Expat Academy

Courses

Retire to Spain on US income

Become a Spanish tax resident, keep your US accounts, and understand both tax bills.

For Americans who will live in Spain most of the year: when Spanish residence starts, what Spain and the US each tax on Social Security, IRAs, 401(k)s, Roth accounts, HSAs and a brokerage account, how the US-Spain treaty credits work, what to do before you move, the non-lucrative visa, wealth and inheritance tax, Modelo 720, healthcare and renting a home.

Twenty-nine lessons in three parts: the Core, Track B (living under two tax systems) and Spain. Calculators: the Spain tax estimator, the account comparison, the year-of-move planner, the visa checker, the two-home budget, the day counter and a pre-move checklist.

Try it first: C1 The four kinds of "residence", S1 Spain's residence tests (free).

What you keep

Download these while your access lasts: they're yours to keep, to print, and to take to your attorney and CPA. PDFs carry your name.

  • Workbook (Excel) Spain course workbook

    The Spain tax estimate item by item, the two-home budget, the visa check, currency stress, an accounts register, the pre-move checklist and the calendar, with one exchange-rate cell.

  • Course book (PDF) Spain course book

    Every lesson of the Core, Track B and Spain, with the worked examples.

Printable guides and checklists (11)

  • Checklist (PDF) Your pre-move checklist for Spain

    Before your first Spanish tax year, in order, with the tax moves marked.

  • Calendar (PDF) Your Spanish compliance calendar

    Every US and Spanish deadline in date order.

  • Comparison (PDF) Spain, Portugal and France side by side

    Visas, healthcare, residence rules, how each country taxes your US income, wealth, inheritance and paperwork, in one table per topic.

  • Guide (PDF) The four kinds of residence

    Immigration status, tax residence, state domicile and Schengen days on one page.

  • Guide (PDF) What the IRS still expects

    Form 1040, FBAR, Form 8938, PFICs and the June 15 extension.

  • Checklist (PDF) State domicile checklist

    What to change, file and keep when you move your US domicile.

  • Checklist (PDF) Documents and apostilles

    The papers to gather before you go, and the order to get them in.

  • Checklist (PDF) Coming home checklist

    Ending residence abroad and restarting a US tax home.

  • Fact sheet (PDF) Spain fact sheet

    The 2026 numbers: tax scales, the treaty, the visa, healthcare, wealth and inheritance.

  • Walkthrough (PDF) Your Spanish forms: 100, 720 and 210

    Where US income, US assets and a Spanish home go.

  • Glossary (PDF) Spanish glossary

    The Spanish words on every form, letter and lease, in plain English.

What's inside: 29 lessons

The Core: retiring abroad on US income

What changes for any American who retires abroad on Social Security, IRAs, a 401(k), an HSA and a brokerage account, whichever country and path you choose: the four kinds of residence, what the IRS and your state still expect, your accounts and benefits, money across the border, paperwork, two homes on one budget, healthcare and estate basics.

Module 1: Residence, and what the US keeps (3 lessons)
  1. C1 The four kinds of "residence" Free preview
    Your visa, your tax residence, your US state and your Schengen days are four separate tests, and they can point in four directions.
  2. C2 What the IRS never lets go of
    The US taxes citizens wherever they live. The return, the foreign-account reports and the fund rules all come with you.
  3. C3 Your US state after you leave
    States aren't bound by tax treaties, and some are hard to leave. Your domicile decides whether a state still taxes you.
Module 2: Your income and your accounts (4 lessons)
  1. C4 Your income, source by source
    Social Security, IRA and 401(k) withdrawals, Roth, HSA, dividends, interest and gains each follow their own rule abroad. Here is the grid the country lessons fill in.
  2. C5 Keeping your US accounts open
    Some US brokers restrict or close accounts with a foreign address, and EU rules block buying US funds. Plan where your money will live before you move.
  3. C6 Social Security and Medicare abroad
    Social Security follows you to France; Medicare mostly doesn't. Decide about Part B before you go, because dropping it can cost you later.
  4. C7 Money across the border
    Your income is in dollars and your life in euros. How much the exchange rate moves your budget, how to move money cheaply, and how much to keep in euros.
Module 3: Setting up (2 lessons)
  1. C8 Identity numbers and paperwork
    Each country gives you a tax number before almost anything else works, and wants US documents with apostilles and translations. Here is the order to get them in.
  2. C9 Opening and keeping a local bank account
    Being American makes banking abroad harder because of US reporting rules. How to open an account, and how to stop it being frozen over a missed letter.
Module 4: Living in two places (3 lessons)
  1. C10 Running two homes on one budget
    Some costs follow you; others keep running in the home you've left. Separating them is what makes a two-home budget honest.
  2. C11 Healthcare models compared
    Medicare at home with travel cover, private cover abroad, or the public system there. Which one fits each track, and what each visa demands.
  3. C12 Estate basics across borders
    Wills in two countries, forced heirship, and inheritance tax where you die. The basics now; a full estate module comes later.

