Spain and Gibraltar have reached a post-Brexit agreement, published on 13 March 2021.
This lays down rules for determining tax residency.
An individual will be considered a resident in Spain if:
- the individual spends more than 183 overnight stays in Spain over the course of a calendar year. Periods of sporadic absence (where the person is not in either territory) are added to the total of time spent in the territory in which the person spends the majority of overnight stays
- in accordance with tax laws, the individual’s spouse (from whom they have not legally separated) or a similar relative, dependent parents or other relatives or dependent children or other descendants, are resident in Spain
- the person’s sole main residence is in Spain
- two thirds of the net assets the individuals owns, be it directly or indirectly, and determined according to Spanish tax laws, are located in Spain.
If the country of residency can still not be determined, the individual will be considered a resident in Spain unless they can provide reliable proof that they own a permanent home for their own exclusive use in Gibraltar and that they spend more than 183 days in that territory.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, when a Spanish national moves their residency to Gibraltar, they will be considered a tax resident in Spain exclusively.
Non-Spanish nationals who change their residency to Gibraltar will be considered a tax resident in Spain during the tax year in which the change took place and for the following four years, unless they spend less than a full tax year in Spain, or in the case of registered Gibraltarians, they spend less than four years in Spain.
