UK pension tax in Spain: State Pension, government pensions and 2022-2025 refunds

In short: how does UK pension tax work in Spain? It depends on the type of pension, under the 2013 tax treaty between Spain and the UK. The State Pension and private or workplace pensions are taxed only in Spain. Pensions for service to the UK government or a local authority, such as those of civil servants, police or the armed forces, are taxed only in the UK if you do not have Spanish nationality. In Spain they are exempt, although they are counted when working out the tax rate on the rest of your income. If a tax adviser declared them as taxable, the Renta (the Spanish income tax return) for 2022 to 2025 can be corrected: by our calculation, 2022 until 30.06.2027.

In person or by representative? The Spanish part is done online on the AEAT website, with Renta WEB for the year in question. You need Cl@ve or an electronic certificate: Cl@ve and electronic certificate. You do not need to go to an office. The UK form DT-Spain Individual is on paper: you sign it personally and post it to HMRC. You can give your tax adviser's details on it.

What the treaty says. Spain and the UK signed a double taxation treaty in 2013, in force since 12.06.2014. It has three rules for pensions:

• State Pension and private or workplace pensions (art. 17): taxed only in the country where you live. If you are tax resident in Spain, only in Spain. The State Pension is usually paid without UK tax deducted. If you were a UK civil servant, the DGT has not been consistent about your State Pension. In V0426-14 (1975 treaty) it was taxed only in Spain, but in V1380-25, on scant facts, it was treated as a government pension: check your case before you correct.
• Pensions for service to the State (art. 18.2): those paid by the UK government, the devolved administrations or a local authority for services to them are taxed only in the UK. The exception is someone who lives in Spain and also has Spanish nationality: then they are taxed only in Spain.
• Pensions for work in a business carried on by the State (art. 18.3): treated as private and taxed in Spain.

Exempt, but they still count towards your tax rate. You pay no IRPF (Spanish income tax) on an exempt UK government pension. It is still added when working out the rate applied to the rest of your income (art. 22 of the treaty). This is «exemption with progression». It goes in the section of the Renta for exempt income with progression. According to the AEAT filing help, it goes in box 0525 (section L, «Rentas exentas excepto para determinar el tipo de gravamen») in the Renta for 2022 to 2025. According to the AEAT, exempt income does not count towards the limit that makes filing the Renta compulsory. Official summary: AEAT leaflet on the United Kingdom.

Which pensions are government pensions. HMRC publishes a guide list of government and non-government pensions. In Spain the AEAT decides, and the DGT (Directorate General of Taxes) has answered specific cases.

• Usually government pensions: Civil Service, Armed Forces, police, fire service, local government (including the LGPS when the employer was a council) and state school teachers (Teachers' Pensions).
• Not government pensions for HMRC: the State Pension, NHS pensions paid by NHSBSA or SPPA, the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), private school teachers' pensions and Post Office pensions. For Royal Mail (RMSPS), the DGT says it is not a government pension for this purpose (ruling V5318-26, dated 28.07.2026).
• Unclear: teachers at academies (state-funded but run by an academy trust, not by the council) and the LGPS of admitted bodies. Check your case before claiming.

Other UK income

• ISA: not tax-free in Spain. The exemption is a UK one and the IRPF law does not include it, so interest, dividends and gains in it are declared in the Renta. We have not found a DGT ruling specifically on ISAs.
• The 25% tax-free lump sum: we have not found a DGT ruling on that 25% itself. The DGT does say that a lump sum from a UK workplace pension plan (Directive 2003/41/CE) is taxed only in Spain, as employment income (ruling V0982-19, from 2019). If you take or have taken a lump sum, also from a government pension, check your case before filing.
• UK rents, dividends and interest: each has its own rule in the treaty, and the AEAT leaflet sums them up. If income is taxed in both countries, Spain gives credit for the UK tax: international double taxation relief. That is different from the exemption for government pensions.