Track B: becoming tax resident abroad

For the student who will live abroad most of the year and become tax resident there while keeping a US domicile: when residence starts, the years before the move, a pre-move checklist, the treaty, income taxed twice but paid once, wealth and inheritance, reporting, the visa, a long-term home, public healthcare, withdrawal order, the yearly calendar and coming home.

Module 1: Before you move (3 lessons)
  1. B1 When your residence starts
    France and Portugal tax you from the day you arrive; Spain treats you as resident for the whole year or not at all. Your move date changes your first two tax years.
  2. B2 The years before the move
    While only the US taxes you, fill low brackets with Roth conversions or realize gains at 0%. The planner shows how much, and what it costs.
  3. B3 Cutting state domicile cleanly
    A Track B mover needs a US domicile in a state without income tax, with enough real ties to stand up, and a clean break from the old state.
Module 2: Two tax systems (1 lessons)
  1. B8 Reporting your US accounts abroad
    The FBAR in reverse. Your new country wants a list of your US accounts every year, and the penalties are per account.
Module 4: Year by year (1 lessons)
  1. B14 Coming home
    Many Track B retirees come back, often around Medicare age for a younger spouse or when health needs grow. Ending residence abroad cleanly, and restarting at home.

Spain

The Spanish rules in detail: the residence tests, the non-lucrative visa, income tax on US income and the treaty credits, how each kind of account is taxed, wealth and inheritance tax, Modelo 720 and the Spanish return, the NIE and banking, healthcare, the cost of living and renting, and for part-year residents the 90-day limit and owning a home as a non-resident.

Module 1: Residence and visas (2 lessons)
  1. S1 Spain's residence tests Free preview
    Spain makes you tax resident on any one of three grounds: more than 183 days in the calendar year, your main economic interests, or a family that lives there. Why Spain has no split year, and why the date you arrive matters so much.
  2. S2 The non-lucrative visa, step by step
    Spain's route for retirees who won't work: 400% of IPREM a month for the main applicant and 100% for each family member, private health insurance without co-payments, and a residence card renewed after one year, then every two.
Module 2: Tax (6 lessons)
  1. S4 Spanish income tax on your US income
    Spain taxes residents on worldwide income: pensions, IRA money and US Social Security at the state scale plus your region's scale, and interest, dividends and gains at 19% to 30%. How it works, and why your region matters.
  2. S5 The US-Spain treaty: who credits what
    Spain credits only the US tax it would let the US charge a non-citizen; the US credits the rest. Item by item, that means you pay about the higher of the two countries' tax on each kind of income.
  3. S6 Each account in Spain, and the moves to make before you go
    In Spain the kind of account matters more than in the US: IRA money at the general scale, investment income at 19% to 30%, and no recognition of the Roth or the HSA. What each costs, and what to do while only the US taxes you.
  4. S7 Wealth, solidarity and inheritance tax in Spain
    Spain taxes net wealth above €700,000 a person (with regional relief), adds a solidarity tax above €3 million, and leaves inheritance tax to the regions, several of which relieve 99% for spouses and children.
  5. S8 Your Spanish return, Modelo 720 and the yearly calendar
    The Spanish return (Modelo 100) is filed between April and June 30 for the previous calendar year. Modelo 720 lists assets abroad over €50,000 by 31 March. With the US return and the FBAR, here's the year.
  6. S9 Your pre-move checklist for Spain
    Everything to do before you become a Spanish tax resident, in order: the tax moves that only work while the US alone taxes you, the visa, the paperwork, and the first weeks in Spain. Tick items off as you go.
Module 3: Daily life (4 lessons)
  1. S10 The NIE, the TIE, the padrón and banking
    Spain runs on a few numbers and registrations: the NIE (your foreigner's number), the TIE (residence card), the padrón (town-hall register) and a Spanish bank account. What each is, the order to get them, and how banks treat Americans.
  2. S11 Healthcare in Spain
    Retirees on a non-lucrative visa start with private insurance, which many keep. After a year of registered residence, the public system's special agreement (convenio especial) is open for a monthly fee. Part-year residents use travel cover.
  3. S12 The cost of living in Spain
    Where the money goes for a retiree in Spain, how regions differ, which costs are lower or higher than at home, and how to build your own budget in euros.
  4. S13 Renting in Spain
    Spanish long-term leases protect tenants: up to five years (seven with a company landlord), a one-month deposit plus at most two months of extra guarantee, and agency fees paid by the landlord. Seasonal lets follow different rules.