Spain created a visa for international teleworkers and opened its special tax regime to them. Neither says anything about the employer's tax position. A company that sponsors the move should look at both sides before signing the letter the consulate asks for.
The international teleworker visa, introduced by the 2022 start-up legislation, allows a non-EU national to live in Spain while working remotely for a company located outside Spain. Employees must work for a foreign employer; the self-employed may work for Spanish clients up to a limit of 20 % of their activity. The applicant has to show a pre-existing professional relationship, qualifications or experience, and social security cover.
The employer's part is usually a letter: confirming the employment, authorising remote work from Spain, and describing the role. That letter is the first piece of evidence a tax inspector would read, so it is worth drafting with the permanent establishment analysis in mind.
Who is affected by what
A person who becomes resident in Spain as a result of a move for work, and who has not been resident in the previous five years, can elect to be taxed under the regime for inbound workers, known as the Beckham law. Since 2023 it expressly covers employees who move to work remotely for a foreign employer using digital means, including holders of the teleworker visa.
Under the regime, employment income is taxed at 24 % up to €600,000, foreign investment income is generally outside Spanish tax, and the regime runs for the year of arrival and the following five. The election is made on a form filed within six months of the start of the activity shown in the social security registration or in the certificate maintaining home cover. That deadline cannot be extended. The regime itself is explained on our page about the Beckham law.
The visa file and the tax election are about the individual. The employer's exposure is determined by the treaty between Spain and its country, read with the Commentary. For a teleworker the starting facts are almost always these: the person works 100 % from home in Spain, so the 50 % test is not met and the question turns on the commercial reason.
In the typical case the answer is reassuring. A product designer employed by a Canadian company who moves to Barcelona because she wants to live there, and whose work has no connection with Spain, is there for personal reasons. Paragraph 44.15 of the 2025 Commentary says that allowing remote work solely to obtain or retain a person's services is not a commercial reason, and paragraph 44.19 says that without one, the home is not a place of business unless other facts show otherwise.
A US fintech employs Daniel, a data scientist, who moves to Málaga on a teleworker visa. His team is in New York and his work is internal modelling. The company asks whether it needs to do anything.
The lesson is that the assessment is not made once. Paragraph 44.3 of the Commentary says that a permanent establishment is determined on the facts of the period in question. Continue with the main guide or employer obligations without a permanent establishment.
Source: OECD (2026), Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital 2025 (Full Version), Commentary on Article 5, paragraphs 44.1 to 44.21, added on 18 November 2025. The Commentary is described here in our own words; the paragraph numbers are given so that it can be checked against the original.
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