Spanish tax law · Non-Resident Income Tax · 02

What Spain taxes, and what is exempt

Chapter II, articles 12 to 15: the taxable event, the long list that decides what counts as income obtained in Spain, the exemptions, and how a permanent establishment is taxed differently from everything else.

Unofficial English translation from the Spanish by Voixa Consultors S.L. Alexander Baranov is responsible for the translation. Source: Real Decreto Legislativo 5/2004, consolidated text, BOE-A-2004-4527 ↗. Check wording, rates, dates and legal effect against the Spanish original before relying on this reading. Source snapshot: 4 November 2026.

Why this chapter is the one that is argued about

Almost every real dispute about Spanish tax on a foreign person or company is a dispute about article 13. It is the article that decides whether a payment has a Spanish source at all, and it is written as a list rather than as a principle. Article 14 then takes a great deal of that list back out again, and article 15 decides whether you are taxed on a net figure or on each gross receipt separately. Article 4, on the previous page, still governs: where a treaty applies, it prevails over all of this.

Article 12. Taxable event

1. The taxable event is the obtaining of income, in cash or in kind, in Spanish territory by taxpayers for this tax, in accordance with the following article.

2. Supplies or transfers of goods, rights and services capable of generating income subject to this tax shall be presumed to be remunerated, unless proved otherwise.

3. Income subject to Inheritance and Gift Tax shall not be subject to this tax.

Paragraph 2 reverses the burden of proof. If you let a Spanish-situated asset, right or service be used, the law starts from the assumption that you were paid a market rate for it, and it is for you to show that you were not. Lending a Spanish property to a relative rent-free, or letting a Spanish company use an asset without charge, does not by itself remove the income.

Article 13. Income obtained in Spanish territory

1. The following are considered income obtained in Spanish territory:

a) Business income through a permanent establishment

Income from economic activities or operations carried on through a permanent establishment situated in Spanish territory.

An individual or entity shall be regarded as operating through a permanent establishment in Spanish territory where, under any title, it has at its disposal in that territory, on a continuous or habitual basis, facilities or workplaces of any kind at which it carries on all or part of its activity, or where it acts in that territory through an agent authorised to contract in the name and on behalf of the taxpayer who habitually exercises those powers.

In particular, the following shall be regarded as constituting a permanent establishment: places of management, branches, offices, factories, workshops, warehouses, shops or other establishments, mines, oil or gas wells, quarries, agricultural, forestry or livestock operations, any other place of exploration for or extraction of natural resources, and building, installation or assembly works lasting more than six months.

Six months, not twelve. Spanish domestic law treats a construction, installation or assembly site as a permanent establishment once it exceeds six months. Most of Spain’s double tax treaties set that threshold at twelve. Where a treaty applies it prevails, by virtue of article 4, so the six-month rule bites mainly on contractors from countries with no treaty with Spain, or where the treaty itself uses a shorter period. Check the actual treaty text before assuming twelve months: the thresholds in Spain’s network are reproduced in the treaty library.

b) Business income without a permanent establishment

Income from economic activities or operations carried on without a permanent establishment situated in Spanish territory, where no other paragraph of this article applies, in the following cases:

1. Where the economic activities are carried on in Spanish territory. Income derived from the installation or assembly of machinery or plant coming from abroad shall not be regarded as obtained in Spanish territory where those operations are carried out by the supplier of the machinery or plant and their amount does not exceed 20 per cent of the acquisition price of those items.

2. Where services used in Spanish territory are concerned, in particular those relating to the carrying out of studies, projects, technical assistance or management support. Services shall be regarded as used in Spanish territory where they serve economic activities carried on in Spanish territory or relate to assets situated in that territory. Where such services serve economic activities carried on in Spanish territory only in part, they shall be regarded as obtained in Spain only as to the part serving the activity carried on in Spain.

3. Where they derive, directly or indirectly, from the personal activity in Spanish territory of artistes and sportspersons, or from any other activity connected with that activity, even where received by a person or entity other than the artiste or sportsperson.

“Used in Spanish territory” is much wider than “performed in Spain”. Under sub-paragraph 2 a consultant who never sets foot in Spain can have Spanish-source income, because the test is where the service is used, not where the work is done. Studies, projects, technical assistance and management support are named expressly. The saving grace is article 4: most treaties confine Spain’s right to tax business profits to profits attributable to a permanent establishment, which removes this charge entirely for treaty residents. Without a treaty, it stands.

