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Moving guides

From Spain to Uruguay

What changes in tax when you move from Spain to Uruguay: what you pay today, what you would pay there and the rules Spain applies when you leave.

What you would save

With €150,000 a year in dividends or foreign income, compared as a genuine resident of each country.

Today in Spain€33,380
In Uruguay€0
Yearly difference+€33,380

Full guide: Uruguay →

Leaving Spain

  • More than 183 days in Spain. You are resident if you spend more than 183 days in Spain in a calendar year. Temporary absences count as days in Spain unless you prove tax residence in another country.
  • Main base of business or economic interests. You are resident if the main base or centre of your business activities or economic interests is in Spain, directly or indirectly, even with few days spent there.
  • Family presumption. Spain presumes you are resident if your spouse (not legally separated) and dependent minor children live there habitually. You can rebut this with proof.
  • Absences in tax havens. If you claim residence in a non-cooperative jurisdiction, the tax agency may require proof that you actually spent 183 days there in the year.

Rules that can follow you after leaving

  • Spanish nationals moving to a tax haven stay resident 4 more years. Spanish nationals who move their tax residence to a non-cooperative jurisdiction remain Spanish taxpayers in the year of the move and the following four tax years.

Exit tax in Spain

Ganancias patrimoniales por cambio de residencia (art. 95 bis Ley 35/2006 IRPF)

  • Tax resident in Spain for at least 10 of the 15 tax periods before the last one to be declared.
  • Shares or fund units with a total market value above EUR 4,000,000, OR a stake above 25% in a company whose market value for that stake is above EUR 1,000,000 (in this second case only those shares are taxed).

Unrealised gain (market value minus acquisition value) is taxed as if sold, as savings income at the savings rates (19% to 30%), declared in the last tax period as resident.

Exit tax → · Am I still resident? →

Arriving in Uruguay

Personal income: 0% abroad* · Company tax: 25%

Legal and tax residency through days or an investment in property or a business.

183 days, or 60 days with a qualifying investment.

Foreign income at 0% for about 11 years; after that, foreign dividends and interest at 12%. Local companies at 25%.

Living there

Monthly cost for one person, rent included
Montevideo€1,500–1,900
Punta del Este€1,700–2,300
Climate
Humid subtropical; warm summers 25-30°C, cool damp winters 6-15°C.
Direct flights to
Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Madrid, Panama City, Santiago
Safety
High
International schools
Some
Fixed internet
181 Mbps

Steps to residency

  1. 4 weeksApostille birth certificate and police record
  2. 3 weeksStart legal residence and get provisional cedula
  3. 8 weeksProve means of living, health card, Interpol check
  4. 26 weeksResidence granted and definitive cedula issued

About 41 weeks in total

Official websites: Tax authority · Immigration

Approximate figures that change often; check them before deciding.

Other destinations from Spain