Working remotely from Spain

planck said:
My understanding (might not be fully accurate) is activities carried out in Spain are generally subject to Spanish tax, irrespective of where you are a tax resident.

A simple example is an Irish tax resident renting out property in Spain must pay Spanish tax on that activity.

Your intention is to move temporarily to Spain and to work from there. Strictly speaking you are not entering the country as a tourist. To be fully legal, the activity should be declared to the Spanish authorities and would be subject to Spanish income tax and probably also to Spanish social insurance contributions etc.
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If you are renting out property in Spain you are obliged to pay a percentage of that to the local council not to the Spanish Revenue Commissioners. In some autonomies it varies between 21% and 24%.

Please, no need to pay me for the truth.
 
Leper said:
Let's be clear here. The Spanish Tax Year runs 1st January - 31st December (like ours). If 184 days of your presence in Spain falls within this, you are liable to pay tax in Spain (and likely they'll send you the bill by courier). Be careful of some websites as many of the contributors are from the UK and their tax year runs from early April to early April.
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So it's very similar to Ireland then. Good point about the UK, I hadn't realised they were still with an archaic tax year.
 
planck said:
My understanding (might not be fully accurate) is activities carried out in Spain are generally subject to Spanish tax, irrespective of where you are a tax resident.

A simple example is an Irish tax resident renting out property in Spain must pay Spanish tax on that activity.

Your intention is to move temporarily to Spain and to work from there. Strictly speaking you are not entering the country as a tourist. To be fully legal, the activity should be declared to the Spanish authorities and would be subject to Spanish income tax and probably also to Spanish social insurance contributions etc.
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But this has zero to do with property. Completely different tax situation.
 
jpd said:
Generally in the EU, any rental income from a property is taxable in the country where the property is. It is also taxable in the country of residence of the owner but you will normally get credit for the tax paid in the country where the property lies.
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This is my scenario. As a non Irish resident I pay Irish tax on Irish rental income and declare it in my foreign tax returns etc. (I've an accountant for each).

Because it's complex it stopped me purchasing property in a 3rd country as I don't need to be dealing with 3 tax systems. (plus there are VERY complex inheritance rules depending on jurisdictions)
 
In the post covid world I have often went to Spain for periods of a month wfh. I didn't even bother telling my employer. As Leper has stated, tax is only an issue in Spain if you exceed the relevant amount of days for a year. If they had suddenly requested my presence or should there have been a need for a spare part/repair to be sent for my work tools I would have booked a flight home or paid a courier to send anything out to me depending on the circumstance. Why make something easy complicated :rolleyes:
 
I agree with Strangelove. I'm from Italy and while tax resident in Ireland (live here more than 186 days/ year) I have been working about two months every year in Italy from my holiday home (mainly in the spring/summer to escape the bad Irish weather and around Xmas time) since 2004. 2004 was the first year when I could get a semi-decent broadband line in my home located deep in the country side of northern Italy. My employer (a large US multinational) is happy for me to do so, nobody asks questions, as most of the time I also work from home in Ireland. Over the last 20 years nobody from Revenue or the local tax authority in Italy knocked on my door to ask me if on a particular day or week I was at home in Italy connected remotely to a Irish VPN server doing some work for my company or if I was indeed on holidays on the beach getting sunburnt :) . So my advise to the original poster, if you work from Spain sporadically for a month or two a year, and your company agrees........ just do it. I don't think the tax authorities are worried about that. I wouldn't be overthinking too much about it and complicating my life.
 
Dr Strangelove said:
For 1-2 months WFH in Spain I would operate a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy here.

Some of the risk and advice in the thread above are overdone.
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I would do the same. Treat it like taking a work phonecall whilest in that country.
Over the last year, I've done various bit of work in several EU or EEA countries but I'm not registering with the tax authorities in each of them.
 
Dr Strangelove said:
For 1-2 months WFH in Spain I would operate a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy here.

Some of the risk and advice in the thread above are overdone.
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As I live abroad I am aware of a phenomenal amount of people that work 'abroad' as it's so easy to cross borders. Most employers allow a lot of lee way on it. I don't think the tax authorities are going to try and police this as long as you are genuinely only in their tax region for a short time.
 
I used to be sent on regular business trips to various European countries (including Spain) by the Irish entity of a multi-national to work for local clients. Typically the stay was only a few days but it could occasionally include a weekend stay. There was never any mention of tax implications or employment rights for this. There was some requirement to register the travel for Switzerland, as it was non-EU/EEA

So, if you go to Spain for two weeks or even a month, I'd imagine that it would be considered the same.
As the last few posters have said, I don't think you need to notify anyone or worry about it.
 
Just in case you're thinking "How can the Spanish authorities calculate the total length of your stays in Spain?" They can easily do so.
Every time you enter or leave Spain your Passport is read electronically and your cumulative stays are updated almost immediately. Stay even one day over your quota and you are liable to an immediate fine.

I don't know how much the fine is or if it is per day of your overstay (Spain is part of the Schengen Agreement) and your stay(s) in France and other Schengen countries is also added electronically in Spain. I asked a member of the Spanish Border Police what is the likely date of the law being enforced. He informed me verbally that the system will go fully live from 1st October 2024 and fines will be introduced also.

Another thing, if your quota has been exceeded as you enter Spain you might not be allowed in.
 
In the OP's case, the wish is to work remotely from Spain for extended periods. His/her employer is supportive of the idea but wants it done properly from a taxation viewpoint and asked for this aspect of things be investigated.

I doubt if the employer would go along with a “don’t ask, don’t tell" approach, they themselves have already asked and I imagine they are expecting a serious response.

