Spain · Module 1 · about 5 minutes

S1 Spain's residence tests

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.

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Concept

Spanish law (article 9 of the income tax law) makes you a Spanish tax resident for a calendar year if any one of these is true:

More than 183 days in Spain in the calendar year. Short trips away ("sporadic absences") still count as days in Spain, unless you can show you're tax resident in another country.
The main base of your activities or economic interests is in Spain, directly or indirectly: your business, or where most of your income and investments are.
A presumption: if your spouse (not legally separated) and your minor children habitually live in Spain, Spain presumes you live there too. You can rebut it, for example with a certificate of tax residence from the US.

No split year. Spain's tests look at the whole calendar year. If you meet one, you're resident for the entire year, including the months before you arrived, and Spain taxes your worldwide income for all of it. If you don't, you aren't resident at all that year. That's very different from France and Portugal, where residence starts on the day you move.

When both countries claim you, the US-Spain treaty decides: permanent home, then centre of vital interests, then habitual abode, then nationality. As a US citizen you file US returns either way.

What people miss

The arrival date decides a whole year. Arriving on 1 July gives you 184 days in Spain that year: you're resident for all of it, and every IRA withdrawal since January is Spanish income. Arriving in mid-July or later usually keeps you non-resident until the next 1 January.
Days are counted generously. Spain counts any day you're physically there, and it can count short trips away too. Keep travel records.
A residence card doesn't settle tax. A non-lucrative visa holder who spends most of the year elsewhere may not be tax resident, and a visitor who stays too long may be.

Worked example

The Whitfields plan to move to Málaga. Flying in on 15 June would give them 200 days in Spain that year: Spanish residence from 1 January, so the IRA withdrawals they took in Denver in the spring would be Spanish income too. Moving on 20 July instead (165 days) would make them Spanish residents from the following 1 January. Which date suits them depends on what they still plan to do while only the US taxes them, which the Track B lessons cover.

The Hendersons spend February to April in their Nerja apartment: 89 days. Their family lives in the US, and their income and investments are American. None of Spain's tests is met.

Your numbers

Log your planned year. The Spain line shows your calendar-year count against 183 days.

Your trips

One row per stay outside the US: where, the day you arrived and the day you left. Both days count. Days with no trip are counted as days in the US.

Where	Arrived	Left

To remove a trip, clear both its dates.

Year to check

Residence permit or long-stay visa

Days in the country that issued it don't count toward 90/180.

Planning date

See your Schengen days on this date, and how long you could stay from it.

Schengen 90/180 in 2026

Within the limit. Your busiest 180 days held 80 of 90 allowed days (on 28 Mar).

On 26 Oct 2026 you have used 36 days of the last 180, with 54 left. Arriving that day and staying in a country that counts, you could stay until 18 Dec 2026.

Tax-residence day tests

Country	Days counted	Line	Status
Spain	80	over 183	Under More than 183 days in Spain in the calendar year (sporadic absences can count as days in Spain).
Portugal	36	over 183	Under More than 183 days in Portugal in any 12-month period that starts or ends in the tax year. Busiest 12 months: 21 Oct 2025 to 20 Oct 2026 (36 days in 2026).
France	0	over 183	Under Your main place of stay is France. More than 183 days in France in the calendar year is the usual sign of that, but it is an indicator rather than a strict count.

241 of 365 days in the US, 8 outside Schengen.

Days in each place, month by month. A travel day between two places counts in both.

Days are only part of the test

Staying under 183 days does not on its own keep you out of a country's tax system. Each country also looks at where your life is centred:

Spain: Your main base of business or economic interests is in Spain. Presumed resident if your spouse (not legally separated) and dependent minor children live in Spain.
Portugal: Having a home in Portugal on any day of that period, in conditions suggesting you intend to keep it as your habitual residence.
France: Your household (foyer) lives in France, even if you spend less time there. Your main professional activity is in France. The centre of your economic interests is in France. Any one of these tests on its own makes you resident.

And the US taxes its citizens wherever they live, so US tax returns continue either way.

Create a free account to keep your trip log. Without one, nothing you type is saved.

Check with an adviser

Your planned arrival date against the 183-day count for that calendar year.
Whether you'll need a US certificate of residence (Form 6166) to rebut Spain's family presumption.

Sources

Worked examples use 1 EUR = 1.12 USD so the numbers stay fixed; the calculators use today's rate (1.1193).