The Directorate-General for Taxes, in binding consultation V0476-26 of 2 March 2026 —consolidating the criterion already signalled by V1115-25—, confirms that the performance at a distance through exclusive telematic means is, by itself, sufficient to fulfil the triggering circumstance of article 93.1.b).1 of the Personal Income Tax Act (LIRPF). The foreign executive who moves to Spain and maintains his or her employment relationship with a non-resident company, providing the services entirely by digital means, accesses the special inbound-expatriates regime —commonly known as the Beckham regime— without need for a contract with a Spanish employer or for a visa under Law 14/2013 on support for entrepreneurs.
The practical consequence, however, shifts the focus. The application of the regime to the contributor is validated on the doctrinal plane, but the honest planning of the move must address as a priority two risk zones of the foreign employer. The first: the labour characterisation of the relationship and its subjection to the applicable social-security legislation. The second: the risk of generation of a permanent establishment of the employer itself in Spanish territory due to the worker’s activity, a risk whose tax cost may neutralise —or invert— the aggregated economics of the move. Without that prior analysis, the contributor’s Beckham regime remains active and yet the group ends up bearing an unexpected bill.
Full analysis in → International remote work from Spain opens the Beckham regime to the foreign executive, but leaves unresolved the risk of permanent establishment of the employer