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Practical Income Manual 2021.

Habitual residence in the territory of an Autonomous Community or City with Statute of Autonomy for personal income tax purposes

Regulations: Art. 72 Law Personal Income Tax

Criteria to determine habitual residence

As a general principle, taxpayers with habitual residence in Spanish territory are residents in the territory of an Autonomous Community or City with Statute of Autonomy. To determine in which of the Autonomous Communities or Cities with Statute of Autonomy the resident taxpayer has his habitual residence, the following criteria must be applied:

1. Permanence criterion

In accordance with this criterion, the taxpayer resides in the Autonomous Community or City with Statute of Autonomy in whose territory he or she has remained for the greatest number of days of the tax period (generally, the calendar year), with temporary absences being counted for these purposes and presumed, except proves to the contrary, that the person remains in the territory of the Autonomous Community or City with Statute of Autonomy where their habitual residence is located.

2. Main center of interests criterion

When it is not possible to determine residence according to the previous criteria, it will be considered that the taxpayer resides in the Autonomous Community or City with Statute of Autonomy where he has his main center of interests; that is, in the one in whose territory the majority of the personal income tax tax base has been obtained, determined by the following income components:

  1. Work income, which will be understood to be obtained where the respective work center is located, if it exists.

  2. Income from real estate capital and capital gains derived from real estate, which will be understood to be obtained in the place where the property is located.

  3. Income from economic activities, whether business or professional, which will be understood to be obtained where the management center of each of them is located.

3. Criterion of the last residence declared for personal income tax purposes

In the absence of the above criteria, the person is considered a resident in the territory in which their last declared residence is located for personal income tax purposes.

Note: In accordance with the provisions of article 72.3 of the Personal Income Tax Law, changes of residence whose main objective is to achieve lower effective taxation of this tax will not take effect, unless the new residence lasts continuously for at least , three years. In these cases, the corresponding complementary self-assessments must be submitted. See Chapter 18.

Natural persons residing in Spanish territory, who do not remain in said territory for more than 183 days during the calendar year , will be considered residents in the territory of the Autonomous Community or City with Statute of Autonomy in that lies the main nucleus or basis of its activities or economic interests.

Finally, when the person is resident in Spanish territory by presumption, that is, because his or her spouse who is not legally separated and his or her dependent minor children habitually reside in Spain, he or she will be considered a resident in the territory of the Autonomous Community or City with Statute. of Autonomy in which they habitually reside.

Joint declarations of family units whose members reside in different Autonomous Communities or Cities with Statute of Autonomy

When taxpayers integrated into a family unit have their habitual residence in different Autonomous Communities or Cities with Statute of Autonomy and choose to pay taxes jointly, in the section "Autonomous Community/Autonomous City of residence in 2021" the one in which they have had habitual residence of the member of the family unit with the largest tax base, determined in accordance with the rules for individualization of personal income tax income.

When one of the different Autonomous Communities is outside the provincial regime (Navarra or the Basque Country), this criterion will also be taken into account to determine the provincial or state jurisdiction in order to levy personal income tax.