Ukrainian pension tax in Spain: where it is taxed and how to fix 2022-2025

In short: what is the Ukrainian pension tax in Spain? If you are tax resident in Spain, it is decided by the treaty signed with the USSR in 1985, which still applies to Ukraine. An ordinary pension from the Pension Fund of Ukraine is taxed only in Spain and goes in the Renta (the Spanish income tax return). Pensions for service to the Ukrainian State, such as military or civil service pensions, are taxed only in Ukraine if you do not have Spanish nationality. If it was not declared correctly from 2022 to 2025, it can be corrected: sometimes there is tax to pay, and if you overpaid, a refund for the 2022 Renta can be claimed until 30.06.2027 (our calculation).

In person or by representative? It is done online on the AEAT website, with Renta WEB for the year in question. You need a way to identify yourself, for example Cl@ve or an electronic certificate: Cl@ve and electronic certificate. You do not need to go to an office.

Does this apply to you? Only if you were tax resident in Spain that year. Each year counts separately: in general, if you spent more than 183 days of the year in Spain (art. 9 of the IRPF law). Having temporary protection does not change that count. If you were not resident, the Ukrainian pension does not go in the Spanish Renta: a non-resident is taxed in Spain only on what they earn here. If Ukraine also treats you as resident that year, the treaty's tie-breaker decides (art. 1.3): first where you have a permanent home, then the centre of your vital interests, where you habitually live and nationality. Details: tax residence and the 183 days.

What the 1985 treaty says. Spain and the USSR signed a double taxation treaty in 1985. According to a BOE note, today it applies only to Tajikistan and Ukraine. Spain and Ukraine signed another treaty in 2020, but it is not in force: the Ministry of Finance list of treaties, version of 26.05.2026, gives it no BOE publication date. The 1985 treaty has no article of its own for ordinary pensions. Going by its text:

• Ordinary pension, for example an old-age pension from the Pension Fund of Ukraine: it is not named, so it falls under «other income» (art. 14). That income is taxed only in the country where you live: if you are tax resident in Spain, only in Spain.
• Pensions for service to the State (art. 13.2): those paid by Ukraine, its subdivisions or its local authorities for services to them, such as pensions of the military, police or civil servants, are taxed only in Ukraine. The exception is someone who lives in Spain and also has Spanish nationality: then they are taxed only in Spain.
• Pensions for employment in commercial or industrial activities of the State (art. 13.3): they do not follow the rule above but the one for salaries (art. 12). Check your case.

We have not found any DGT rulings (Directorate General of Taxes) on Ukrainian pensions (search of 09.10.2026). The above comes from the text of the treaty: if you are unsure what type your pension is, check before filing.

Ordinary pension: how it goes in the Renta

• It is employment income, like a Spanish pension (art. 17.2 of the IRPF law). According to the AEAT, pensions from another country are employment income. You declare the gross amount, in euros (DGT, ruling V1014-24).
• Disability pension. In Spain, Social Security pensions for permanent absolute incapacity or gran invalidez (severe disability) are exempt (art. 7.f of the IRPF law). According to the DGT, a disability pension from another country can also be exempt on two conditions (ruling V4704-16, on France). The degree must be comparable to those, and it must be paid by a body that replaces Social Security under that country's law. This has to be provable. For Ukrainian pensions we have not found a ruling: check your case.
• The filing limit is lower. The Ukrainian payer is not required to withhold IRPF. That is why the employment income limit that makes filing the Renta compulsory drops from €22,000 to €14,000 in 2022, €15,000 in 2023 and €15,876 in 2024 and 2025 (art. 96.3). Your salary, the pension and any other employment income are added together.
• Exchange rate. A pension received in another currency is converted into euros at the official exchange rate, according to the DGT (rulings V1568-18 and V1014-24). That is the rate published by the European Central Bank, directly or through the Banco de España (art. 36 of Law 46/1998). The ECB does not publish a reference rate for the hryvnia. The Banco de España converter gives a rate for currencies without an ECB rate, worked out from IMF data, but presents it as indicative only. We have not found an official rule for the hryvnia: keep the source and date of each rate you use. If the pension is already paid to you in euros, according to the DGT you declare those euros, gross (V1014-24, on an Argentine pension).
• If Ukraine withheld tax. Under this treaty, Spain removes double taxation only when the treaty also lets the other country tax (art. 16). The DGT applied it this way to a sale of shares in Belarus, when this treaty still applied to that country (ruling V1951-16). An ordinary pension is taxed only in Spain, so in principle that Ukrainian tax is not deducted here. How to get it back in Ukraine depends on Ukrainian law, which this page does not cover. For other income from abroad: international double taxation relief.

Pension for service to the State: no IRPF in Spain

If your pension is for service to the Ukrainian State and you do not have Spanish nationality, you pay no IRPF (Spanish income tax) on it in Spain. According to the AEAT, exempt income does not count towards the limit that makes filing the Renta compulsory. One question remains: the 1985 treaty does not say whether that pension counts when working out the tax rate on the rest of your income («exemption with progression»). The UK treaty does say so: UK pensions. The AEAT manual explains that this rule is set out in «determinados Convenios» (certain treaties). For Ukraine we have not found a DGT ruling. Where it applies, it goes in box 0525 of the Renta. Check your case before filing.

What about other former Soviet countries? According to the AEAT, the 1985 treaty initially applied to 11 countries. Today it still applies to Ukraine and Tajikistan. It applied to Kyrgyzstan until 2022, because Kyrgyzstan terminated it with effect from 1 January 2023. Moldova, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have their own treaty with Spain. Turkmenistan terminated it with effect from 1 January 2000, and Russia has had its own treaty since 2000. Your country's treaty is in the official AEAT list.

