s ear of this and I ended up doing it all myself.
Yes, totally. The possibility for making mistakes is so high that I find it hard to believe that Hacienda even has the resources to check these things. When people are submitting 100-pages worth of declarations with all that minutiae I have to think that this is just another exercise for wasting people’s time instead of helping them be more productive and contribute to growing the economy. Unfortunately, while this is a lovely country, Spanish politics is a mess.
Thanks for the article. I have some simple questions. For a person who has a trading account in Spain, trades European stocks, could you provide
— a list of all fees? Not necessarily the amounts, but what they are – e.g. Trading fee,
— Is there Stamp Duty – if yes, when buying, selling or both, and if you know, what % is it?
— In Spain, can one buy stocks listed on all EU exchanges?
— If you know, how would compare trading in UK vs Spain, pros/cons?
Thanks.
HI, thank you for the article!
I’m under the beckham law, so basically I wont need to pay taxes in Spain for investment profit outside of spain. In this case, which provider would you suggest to use? is there an easy to way to invest via a place with low capital gains tax (that has an easy to use platform?)
Also – besides pension plans, any other savings device in Spain that can give tax deductions?
Hi YAM,
Just curious if you were able to find a broker for you’re under Beckham law?
btw, from what I know
Thank you
Hi, all I want to do is sell off two shareholdings that I have, but they are certificated. Equiniti will not deal for me as I live in Spain, albeit I have an English bank account. My bank here, (Ciaxa) say they won’t handle my shares because they are certificated (all my shares are in a drip scheme). Any suggestions? I would be most grateful
Unfortunately I don’t have any knowledge in this specific structure so I can’t give you any advice. Perhaps contact a good accounting firm and they might be able to give you some pointers.
I use click trade. Easy to use.
Hi Jean, pretty good article, thanks for this guide.
I am pretty new, I didn’t understand something you wrote: “… but it also requires you to agree that they will loan out your shares, which is where they make a profit.”
I am not 100% sure what this means and why you’d advise against it. However, I read on the comments that you in fact have been using DeGiro, so I assume it is not too bad?
Thanks jor the help
Take a look at this page I think it will answer all your questions about Degiro https://www.reddit.com/r/EuropeFIRE/comments/6j50yz/brokers_you_get_what_you_pay_for/
Fantastic article, thank you so much.
Pretty dumb I couldn’t find this info in Spanish, but here it is in plain English.
Hi Jean –
Thanks for the writeup. Did you end up going with ING? What’s your experience been like so far?
I’ve been looking around for a broker and have been trying their “cartera virtual” account for a week or so. Truth be told, in my opinion, their interface (both web and app) is shockingly bad. Every time I try to use it I find some sort of bug, or the system is just down. (Although I can’t say that I’ve ever used a Spanish bank or broker’s software that I liked, so maybe it’s just me.)
I’ve been wondering if this is just a temporary fluke, or if this is normal operation. Would love to know how it’s been going for you.
Hi Chris, I have focused almost all my attention this year on the crypto currency space and did very little with stocks. I am only using DeGiro at the moment and find it good enough for my basic needs.
Hello,
Thanks for the article.
Do you have any idea if ING, or any other Spanish investment company, works with non residents. I ask as I am a South African but I have most of my savings are in Spain. I would like to invest these savings with a Spanish company and ING sounded pretty good to me, but the problem I keep running into is one related to me being a non resident (whom they cannot work with for some reason). I tried contacting them, cant find an email address on their site, phoning is out of the option as I cant speak Spanish.
Can you offer any advice related to this issue? I would greatly appreciate it.
BTW, I am just looking for a simple index fund, nothing to complicated, I just need to find a company that will let me invest with them.
Thanks
Kyle
Hi Kyle, I’m not sure about that, maybe try Finizens.com, although they might also be limited to residents.
This is a great post. I am so glad I found it. I lived in Spain for sometime and I plan to go back and start looking into this. I will definitely refer to this post when I do. Thanks for sharing!
Welcome Courtney!
Hi,
Thanks for this article.
ING direct doesn’t give access to Canadian market ?
Sincerely
I’m not sure about that, most people focus on European or US markets.
this is a project i would like to start myself when i have some time. right now i am in the middle of some resource-hungry real estate projects, but when i am done with that in a few months, i will seriously look into this. so now i know who to ask for some starter tips 🙂
For sure. I’m also very interested in real estate, I’d be interested to know what you’re up to. I’ll soon be writing a post about crowdfunded real estate platforms.
I use Caixa (have a special deal with them) and ING. Think ING is the best choice. Self Bank you can lend your shares think so, so its good if your going long term, you get your dividends plus some extra% for lending your shares.
Agreed. The other low-cost option is DeGiro as I mentioned.