Can I be registered on the padrón in Ibiza and remain tax resident in Madrid, and does the padrón qualify me for the resident flight discount?

Expats and people moving to Ibiza often wonder whether changing their empadronamiento (registration on the local padrón, or municipal register) means changing their tax residence. They also ask whether the padrón is enough to get the resident discount on flights. These are separate questions and are best dealt with separately.

Padrón registration and tax residence are not the same thing

Being on the municipal padrón does not, by itself, determine which autonomous region you are tax resident in. For IRPF (Spanish personal income tax) and Impuesto sobre el Patrimonio (wealth tax), regional residence depends on the facts, under Article 28 of Law 22/2009. The tests are applied in order:

• Physical presence: the region where you spend the most days in the calendar year.
• Main centre of interests: if this cannot be established by days, where most of your taxable base is generated.
• Last declared residence: if that cannot be established either, the last residence declared for IRPF purposes.

So it is possible to remain tax resident in Madrid while registered on the padrón of a municipality in Ibiza, provided the facts support it.

A word of caution: the tax authorities treat the padrón as evidence

The padrón is one of the pieces of evidence the Spanish Tax Agency looks at. Being registered in the Balearics while declaring tax residence in another region is not incompatible, but it may attract attention. This is especially so when the declared region has a more favourable regional regime for taxes such as wealth tax or inheritance and gift tax.

In the event of an enquiry, you would need to prove your days of presence with documents such as:

• utility bills;
• card payments;
• travel records;
• where your main home and family are located.

In addition, Article 15 of Law 7/1985 on Local Government requires you to register on the padrón of the municipality where you habitually live.

Balearic resident flight discount

The 75% discount for Balearic residents applies to flights to and from mainland Spain and between the islands, and is checked against the padrón. What matters is being registered in a municipality in Ibiza; tax residence is irrelevant for this purpose. Besides the padrón, there are nationality requirements:

• Spanish, EU, EEA and Swiss nationals are eligible.
• So are certain third-country nationals, including British nationals covered by the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement who hold a TIE.
• The nationality and document (NIE/TIE or passport) used when booking must match those shown on the padrón.

Before changing your padrón registration, it is worth considering which nationality and document you will use and how the change fits with your declared tax residence.