It might take quite some bureaucratic effort to set the whole arrangement up officially but I think the OP would be better off to go that way and then spend plenty of time in Spain without the risk of complications from either the Spanish side or the Irish employer.
 
I have travelled plenty with work, and can travel and do work for specific work related trips to countries that while I am legally allowed to work there in terms of eg EU laws, I am not allowed to personally work remotely from, due to the legal entity and tax intricacies of my company. They are different things. And in light of COVID and how many people want to work remotely, it is clear that most multinationals sought advice on this and put almost identical policies in place. Prior to this I know plenty of people from other countries did a version of this to extend a holiday stay in their home country, they can no longer do it in the way that they did before, only within the realms of the policy.

Just OP be aware that you employer may be supportive until they are not when they realise what is involved and if you have invested in an extended trip away it might all fall apart. I would prefer to have it all sorted before making any firm commitments or plans. If other employees hear what you are planning they might also wish to do the same and then it might become an issue that the employer wants to formalise.
 
Let's not over-analyse the situation and please stick with the facts:-
1. Don't overstay your entitlement - Important.
2. Keep your employer informed - Right thing to do.
3. You don't have to deal with Spanish Revenue if you haven't overstayed - Keep it that way and you're breaking no laws.
4. If you're being paid by your Irish company you don't need to involve Spanish Revenue.
5. If you are being paid by a Spanish company directly and not through your Irish employer likely Spanish Income Tax will be deducted from the pay. Then you'll need to speak with Spanish Revenue and Irish Revenue and good luck with how long a resolution will take.
 
Leper said:
Just in case you're thinking "How can the Spanish authorities calculate the total length of your stays in Spain?" They can easily do so.
Every time you enter or leave Spain your Passport is read electronically and your cumulative stays are updated almost immediately. Stay even one day over your quota and you are liable to an immediate fine.

I don't know how much the fine is or if it is per day of your overstay (Spain is part of the Schengen Agreement) and your stay(s) in France and other Schengen countries is also added electronically in Spain. I asked a member of the Spanish Border Police what is the likely date of the law being enforced. He informed me verbally that the system will go fully live from 1st October 2024 and fines will be introduced also.

Another thing, if your quota has been exceeded as you enter Spain you might not be allowed in.
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What are you talking about - Spain is in the EU - what you're describing is completely contrary to the freedom of movement of people. Have you a link, rather than hearsay from a chat with a border cop?
 
torblednam said:
What are you talking about - Spain is in the EU - what you're describing is completely contrary to the freedom of movement of people. Have you a link, rather than hearsay from a chat with a border cop?
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The tone appears somewhat "loud" and I give facts for advice not just my opinion. We spend around six months per year in Spain since we retired some years ago and I know what I'm talking about. You don't have to take my advice and no sweat from me if you don't. If you weren't a good poster on here I'd be telling you "to drive on regardless" but I'd be doing you no favours. Look under the conditions of the Schengen Agreement which Spain has signed up to and Ireland hasn't. You'll see I'm right.

I wouldn't like to see your post deleted because it contains misconceptions that are regarded in many quarters as facts. Please leave it at that.
 
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I think that what you're talking about (seeing as you're talking in Leperish (or maybe Leperese?!), which means that some translation tends to be necessary), is the requirement for a person staying longer than 90 days in a 180 day period, to register with Spanish authorities. So people don't get a fine for being in the country for too long, or exceeding a quota, they'll get fined for not complying with the requirement to register with the authorities. That's a fundamental difference, in your presentation of "facts".

And just because you preface a list (comprising of a mixture of your opinions and facts), by saying "here's a list of facts", doesn't make it a list of facts!

https://www.ireland.ie/en/dfa/overseas-travel/advice/spain/ :
"Staying for longer than three months
All EU citizens who want to stay in Spain for more than three months have to register in person at the Oficina de Extranjeros (Foreigners Office). You will be issued a Certificate of Registration with your name, address, nationality, identity number (NIE) and date of registration. The certificate serves as confirmation that you have registered, but is not recognised by the local authorities as a valid form of identification."
 
torblednam said:
What are you talking about - Spain is in the EU - what you're describing is completely contrary to the freedom of movement of people. Have you a link, rather than hearsay from a chat with a border cop?
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I don't know the details for Spain, but I do know they (and other countries) have requirements to register residencies and employments that are not contrary to EU free movement rules.
 
Leper said:
Let's not over-analyse the situation and please stick with the facts:-
1. Don't overstay your entitlement - Important.
2. Keep your employer informed - Right thing to do.
3. You don't have to deal with Spanish Revenue if you haven't overstayed - Keep it that way and you're breaking no laws.
4. If you're being paid by your Irish company you don't need to involve Spanish Revenue.
5. If you are being paid by a Spanish company directly and not through your Irish employer likely Spanish Income Tax will be deducted from the pay. Then you'll need to speak with Spanish Revenue and Irish Revenue and good luck with how long a resolution will take.
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1. Not a fact - an Irish citizen doesn't have any restriction on their entitlement to be in Spain, other than the requirement to register if staying beyond 90 days. So, if I'm translating correctly this "fact" is a piece of advice, not to stay beyond the point of needing to register? I'm not sure why you believe it's important though.

2. Clearly not a fact - this is advice.

3. There's no such thing as overstaying, and let's be straight, I'm pretty sure you'll acknowledge yourself that you aren't sufficiently expert in the nuanced area of cross-border employment tax obligations for employees and employers, to be even offering advice, let alone asserting facts.

4. Not necessarily true, it will depend on the facts i.e. how long he ends up in Spain for, and what he's actually told his employer.

5. I'll give you this one, but it's still more opinion than fact.

I'll give you an example of a fact - I currently have a mild headache. And now an opinion - it's from interacting with you! :p
 
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