The 20 per cent rule in sub-paragraph 1 is a genuine carve-out, with two conditions. Installation or assembly of imported machinery escapes the charge only where the supplier of that machinery does the work itself and the installation element stays at or below 20 per cent of the purchase price. Sub-contract the installation, or let it grow past the fifth of the price, and the exclusion is lost.

Sub-paragraph 3 follows the money, not the performer. Fees for a performance in Spain are Spanish-source even when they are paid to a company rather than to the artiste or athlete personally. Interposing a loan-out company does not move the income out of Spain.

c) Employment income

1. Where it derives, directly or indirectly, from a personal activity carried on in Spanish territory.

2. Where it consists of public remuneration paid by the Spanish administration.

3. Where it consists of remuneration paid by individuals carrying on economic activities, in the exercise of those activities, or by entities resident in Spanish territory, or by permanent establishments situated in that territory, by reason of employment exercised on board a ship or aircraft in international traffic.

Sub-paragraphs 2 and 3 shall not apply where the work is performed wholly abroad and that income is subject to a tax of a personal nature abroad.

d) Pensions and similar benefits

Pensions and other similar benefits, where they derive from employment performed in Spanish territory or where they are paid by a person or entity resident in Spanish territory or by a permanent establishment situated in that territory.

Pensions means remuneration paid by reason of former employment, whether received by the employee or by another person.

Similar benefits means, in particular, those provided for in article 16.2.a) and f) of the consolidated text of the Personal Income Tax Act, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 3/2004 of 5 March.

Either limb is enough. A pension is Spanish-source if the employment was performed in Spain, and separately if the payer is Spanish-resident. A foreign national who worked in Spain and now draws a pension from abroad can be caught by the first limb alone; equally, a Spanish payer brings a pension into charge even where the employment was elsewhere.

e) Directors

Remuneration of directors and members of boards of directors, of bodies acting in their place, or of representative bodies of an entity resident in Spanish territory.

No apportionment and no presence test. Unlike employment income under letter c), director’s remuneration from a Spanish-resident company is Spanish-source in full, however little of the work is done in Spain and wherever the board meets.

f) Investment income

1. Dividends and other income derived from participation in the equity of entities resident in Spain, without prejudice to article 118 of the consolidated text of the Corporate Income Tax Act, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 4/2004 of 5 March.

2. Interest and other income obtained from the transfer of own capital to third parties, paid by persons or entities resident in Spanish territory, or by permanent establishments situated in that territory, or remunerating capital used in Spanish territory.

3. Royalties paid by persons or entities resident in Spanish territory or by permanent establishments situated in that territory, or used in Spanish territory.

Royalties means payments of any kind made for the use of, or the right to use:

Rights in literary, artistic or scientific works, including cinematographic films.

Patents, trade or commercial marks, designs or models, plans, secret formulae or processes.

Rights in computer programs.

Information concerning industrial, commercial or scientific experience.

Personal rights capable of being transferred, such as image rights.

Industrial, commercial or scientific equipment.

Any right similar to the foregoing.

In particular, payments made for the use of, or the right to use, rights protected by the consolidated text of the Intellectual Property Act, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 1/1996 of 12 April, by Law 11/1986 of 20 March on Patents, and by Law 17/2001 of 7 December on Trade Marks, are so regarded.

4. Other investment income not mentioned in sub-paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 above, paid by individuals carrying on economic activities, in the exercise of those activities, or by entities resident in Spanish territory, or by permanent establishments situated in that territory.

Interest and royalties have two independent triggers. A Spanish-resident payer brings them into charge; so, separately, does use of the capital or of the right in Spain. A payment between two non-residents can therefore still be Spanish-source where what was financed, or what was licensed, is used in Spain.

Image rights and software are inside the royalty definition. Both are named expressly, which matters because treaty royalty articles do not always cover them and the characterisation decides which rate applies.

g) Immovable property

Income derived, directly or indirectly, from immovable property situated in Spanish territory or from rights relating to that property.

h) Imputed income on urban property

Income imputed to individual taxpayers owning urban immovable property situated in Spanish territory that is not connected with economic activities.

