The 720 tax form

A very common situation for expatriates is to have bank accounts, assets or securities abroad, that is, in the country of origin. In many countries, governments oblige citizens who move to another country to declare their new address and register on a list of citizens of that country residing abroad, so from then on they have to go to the nearest consulate (e.g., Barcelona) to vote, apply for renewal of their ID card and passport, etc.

At the tax level, from the country of origin, this registration frees the domestic taxpayer from any obligation to file a tax return in that country (e.g., Italy), but what happens in the country where they are settled (e.g., Spain?)

The vast majority of expatriates do not attach great importance to this, as they believe that by filing a tax return (Form 100 or Form 151, if one is subject to the “Beckham Law” – “Ley Beckham”) they will no longer have any other tax obligations with the Spanish Internal Revenue Service.

The problem is that, in the case of foreigners who are in the situation we mentioned above, that is, who still have abroad current accounts, real estate, registered assets, securities and rights with a total value of more than 50,000 euros.

The only taxpayers exempt (updated information as of July 13, 2025) from filing Form 720 are those who benefit from the “Beckham Act,” as they are subject to a tax regime that considers them nonresidents.

For everyone else, what happens?

Natural and legal persons resident in Spanish territory, permanent establishments in Spanish territory of nonresident natural or legal persons, and entities referred to in Article 35.4 of General Tax Law 58/2003 of December 17 are obliged to file Form 720 when they are in one of the following situations:

– The owner, representative, authorized person, beneficiary, person or entity with powers of disposition or beneficial owner of accounts with financial institutions located abroad, in accordance with the provisions of Sections 1, 3 and 5 of Article 42a of the General Regulations.

– Holders or beneficial owners, provided that they are abroad, of securities or rights representing interests in any type of legal entity, securities representing the transfer to third parties of equity or securities conferred for the management or administration of any legal instrument.

– Holders or beneficial owners of shares and interests in the share capital or equity fund of collective investment schemes located abroad.

– Policyholders, as of December 31 of each year, of life or disability insurance when the insurance company is located abroad or when they are beneficiaries of temporary or life annuities as a result of the delivery of a cash lump sum, rights of economic content or movable or immovable property, to persons located abroad. Where the policyholder is a person other than the annuitant and retains the right of redemption, the policyholder is required to file Form 720.

– Holders or holders of rights in rem to real property located abroad.

In other words, Form 720 is used to report to the Internal Revenue Service current accounts, securities, rights, income, insurance and real property or rights to real property located abroad.

What are assets and rights abroad?

The assets and rights to be included in Form 720 are divided into 3 blocks.

– Block 1: property and real estate abroad and rights to it.

– Block 2: bank accounts and deposits outside Spanish territory.

– Block 3: Insurance, securities, titles, rights and income that are also located outside Spain.

When is it not necessary to file Form 720?

If any of the blocks exceeds 50,000 euros, you are required to file Form 720. Therefore, you are not required to file the form if you do not have more than 50,000 euros in any of the blocks.

As an example, let’s imagine that you have a house worth 100,000 euros in France and an interest-bearing account of 45,000 euros in Italy. In this case, you would have to declare only the property. However, if the savings account is worth more than 50,000 euros, you will also have to declare that amount in the corresponding box of tax form 720.

On the other hand, if you have already submitted Form 720 to the AEAT (Tax Agency), you will not have to fill it out again the following year, unless one of the groups increases by more than 20,000 euros. Continuing with the previous example, if the value of the property increases from 100,000 euros to 121,000 euros, you will have to file a new return one year after the revaluation.

One form for three different declaration obligations …..

If a person or entity is required to file a disclosure statement, Form 720, either for accounts with financial institutions located abroad, for securities, rights, insurance and income deposited, managed or obtained abroad, or for real estate located abroad and rights thereon, can the three disclosure obligations be declared on the same form?

Yes, each of the three blocks of assets constitutes a different reporting obligation, but the three reporting obligations are articulated through the same information template. Thus, the three reporting obligations would be met by completing Form 720, reporting all assets and entitlements for which there is a reporting obligation.

The Internal Revenue Service requires residents of Spain to declare their cryptocurrencies in foreign entities through Form 721. This means that virtual currencies do not have to be added to Form 720.

The deadline for filing Form 720 is from January 1 to March 31 each year: the values to be entered on Form 720 will be those as of December 31 of the previous year.

Those who submit Form 720 after the deadline may incur penalties ranging from 100 to 5,000 euros for each incorrect or omitted figure. The Internal Revenue Service has been particularly strict with these late filers. The omission or incorrect submission of Form 720 can result in penalties of up to 20,000 euros, as its purpose is to combat tax fraud and ensure the transparency of the assets of tax residents in Spain.

In addition, if a taxpayer has already filed Form 720 in previous years, he or she must file it again if the value of assets has increased by more than 20,000 euros since the last return filed.

In case of omitted or late declaration, the penalty ranges from 10,000 to 20,000 euros. For errors in the declaration or inaccurate answers that do not result in economic damage to the IRS, the penalty is 150 euros, up to 2 percent of the value of the undeclared assets. For failure to correctly report the tax address, the penalty is 100 euros.

Do you need to carry out procedures with the Spanish Internal Revenue Service? BarcelonaGlobalService can offer you these services quickly and fully telematically. For more information contact francesco@barcelonaglobalservice.com or use the contact form: https://barcelonaglobalservice.com/contacto.

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