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Spain to cut taxes for digital nomads

The Spanish government adopted Friday measures to attract so-called digital nomads -- remote tech workers who can do their job from anywhere with a good internet connection.

Published: 11 December 2021 11:37 CET

The photo shows several laptops on a tablet with notebooks, phones, a teapot and cups

The widespread adoption of remote working during the coronavirus pandemic has opened up the possibility for more workers to relocate far from home. Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash

A growing number of countries are seeking to lure digital nomads with easy visa conditions and tax breaks as they can help boost the local tech start-up scene.

The Spanish measures, which will allow arriving digital nomads to use a non-resident tax status with lower rates for five years, will form part of wider legislation meant to help start-ups, including fiscal incentives for investors.

The legislation will “attract and retain international and national talents” by helping “remote workers and ‘digital nomads’ set up in Spain,” the economy ministry said in a tweet.

Spanish expatriates who have been abroad for more than five years are also eligible for the programme.

The widespread adoption of remote working during the coronavirus pandemic has opened up the possibility for more workers to relocate far from home.

Earlier this year, Croatia adopted a measure offering a one-year visa to digital nomads and exempting them from income taxes.

Georgia, Thailand, Iceland and Costa Rica also have measures in place for digital nomads.

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Which foreign nationals in Spain have the highest salaries?

Interestingly, the latest data from Spain’s Social Security reveals that some foreigners in Spain tend to earn more than other extranjeros.

The results show that the 611,801 employees from the European Union earn much more than those from third countries.

In December 2023, the latest data available, they earned an average of €2,019 gross per month, while those from third countries earned €1,570 per month.

For reference, Spaniards on average had a gross salary of €2,216 per month, according to membership data. This is 10 percent higher than the average salary of EU workers in Spain 40 percent higher than non-EU foreigners.

Out of the 36 countries that were included in the statistics, workers from 15 (all of them from the EU) were found to have salaries higher than the average for Spaniards.

The leaderboard was topped by the French, who earn the most in Spain, with a gross payroll of €2,810 per month. This was based on data from the 41,878 French people who work here.

READ ALSO: Amazon to create 17,500 new jobs in Spain

Surprisingly, the next three highest earners were the Maltese, the Cypriots and Greeks, with €2,756, €2,688 and €2,675 per month respectively.

Given the small number of nationals from these countries who live and work in Spain, it is thought that those who do come here are managers of companies or are highly qualified.

For example, there are only 164 workers from Malta living in Spain, 295 from Cyprus and 3,098 from Greece.

In 5th place were the Austrians who earned €2,647 per month gross on average; followed by the Germans with €2,578; then those from Luxembourg with €2,548.

In 8th place were the 2,196 Danes who work in Spain, earning €2,196; the 12,322 born in the Netherlands earned €2,475 and the Swedes with 5,883 employees in Spain who earned €2,460 monthly, completing the list of the top 10.

READ ALSO – Not English: The languages linked to high-paying jobs in Spain

Next on the list were the Belgians, Irish, Slovaks, Finns and Croatians. Italians come in midway down the list, despite the fact that they are the second largest group of working foreigners in Spain with 137,757 people, earning an average €2,167.

They are also the first group who earned below the amount earned by Spaniards, who earn €2,216 per month, according to the data.

Hungarians in Spain earned €2,162, followed by the 52,539 Portuguese (the third largest nationality employed in Spain); Slovaks, Poles and Czechs, earned between €2,000 and €2,100 per month.

Among those EU foreigners who earned the least are the Romanians, with a monthly salary of €1,649, the largest foreign group, with 223,480 people working here. Above them, are the Bulgarians earning €1,651 and the Lithuanians with €1,756.

READ ALSO: Spain needs 25 million foreign workers to keep its pensions afloat

When it comes to foreigners from outside the EU, it was revealed that 37,422 Britons contribute to social security and earn an average of €2,120 per month, which is also below the average Spanish salary.

After this are the 45,244 Argentinians, the second non-EU with the highest salaries, with €1,786, and the 46,143 Ukrainians who earned €1,601 monthly.

READ ALSO: Ten foreign ‘colonies’ thriving in the most unexpected of places in Spain

This is followed by the Ecuadorians, the Peruvians, the Bolivians, the 119,128 Venezuelans and the 143,853 Colombians, who earn €1,456.

Moroccans make up the second largest group of non-EU workers in Spain with, 192,337 employees earning an average of €1,473.

The ranking is closed by the Chinese, whose employees, earn €1,399 per month, almost a €1,000 less than the Spanish.

There are also big differences in the pay increases that have occurred this year. The largest increase has been for the Maltese, 11.5 percent compared to December 2022, and the lowest has been for the Estonians, whose contribution base has only risen by 1.7 percent in the year.

READ ALSO: Five fascinating facts about Spain’s Chinese community

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