Dual nationality: risk of paying twice. For the Spanish tax authorities, if you live in Spain and have Spanish nationality, the government pension is taxed only in Spain, also with dual nationality (DGT, ruling V3253-23). HMRC only stops taxing it if you are a Spanish national «without also being a UK national». If you hold both nationalities, check your case before filing or correcting a return.

Getting back the IRPF on a government pension for 2022 to 2025. If a tax adviser declared your UK government pension as income subject to IRPF, you paid tax in Spain that was not due. You correct the Renta for each year with Renta WEB for that year (AEAT, correcting returns):

• 2024 and 2025: autoliquidación rectificativa (corrective return).
• 2022 and 2023: solicitud de rectificación (request for rectification).

Until when. The right to claim a refund expires after 4 years (art. 66 of the LGT, the General Tax Law). 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 ran from 11.04.2023 to 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. If the result is a refund, there is no surcharge.

What the AEAT may ask for. When it reviews the correction, the AEAT may ask for proof that the pension is a government pension. For example, the pension scheme letter or the P60 showing the payer and the employer, your service history, a confirmation from HMRC and a document showing that you do not have Spanish nationality.

Risks. When you correct a return, the AEAT may review the whole return for that year: the deduction for UK tax you applied, other UK income and Modelo 720 (assets abroad). The AEAT also checks the opposite mistake: declaring the government pension as exempt without counting it towards the tax rate.

If you did not file the Renta. The UK payer does not withhold IRPF, so there is no IRPF to recover on an exempt government pension. But with the State Pension or a private pension you may have been required to file: who must file the Renta. If you were and the result is tax to pay, there is a late-filing surcharge (art. 27 LGT), or possibly a penalty if you had already received a requerimiento, a formal request from the AEAT. If there is nothing to pay, there may be a fixed fine of €100, or €200 after a requerimiento (art. 198 LGT). Details: Renta not filed.

UK tax deducted under PAYE is reclaimed from HMRC. If your private or workplace pension reaches you with UK tax deducted, that refund comes from HMRC, not the AEAT. You use form DT-Spain Individual, on paper. You attach the AEAT tax residence certificate for treaty purposes (how to request it) and a copy of your latest P60. HMRC adjusts back to the latest of these dates: when you became resident in Spain, when payments began, or the earliest UK tax year still open for a claim. The time limit is 4 years from the end of each UK tax year, which ends on 5 April (HMRC). By our calculation, the 2022/23 tax year can be claimed until 05.04.2027.

Before you claim: check your whole situation

A correction for one year carries all your income for that year, not just the pension. Answer these 5 questions first:

1. Were you 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 LIRPF). If you arrived in 2022 after early July, you were most likely not resident that year: tax residence and the 183 days.
2. Did you declare all your UK income? Rents, interest, dividends, an ISA or private pensions also go in the return. If something is missing, you may end up owing tax. If you are not sure, get your case reviewed first.
3. Do you have Spanish nationality, even as a second nationality? Then, for the AEAT, the government pension is taxed in Spain and there is nothing to recover this way.
4. Have you already applied the deduction for UK tax? If in Spain you subtracted the tax paid in the UK on that pension, the difference in your favour is smaller.
5. Did you file the Renta for that year? Yes: that return is corrected. No: you paid no IRPF on the government pension; check whether other income required you to file.

Roughly how much

• Formula: the IRPF you paid that year, after the deduction for UK tax if you applied it, minus the IRPF that results when the government pension is treated as exempt and only counted for the tax rate.
• Example (no figures): you receive a UK police pension and the State Pension, and your tax adviser declared both as taxable. The correct way: in Spain only the State Pension is taxed; the police pension pays no IRPF here, but it raises the rate applied to the State Pension. The refund is the difference between the two calculations.

This is a rough figure: the exact amount is known when you file 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 UK pension.
• Step-by-step guide «UK pensions in your Spanish tax return» (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-UK treaty of 2013, BOE, AEAT, United Kingdom leaflet, HMRC, list of government pensions and HMRC, form DT-Spain Individual.

Informational only; check the official source and a professional for your specific case. Figures and dates checked on 8 October 2026.