How US stocks are taxed for residents of Spain

Everything below is for an individual who is a tax resident of Spain, is not a US citizen and does not own 10% or more of any of those companies. The Basque Country and Navarre have their own income tax and are not covered here.

The US taxes dividends paid by its companies to nonresidents at 30%, withheld by the payer before the money reaches your account. The Spain–US tax treaty caps it at 15% of the gross dividend for an individual (5% or 0% only for companies with large holdings).

For your broker to apply 15% it has to know you are resident in a treaty country, and you certify that with IRS Form W-8BEN. It is not sent to the IRS: you give it to whoever asks for it, your broker or the payer. According to the official instructions, it is valid from the date it is signed until the last day of the third following calendar year; signed in 2026, until December 31, 2029. If it lapses and is not renewed, the payer goes back to withholding 30%.

Sources: treaty, article 10(2), as amended by the 2013 Protocol (Spanish Official Gazette, in force since 11/27/2019); Instructions for Form W-8BEN (IRS).

In Spain the whole gross dividend goes into the savings tax base as investment income (securities custody and administration fees can be deducted). Spanish tax is computed on it, and the US tax is subtracted through the foreign tax credit in article 80 of the Spanish income tax law. The credit is the lower of two amounts: what was actually paid abroad, or what results from applying your average effective savings rate to that income.

There is a third cap, the one that matters if 30% was withheld: according to Spain's Directorate-General for Taxation (DGT), the credit "may not exceed, in any case" what the treaty allows the other country to tax (binding ruling V0080-20). With the US, 15%. The rest is not legally lost, but it has to be claimed from the IRS, not from the Spanish tax agency.

A round-number example. A gross dividend of €1,000 with W-8BEN: the US withholds 150. In Spain, if your whole savings base falls in the first bracket, the tax on that 1,000 is 190; the 150 is credited and you pay 40 more. Total, 190: the same as a Spanish dividend. Without W-8BEN, the US would withhold 300, Spain would still credit only 150, and the total would be 340 until you recover the other 150.

One practical consequence: anyone entitled to this credit must file a return, even with income below the general filing thresholds (article 96.4 of the law). Dividends in dollars are converted to euros at the exchange rate of the day they are received (ruling V2622-16).

Sources: Spanish Personal Income Tax Law 35/2006, articles 26, 80 and 96 (consolidated text); 2025 income tax manual, foreign tax credit (Spanish Tax Agency, in Spanish); binding rulings V0080-20 and V2622-16 (DGT, in Spanish).

The scale is progressive by brackets: the first €6,000 is taxed at 19% even when the base is larger. The top bracket rose from 28% to 30% from January 1, 2025 (Law 7/2024), and the consolidated text of the law shows no later change to these articles as of the review date. Dividends, interest and capital gains all go into this base; salary goes into the general base, with a different scale.

Sources: Spanish Personal Income Tax Law 35/2006, articles 66.1 and 76 (consolidated text); 2025 income tax manual, state and regional savings scales (Spanish Tax Agency, in Spanish).

Selling shares in an American company is not taxed in the US in the ordinary case: the treaty says those gains "may be taxed only" in the seller's country of residence (article 13.6, 2013 wording). They are declared in Spain, in the savings base.

• Gain = sale value minus purchase value. Buying commissions add to the purchase value and selling commissions reduce the sale value (article 35). Portfolio maintenance fees do not count here: they are deducted from dividends.
• First in, first out. If you bought the same stock several times, you are deemed to sell the oldest shares first (article 37.2).
• In dollars, then to euros. For shares bought and sold in dollars, the DGT says the gain is computed in dollars and the difference is converted to euros at the exchange rate of the sale date. If you later change those dollars into euros, the currency difference is a separate gain or loss, counted when the exchange happens (ruling V0152-26, January 2026).

Sources: treaty, article 13.6, in the 2013 Protocol; Law 35/2006, articles 35 and 37.2; binding ruling V0152-26 (DGT, in Spanish).