This is the article that taxes an empty flat. A non-resident individual who owns urban property in Spain and neither lets it nor uses it in a business has taxable Spanish income anyway, calculated from the cadastral value rather than from anything actually received. No rent, no tenant and no profit do not remove the charge, and the return is due every year the property is held. It applies to individuals only; the levy on property held by non-resident companies is a separate tax, in chapter VI.

i) Capital gains

1. Where they derive from securities issued by persons or entities resident in Spanish territory.

2. Where they derive from other movable property, other than securities, situated in Spanish territory, or from rights which must be performed or are exercised in Spanish territory.

3. Where they arise, directly or indirectly, from immovable property situated in Spanish territory or from rights relating to that property. In particular, the following are regarded as included:

Capital gains derived from rights or interests in an entity, whether resident or not, whose assets consist principally, directly or indirectly, of immovable property situated in Spanish territory.

Capital gains derived from the transfer of rights or interests in an entity, whether resident or not, conferring on their holder the right to enjoy immovable property situated in Spanish territory.

4. Where assets situated in Spanish territory, or rights which must be performed or are exercised in that territory, are incorporated into the taxpayer’s estate, even where they do not derive from a prior transfer, such as gambling winnings.

Sub-paragraph 3 reaches through foreign companies. Selling the shares of a company incorporated anywhere in the world produces Spanish-source gain if that company’s assets consist principally, directly or indirectly, of Spanish real estate. Holding Spanish property through a foreign holding company therefore does not take the gain outside Spain; whether Spain may actually tax it then depends on the real-estate clause of the applicable treaty.

2. The following income is not regarded as obtained in Spanish territory:

a) Income paid by reason of international purchases and sales of goods, including mediation commissions on them, and accessory and connected expenses.

b) Income paid to non-resident persons or entities by permanent establishments situated abroad, charged to those establishments, where the corresponding supplies are linked to the activity of the permanent establishment abroad.

3. For the purpose of classifying the various categories of income according to their source, this article shall apply and, failing that, the criteria laid down in the consolidated text of the Personal Income Tax Act, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 3/2004 of 5 March.

Paragraph 2.a) is the exclusion that keeps ordinary trade out of Spanish tax. Selling goods to a Spanish buyer is not, by itself, Spanish-source income, and neither are the commissions and incidental costs of that trade. The charge in paragraph 1.b) is aimed at activities and services, not at cross-border sales of goods.

Article 14. Exempt income

1. The following income shall be exempt:

a) The income referred to in article 7, and the employment income in kind referred to in article 42(3), of Law 35/2006 of 28 November on Personal Income Tax and partially amending the Corporate Income Tax, Non-Resident Income Tax and Wealth Tax Acts, received by individuals, and benefits granted by reason of need under Royal Decree 8/2008 of 11 January regulating the benefit granted by reason of need in favour of Spaniards resident abroad and returnees.

b) Scholarships and other amounts received by individuals, paid by public administrations, under international agreements and conventions on cultural, educational and scientific cooperation, or under the annual international cooperation plan approved by the Council of Ministers.

c) Interest and other income obtained from the transfer of own capital to third parties referred to in article 25(2) of Law 35/2006 of 28 November, and capital gains derived from movable property obtained without a permanent establishment, by residents of another Member State of the European Union or of another State forming part of the European Economic Area, or by permanent establishments of such residents situated in another Member State of the European Union or in another State forming part of the European Economic Area.

In the case of States forming part of the European Economic Area that are not Member States of the European Union, the preceding paragraph shall apply provided that there is an effective exchange of tax information on the terms provided for in paragraph 4 of the first additional provision of Law 36/2006 of 29 November on measures for the prevention of tax fraud.

The preceding paragraphs shall not apply to capital gains derived from the transfer of shares, interests or other rights in an entity in the following cases:

1. Where the entity’s assets consist principally, directly or indirectly, of immovable property situated in Spanish territory.

2. In the case of individual taxpayers, where at any time during the 12 months preceding the transfer the taxpayer held, directly or indirectly, at least 25 per cent of the capital or net assets of the entity.

3. In the case of non-resident entities, where the transfer does not meet the requirements for the exemption provided for in article 21 of the Corporate Income Tax Act.

