Beckham Law flexible pay: which benefits can be tax free?

Beckham Law flexible pay can include tax-free benefits. Meals, nursery care, health cover and public transport may qualify. But a label on your payslip does not prove that a benefit is exempt. The terms of the plan, the way your firm pays and the tax limits all matter.

Does your firm offer a flexible pay plan in Spain? Pérez Parras can review the plan, your payslips and your tax status. You can then make a sound choice before you change your pay package.

Ask us to review your pay plan

Beckham Law flexible pay: what the tax ruling says

Spanish tax ruling V2574-25, dated 18 December 2025, deals with this issue. A firm offered meals, nursery care, health cover and transport to staff under the regime. The tax authority confirmed that the relief in Article 42.3 of the Spanish Income Tax Law can apply. Each benefit must still meet its own rules.

Article 93.2.a keeps this relief for benefits in kind within the Beckham regime. It refers to Article 14.1.a of the Non-Resident Income Tax Law. That rule, in turn, refers to Article 42.3. So the use of special tax rules does not, by itself, rule out these tax-free benefits.

This is not a blanket tax break for every item in a pay plan. Nor is it a right to deduct any cost you pay yourself. You need to check each part of the package on its own terms.

Which benefits in kind should you check?

Meals and restaurant cards

In a flexible pay plan, meal vouchers and similar schemes have a limit of €11 per day. They must also meet the rules on use and records. Meals must relate to working days. You cannot combine the relief with a tax-free meal allowance for the same day.

For example, a card you can spend anywhere is not a tax-free meal card just because of its name. You cannot cash in the balance. You also cannot carry an unused daily amount over to a later day.

Nursery care

The rule covers the first cycle of early childhood education. The firm may provide the service or arrange it with an approved provider, directly or indirectly. You should check the nursery’s status and the terms of the contract.

A cash payment to help you pay a nursery bill needs a separate review. Do not assume it has the same tax treatment as care arranged under a valid benefits plan.

Health insurance

The usual tax-free cap is €500 a year for each insured person. Cover may extend to the worker, their spouse and their descendants. The cap rises to €1,500 for each insured person with a disability. Any excess is taxable.

To claim this relief for benefits in kind, check who takes out the policy and how the firm pays. A refund of a private expense is not automatically the same as health cover provided through your job.

Public transport

The relief covers public transport between home and work. The annual cap is €1,500 per worker. Cards and other electronic payment methods also have a monthly cap of €136.36.

This is not a general tax break for fuel, taxis or parking. The card must meet the rules on personal use, records and the type of travel it pays for.

How to review a Beckham Law flexible pay plan

First, ask your HR team for a breakdown of the plan. Then compare it with your contract and payslips. A useful review should answer these questions:

• How much pay is cash, and how much is a benefit in kind?
• Who signs the service contract and receives the bill?
• Who has cover under the health policy?
• How does the firm track the daily, monthly and yearly caps?
• What happens to an unused balance or an amount over the cap?
• Do the payslips agree with the annual tax certificate?

Keep the plan agreement and the supporting records. If the figures do not match, raise the issue before you file Form 151. Our guide to Beckham Law withholding and payroll errors explains what to check next.

A simple tax-saving example

Suppose a flexible pay plan includes €500 of health cover for one worker. The plan meets all the tax rules and replaces cash pay with that cover. If the cash pay would have been taxed at 24%, the illustrative tax saving is €120.

That sum does not show that the whole plan is tax free. It does not include other costs or employment effects. The result will depend on your own facts. You cannot assume the same saving if you buy a private policy and then try to deduct its cost.

Review your plan, payslips and Form 151

Pérez Parras can review your flexible pay alongside your Beckham Law position. We first check the documents and the benefits on offer. We then identify exempt amounts, amounts over the caps and any payroll issues that need attention.

If you have not yet applied for the regime, read our guide to the rules and our tax advice service. We can assess your access to the regime as well as your proposed pay package.

To start: tell us when you moved to Spain, whether you use the regime and which benefits your firm offers. We will explain the documents we need and the scope of the review.

Discuss your case with Pérez Parras

Sources and review date

Reviewed on 20 September 2026. Sources: Articles 93 and 42 of the Spanish Income Tax Law, Article 14 of the Non-Resident Income Tax Law and the Spanish Tax Agency’s guidance on benefits in kind. We also reviewed the CEF reproduction of tax ruling V2574-25. These source texts are in Spanish.