If it was not declared correctly from 2022 to 2025

What to do depends on the type of pension and on whether you filed the Renta that year. This page is about getting it right: a correction may end in tax to pay.

• Ordinary pension not declared, and you filed the Renta (route A): that return is corrected with Renta WEB for that year. For 2022 and 2023, with a declaración complementaria (supplementary return); for 2024 and 2025, with an autoliquidación rectificativa (corrective return) (AEAT, correcting returns). The usual result is more tax to pay or a smaller refund.
• Ordinary pension and you did not file (route B): check whether you had to file, using the limits above. If you did not, there is no need to file because of the pension. If you did, you file late: Renta not filed.
• Surcharge if there is tax to pay (art. 27 of the LGT, the General Tax Law): 1% plus another 1% for each full month of delay; after 12 months, 15% plus late-payment interest. For the 2022, 2023 and 2024 Renta, more than 12 months have already passed. For 2025, the 15% applies after 30.06.2027 (our calculation). If you had already received a requerimiento (a formal request from the AEAT), there may be a penalty instead of the surcharge.
• If you had to file and there is nothing to pay: there may be a fixed fine of €100, or €200 if you had already received a requerimiento (art. 198 of the LGT).
• Government pension declared as taxable (route A, in your favour): you paid IRPF that was not due. For 2022 and 2023 you claim it with a solicitud de rectificación (request for rectification); for 2024 and 2025, with an autoliquidación rectificativa. If the result is a refund, there is no surcharge. The AEAT may ask for proof that the pension is for service to the State and that you do not have Spanish nationality: whoever claims a right has to prove it (art. 105 of the LGT).
• Government pension and you did not file: you paid no IRPF on it, so there is nothing to recover this way.

Until when you can claim a refund. The right expires after 4 years (art. 66 of the LGT). They are counted from the day after the last day of the filing period of each Renta (art. 67). The filing period for the 2022 Renta ended on 30.06.2023, which is why the limit is 30.06.2027. By our calculation, the 2023 one can be claimed until 01.07.2028, because its filing period ended on 01.07.2024. The 2024 one is open until 30.06.2029 and the 2025 one until 30.06.2030.

Risks. When you correct a year, the AEAT may review the whole return for that year, including your other income from Ukraine and Modelo 720 if you have accounts or assets outside Spain.

Before you correct: check your whole situation

A correction for one year carries all your income for that year, not just the pension. Answer these 6 questions first:

1. Were you tax resident in Spain that year? Each year counts separately: in general, more than 183 days in Spain. If you arrived in 2022 after early July, you were most likely not resident that year.
2. What type of pension is it? Ordinary or for service to the State: the result changes completely. If you do not know, find out before filing.
3. Did you have other income from Ukraine from 2022 to 2025? For example, a FOP (Ukrainian sole trader), renting out a flat, remote work or interest. That income also goes in the return, and with it there may be tax to pay: a flat in Ukraine and the Renta. If the answer is yes or you are not sure, first ask for an analysis of your case.
4. Do you have Spanish nationality? Then a pension for service to the Ukrainian State is taxed in Spain.
5. Are you under the special regime for inbound workers (Beckham law)? Then the rules are different: Beckham law.
6. Did you file the Renta for that year? Yes: route A. No: route B.

Roughly how much

• Ordinary pension not declared: the tax to pay is the difference between the IRPF for the year with the pension included and the IRPF you already paid. If you did not file, it is the IRPF for the year with all your income, minus any tax already withheld, for example from your salary. If more than 12 months have passed since the end of the filing period, add 15% of that amount plus interest.
• Government pension declared as taxable: the refund is the IRPF you paid that year minus the IRPF that results without that pension.
• Low income: part of your income pays no tax, the personal allowance (art. 57 of the IRPF law). It is €5,550 a year, €6,700 if you are over 65 and €8,100 if you are over 75.
• Example (our calculation): in 2024 you earned a salary of €15,000 in Spain and a Ukrainian pension of €1,200. Together that is €16,200, more than the €15,876 limit, so you had to file the 2024 Renta with the pension included. If you did not file, any tax due carries a 15% surcharge plus interest.

This is a rough figure: the exact amount is known when you file the return or the correction.

Other money the tax office may owe you. Family deductions, withholding you did not get back and pensions from other countries: How to claim a tax refund from previous years in Spain: 2022-2025.

Help to do it

• Free estimate: the calculator of how much the tax office may refund you for 2022 to 2025 covers family deductions; it does not calculate the Ukrainian pension.
• Step-by-step guide «Ukrainian pension in your Renta: how to declare it and correct 2022 to 2025» (now available on this page).
• Full help. We review your situation from 2022 to 2025, work out an approximate amount and prepare a step-by-step instruction with screenshots for your case, with your figures. While you file, we support you by online chat. You file yourself: we never ask for your Cl@ve, electronic certificate, reference number or passwords. We cannot promise that there will be a refund or how much: it depends on your case and on the AEAT, and the review may show there is nothing to recover or that tax is due. Message @spain_asesor: we will send you the price and the terms privately before any payment.

Official source: Spain-USSR treaty of 1985, BOE, AEAT, USSR treaty, AEAT, pensions from another country, IRPF law, BOE and General Tax Law, BOE.

Informational only; check the official source and a professional for your specific case. Figures and dates checked on 9 October 2026.