Letter c) is the exemption most often claimed and most often lost. Interest and gains on movable property are exempt for EU and EEA residents, but the three carve-outs remove exactly the cases people care about: a company whose assets are mainly Spanish real estate, an individual who held 25 per cent or more at any point in the twelve months before selling, and a non-resident company that fails the participation-exemption test. The 25 per cent test looks back over a year, so reducing a holding immediately before a sale does not rescue the exemption.

d) Income from public debt obtained without a permanent establishment in Spain.

e) Income derived from securities issued in Spain by non-resident individuals or entities without a permanent establishment, whatever the place of residence of the financial institutions acting as paying agents or intervening in the issue or transfer of the securities.

However, where the holder of the securities is a permanent establishment in Spanish territory, the income referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be subject to this tax and, where appropriate, to the system of withholding on account, which shall be operated by the resident financial institution acting as depositary of the securities.

f) Income from non-resident accounts paid to taxpayers for this tax by the Bank of Spain or by the registered entities referred to in the rules on economic transactions with other countries, unless the payment is made to a permanent establishment situated in Spanish territory.

g) Income obtained in Spanish territory, without a permanent establishment in that territory, from the leasing, transfer or disposal of containers or of ships and aircraft on a bareboat basis, used in international maritime or air navigation.

In the case of aircraft, the exemption shall also apply where the degree of use on international routes represents more than 50 per cent of the total distance covered on the flights operated by all the aircraft used by the lessee company.

h) Profits distributed by subsidiary companies resident in Spanish territory to their parent companies resident in other Member States of the European Union, or to permanent establishments of the latter situated in other Member States, where the following requirements are met:

1. That both companies are subject to, and not exempt from, one of the taxes on the profits of legal entities in the Member States of the European Union referred to in article 2.c) of Council Directive 2011/96/EU of 30 June 2011 on the common system of taxation applicable in the case of parent companies and subsidiaries of different Member States, and that the permanent establishments are subject to, and not exempt from, taxation in the State in which they are situated.

2. That the distribution of the profit is not a consequence of the liquidation of the subsidiary company.

3. That both companies take one of the forms provided for in the Annex to Council Directive 2011/96/EU of 30 June 2011, as amended by Council Directive 2014/86/EU of 8 July 2014.

A parent company means an entity holding a direct or indirect interest of at least 5 per cent in the capital of another company. The latter is the subsidiary company. That interest must have been held continuously throughout the year preceding the day on which the profit distributed becomes payable or, failing that, must be maintained for the time necessary to complete one year.

In computing that period, account shall also be taken of the period during which the interest was held continuously by other entities meeting the conditions referred to in article 42 of the Commercial Code for forming part of the same group of companies, irrespective of residence and of any obligation to draw up consolidated annual accounts. In the latter case, the tax paid shall be refunded once that period has elapsed.

Residence shall be determined in accordance with the legislation of the Member State concerned, without prejudice to the provisions of double taxation conventions.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Minister for Finance may declare, subject to reciprocity, that the provisions of this letter h) apply to subsidiary companies taking a legal form other than those provided for in the Annex to the Directive, and to dividends distributed to a parent company holding a direct or indirect interest of at least 5 per cent in the capital of a subsidiary company resident in Spain, provided that the remaining conditions laid down in this letter h) are met.

The provisions of this letter h) shall not apply where the majority of the voting rights of the parent company are held, directly or indirectly, by individuals or legal persons not resident in Member States of the European Union or in States forming part of the European Economic Area with which there is an effective exchange of tax information on the terms provided for in paragraph 4 of the first additional provision of Law 36/2006 of 29 November, except where the incorporation and operations of that company respond to valid economic motives and substantive business reasons.

The provisions of this letter h) shall apply equally to profits distributed by subsidiary companies resident in Spanish territory to their parent companies resident in States forming part of the European Economic Area, or to permanent establishments of the latter situated in other such States, where the following requirements are met:

1. That the States forming part of the European Economic Area in which the parent companies are resident have an effective exchange of tax information on the terms provided for in paragraph 4 of the first additional provision of Law 36/2006 of 29 November.

2. That they are companies subject to, and not exempt from, a tax equivalent to those on the profits of legal entities in the Member States of the European Union referred to in article 2.c) of Council Directive 2011/96/EU of 30 June 2011, and that the permanent establishments are subject to, and not exempt from, taxation in the State in which they are situated.