The savings base has two drawers. One holds gains and losses from sales; the other, dividends and interest. Each drawer is netted on its own first. If the sales drawer ends negative, it can reduce the other one by up to 25% of its positive balance, and vice versa. Whatever stays negative carries forward to the next four years, in the same order and by the largest amount possible each year.

Example: €3,000 of losses on sales and €2,000 of dividends in the same year. The losses can offset 500 of the dividends (25% of 2,000); the remaining 2,500 carries forward four years, to be set first against gains on sales.

Source: Law 35/2006, article 49 (consolidated text).

If you sell at a loss and buy homogeneous shares (same company and class) within two months before or after the sale, that loss does not count that year. It does not vanish: it is declared, and it is recognized when you sell the shares bought within the window. For securities not admitted to trading, the window is one year.

The law refers to securities admitted on regulated markets as defined by EU law, which left open whether US exchanges count. The DGT answered in May 2025 that they do: the European Commission declared the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and other US markets equivalent in Decision 2017/2320, so the two-month window applies (ruling V0951-25).

Sources: Law 35/2006, article 33.5(f) and (g); 2025 income tax manual, losses that do not count (Spanish Tax Agency, in Spanish); binding ruling V0951-25 (DGT, in Spanish).

Form 720 is an information return, not a tax: it is filed between January 1 and March 31 and reports what you held outside Spain on December 31. It has three blocks with separate thresholds — accounts, securities and real estate — and the securities block applies when the shares and holdings held or managed abroad are worth, in total, more than €50,000. Shares held with an institution in Spain do not go in this block. Once filed, you only file again if the block's combined value rises by more than €20,000 over the last return, or if you stop owning something you declared.

After the EU Court of Justice ruling of January 27, 2022, Law 5/2022 moved Form 720 penalties to the general regime of the General Tax Law. Form 721 is the equivalent for crypto-assets held in custody abroad, with the same €50,000 threshold; it does not apply to shares.

Sources: Royal Decree 1065/2007, articles 42 ter and 42 quater; Form 720 and its FAQ (Spanish Tax Agency, in Spanish).

How much US tax is withheld on dividends for a resident of Spain?

Fifteen percent of the gross dividend if you have given Form W-8BEN to your broker, which is the maximum the Spain–US tax treaty allows for an individual. Without the form, the general US withholding rate for nonresidents is 30%.

Can I get the US withholding back in my Spanish tax return?

Yes, through the Spanish foreign tax credit (deducción por doble imposición internacional), with two limits: no more than the treaty allows (15%) and no more than the Spanish tax on that same dividend. Being entitled to that credit means you must file a return.

Does the US tax capital gains on US stocks sold by a resident of Spain?

Under the treaty, gains on ordinary shares can only be taxed by the country of residence (article 13.6), so they are declared in Spain, in the savings tax base. The IRS's own 30% tax on capital gains applies to nonresidents only if they spend 183 days or more in the US in the year.

Does the Spanish two-month rule apply to US stocks?

Yes. If you sell at a loss and buy shares of the same company within two months before or after, the loss is deferred until you sell those shares. Spain's Directorate-General for Taxation confirmed it for the NYSE and Nasdaq in ruling V0951-25.

Do I have to file Form 720 for my US shares?

Only if they are held or managed outside Spain and their combined value on December 31 is above €50,000. After that, you only file again if that value rises by more than €20,000 over the last return, or if you stop owning something you declared.

• Funds and ETFs. A mutual fund or ETF holding American stocks has its own rules. The three ways to invest in the index, with their figures, are in how to invest in the S&P 500 from Spain.
• Special cases. US citizens, nonresidents of Spain, the Basque Country and Navarre, holdings of 10% or more, inheritances and gifts, or Spain's wealth tax.

And the rules change: the savings brackets have been modified several times since 2010. This page was reviewed on September 19, 2026 against the Spanish Official Gazette, the 2025 income tax manual and the rulings cited.

More guides: the equal-weight vs. cap-weighted S&P 500, what a 10-K and a 10-Q are, what the P/E ratio is. All of them in the guides. To model the Spanish savings brackets on an S&P 500 investment, the S&P 500 calculator. Each index company's data, dividends included, is on its page: for example, Coca-Cola's.