3. That the parent companies resident in States forming part of the European Economic Area take a form equivalent to those provided for in the Annex to Council Directive 2011/96/EU of 30 June 2011.

4. That the remaining requirements laid down in this letter h) are met.

Five per cent, and a year that may be completed after the event. The parent-subsidiary exemption needs a holding of at least 5 per cent, held continuously for a year. The year does not have to be complete when the dividend is paid: if the holding is kept until the year is made up, the tax already paid is refunded. Time held by other companies in the same group counts towards the period.

The anti-abuse test turns on who ultimately controls the parent. Where the majority of the parent’s voting rights sit with persons outside the EU or outside an EEA State with effective information exchange, the exemption is lost unless the parent’s incorporation and operations answer to valid economic motives and substantive business reasons. A holding company formed to hold the shares and nothing else is the case this is aimed at.

i) Income derived from transfers of securities or from the redemption of units in investment funds carried out on one of the Spanish official secondary securities markets, obtained by non-resident individuals or entities without a permanent establishment in Spanish territory who are resident in a State that has concluded with Spain a double taxation convention containing an exchange of information clause.

j) (Deleted).

k) Dividends and shares in profits obtained without a permanent establishment by pension funds equivalent to those governed by the consolidated text of the Pension Plans and Funds Act, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 1/2002 of 29 November, which are resident in another Member State of the European Union, or by permanent establishments of such institutions situated in another Member State of the European Union.

Equivalent pension funds means those social welfare institutions which meet the following requirements:

That their exclusive purpose is to provide a supplementary benefit on retirement, death, incapacity or dependency, on the same terms as provided for in article 8(6) of the consolidated text of the Pension Plans and Funds Act.

That any employer contributions made are attributed for tax purposes to the member to whom the benefit relates, irrevocably transferring to that member the right to receive the future benefit.

That they enjoy a preferential tax regime of tax deferral in respect of both member contributions and employer contributions. That regime must be characterised by the effective taxation of all contributions, and of the return obtained on their management, at the time the benefit is received.

The provisions of this paragraph shall apply equally to equivalent pension funds resident in States forming part of the European Economic Area, provided that those States have concluded with Spain an international double taxation convention containing an exchange of information clause, or an agreement on the exchange of information in tax matters.

l) Dividends and shares in profits obtained without a permanent establishment by collective investment undertakings governed by Directive 2009/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities; however, the application of this exemption may in no case give rise to taxation lower than that which would have resulted from applying to that income the same rate of tax at which collective investment undertakings resident in Spanish territory are taxed under Corporate Income Tax.

The provisions of this paragraph shall apply equally to collective investment undertakings resident in States forming part of the European Economic Area, provided that those States have concluded with Spain an international double taxation convention containing an exchange of information clause, or an agreement on the exchange of information in tax matters.

m) Royalties paid by a company resident in Spanish territory, or by a permanent establishment situated in that territory of a company resident in another Member State of the European Union, to a company resident in another Member State or to a permanent establishment situated in another Member State of a company resident in a Member State, where the following requirements are met:

1. That both companies are subject to, and not exempt from, one of the taxes referred to in article 3.a).iii) of Council Directive 2003/49/EC of 3 June 2003 on a common system of taxation applicable to interest and royalty payments made between associated companies of different Member States.

2. That both companies take one of the forms provided for in the Annex to Directive 2003/49/EC.

3. That both companies are resident for tax purposes in the European Union and that, for the purposes of a convention for the avoidance of double taxation on income concluded with a third State, they are not regarded as resident in that third State.

4. That both companies are associated. For these purposes, two companies shall be regarded as associated where one holds a direct interest of at least 25 per cent in the capital of the other, or where a third company holds a direct interest of at least 25 per cent in the capital of each of them.

That interest must have been held continuously throughout the year preceding the day on which the payment of the income was made or, failing that, must be maintained for the time necessary to complete one year.

5. That, where applicable, those amounts are deductible for the permanent establishment paying the income in the State in which it is situated.

6. That the company receiving those payments does so for its own benefit and not as a mere intermediary or authorised agent of another person or company and that, in the case of a permanent establishment, the amounts it receives are effectively connected with its activity and constitute income to be taken into account in determining its tax base in the State in which it is situated.

The provisions of this letter m) shall not apply where the majority of the voting rights of the company receiving the income are held, directly or indirectly, by individuals or legal persons not resident in Member States of the European Union, except where the incorporation and operations of that company respond to valid economic motives and substantive business reasons.

The provisions of this letter m) shall not apply where the majority of the voting rights of the company receiving the income are held, directly or indirectly, by individuals or legal persons not resident in Member States of the European Union, except where that company proves that it was incorporated for valid economic motives and not in order to enjoy improperly the regime provided for in this letter m).

The last two paragraphs of letter m) say the same thing twice, with different tests. This is not a transcription error on our part: the consolidated text carries both. One allows the exemption where the incorporation and operations respond to valid economic motives and substantive business reasons; the other requires the company to prove that it was incorporated for valid economic motives and not to enjoy the regime improperly. The second places the burden on the taxpayer and the first does not. Where this matters to a position, read the Spanish original and take advice rather than relying on either formulation alone.

2. The provisions of letters c), i) and j) of the preceding paragraph shall in no case apply to income and capital gains obtained through countries or territories regarded as tax havens.

Nor shall the provisions of letter h) of the preceding paragraph apply where the parent company has its tax residence, or the permanent establishment is situated, in a country or territory regarded as a tax haven.

3. The Minister for Economy and Finance may declare, subject to reciprocity, the exemption of income corresponding to maritime or air navigation entities resident abroad whose ships or aircraft touch Spanish territory, even where they have consignees or agents in that territory.

Paragraph 2 still excludes a letter that no longer exists. It denies the exemptions in letters c), i) and j) to income obtained through tax havens, but letter j) was deleted and now reads only “(Deleted)”. The reference is left in the consolidated text. It is harmless in practice, but it is a reminder that the article has been amended repeatedly and that the lettering no longer runs continuously.

Article 15. Forms of taxation and related-party transactions

1. Taxpayers obtaining income through a permanent establishment situated in Spanish territory shall be taxed on the whole of the income attributable to that establishment, wherever obtained, in accordance with chapter III.

Taxpayers obtaining income without a permanent establishment shall be taxed separately on each total or partial accrual of income subject to tax, with no offsetting possible between items, and on the terms provided for in chapter IV.

2. The provisions of article 16 of the consolidated text of the Corporate Income Tax Act, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 4/2004 of 5 March, shall apply to transactions carried out by taxpayers for this tax with persons or entities related to them.

For these purposes, related persons or entities means those referred to in article 16(3) of the consolidated text of the Corporate Income Tax Act, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 4/2004 of 5 March. In any event, a permanent establishment situated in Spanish territory shall be regarded as related to its head office, to other permanent establishments of that head office, and to other persons or entities related to the head office or its permanent establishments, whether situated in Spanish territory or abroad.

In every case, taxpayers obtaining income through a permanent establishment may ask the tax authorities to determine the valuation of the management and general administration expenses that are deductible, in accordance with article 16(7) of the consolidated text of the Corporate Income Tax Act, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 4/2004 of 5 March.

“No offsetting possible between items” is the sentence that costs money. Without a permanent establishment, each receipt is taxed on its own as it accrues. A loss on one transaction cannot be set against a gain on another, and expenses of one item cannot reduce another. A permanent establishment is taxed on a single net figure instead. This difference, more than the rate, is usually what separates the two regimes in practice.

Article 15 cites a repealed Act three times. Royal Legislative Decree 4/2004 was repealed by Law 27/2014 of 27 November with effect for tax periods beginning on or after 1 January 2015. The related-party rules are now in article 18 of that Act, and the references here are to be read against its corresponding provisions. The same stale citation appears in article 13.1.f).1 above.

Where this sits

Chapter III, on the next page, takes the permanent establishment case and works it through: what income is attributable to it, how its tax base is computed, what it owes and when it files. Chapter IV then does the same for income obtained without a permanent establishment.

Nothing here is advice on your own position, and this reading is not the official text. Spain publishes no official English version of this Act; where the wording matters to a decision, read it against the Spanish original linked above. Where a double tax treaty applies to you, article 4 gives it priority over everything on this page.