Spain Modelo 720: declaring foreign assets as a resident

Americans who move to Spain usually keep bank and brokerage accounts in the United States, and many keep a house there too. Once you become a Spanish tax resident, those holdings can trigger the Modelo 720, Spain's informative return on assets and rights located abroad. It is not a tax. It is a report, and it runs on its own rules, separate from your annual Spanish income tax return. This guide walks through how the Spanish Tax Agency (Agencia Tributaria, AEAT) explains the return in its official frequently asked questions and filing pages, and how it sits next to the US reports you already file.

What the Modelo 720 is

The AEAT describes the Modelo 720 as the informative declaration on goods and rights located abroad. It is filed electronically through the AEAT electronic office under procedure GI34. Because it is informative, you do not pay anything when you file it. What you are doing is telling the Spanish tax authorities what you hold outside Spain so that they can match it against your income tax filings.

The AEAT FAQ states that the people obliged to file are the taxpayers covered by article 10 of the regulation, which in practice means persons and entities resident in Spain. For an American, the trigger is becoming a Spanish tax resident, not merely holding a visa or a residence card. If you are not yet sure whether you are a resident for tax purposes, settle that question first, because the whole Modelo 720 obligation follows from it.

The three blocks

The return is divided into three separate obligations, and the AEAT treats each one independently:

• accounts held at financial institutions located abroad;
• securities, rights, insurance and income deposited, managed or obtained abroad;
• real estate and rights over real estate located abroad.

Each block has its own threshold. Owning a lot in one block does not pull the other blocks into the return. You report a block when its joint value is more than 50,000 euros, and you leave out any block that does not cross that line.

How the 50,000 euro threshold is measured

For accounts, the AEAT FAQ explains that the test uses the balance at 31 December or the average balance of the last quarter of the year. That matters for Americans who move money around during the year. A peak above 50,000 euros at some point during the year does not on its own create the obligation. What counts is the year-end balance or the last-quarter average.

The FAQ adds several points about how the total is built:

• Negative balances are included. If you have an overdrawn account alongside others, you net the negative balance against the positive ones to see whether the block exceeds 50,000 euros, and the negative balance is still reported.
• Accounts on which you are only an authorized person count. The AEAT gives the example of someone who is the holder of one foreign current account with 40,000 euros at 31 December and an authorized signer on another with 30,000 euros. Its answer is that this person must file, as long as no exemption applies.
• Accounts that fall under an exemption are left out of the calculation. In the AEAT example of a resident company, an account already registered in its accounts and one already reported by a bank domiciled in Spain are excluded, so only the remaining account is measured against the threshold.

For real estate, the joint ownership answers in the FAQ refer to the acquisition value at 31 December. A house in the United States bought for more than 50,000 euros can therefore put the real estate block over the line by itself.

Joint ownership and married couples

Many Americans hold accounts jointly with a spouse. The AEAT is clear that sharing ownership does not split the threshold. When a foreign bank account has a balance above 50,000 euros at 31 December, the obligation to report exists regardless of the number of holders. You report the total balance without prorating it and state your percentage of participation.

The same rule applies to jointly owned property abroad: you report the full acquisition value, not your share, and give your ownership percentage. The AEAT says the same treatment applies to any of the assets covered by the three blocks when there are several holders.

The FAQ also addresses community property held under the Spanish marital regime known as gananciales. When only one spouse appears as the formal holder of a community asset, both spouses, if both are within the scope of the obligation, must file. The spouse who is not the formal holder reports as the real owner. Couples who become residents together should look at each account and property from both sides, because the person whose name is on the statement may not be the only one who has to report it.

Do you file every year?

No. According to the AEAT, once you have filed the Modelo 720 for one or more blocks, you only file again for a block when its joint value has risen by more than 20,000 euros compared with the value that triggered your last filing. The FAQ walks through an example with accounts and real estate across two years to show the test applied block by block.

You also file again when something reportable ends, for example when you sell a property or cancel an account that you had reported. Keep a copy of every return you file, with the balances and values you used, because each later year is compared against that last filing.

The filing period

The AEAT filing period page gives the window for the most recent return as 1 January to 31 March 2026. It adds that if technical problems make it impossible to file online within that period, the return can be submitted during the four calendar days after the deadline. The return covers the situation at the end of the previous calendar year, so your first Modelo 720 is filed in the first quarter after the first year in which you were a Spanish tax resident and crossed a threshold.

Penalties after the 2022 court ruling

The Modelo 720 once carried its own special penalty regime, and it is the part most Americans have read about. The AEAT sanctions FAQ explains that this changed after the Court of Justice of the European Union judgment in case C-788/19 of 27 January 2022. Spain then passed Ley 5/2022, and late, incomplete or incorrect Modelo 720 returns are now penalized under the general regime of the General Tax Law, articles 198 and 199, together with articles 14 and 15 of Royal Decree 2063/2004.

The AEAT explains that these general penalties are applied separately for each block of information. Filing correctly and on time is still the point, but the penalty framework now follows the same rules as other informative returns rather than the old fixed amounts per item.

The special regime for workers who move to Spain

Some Americans who move to Spain for a job use the special tax regime for workers posted to Spanish territory under article 93 of the income tax law, often called the Beckham regime. The AEAT FAQ asks directly whether a person under this regime must file the Modelo 720, and answers no. Its reasoning is that the consequences of not filing are tied, for income tax, to taxpayers taxed on their worldwide income, which is not the case for people under that special regime. If you qualify for and choose the special regime, check this point against your own situation before deciding you do not need to file.

How the Modelo 720 sits next to FBAR and Form 8938

As an American, you already report foreign accounts to the United States. Living in Spain turns your Spanish accounts into foreign accounts for US purposes, while your US accounts become foreign accounts for Spanish purposes. You end up with reports running in both directions.

On the US side, the IRS explains that you must file an FBAR if you have a financial interest in or signature or other authority over at least one financial account located outside the United States and the aggregate value of those accounts exceeded $10,000 at any time during the calendar year. Note the difference: the FBAR uses the highest value at any time in the year, while the Modelo 720 account test uses the year-end or last-quarter figure.

Form 8938 is separate. The IRS comparison page sets higher thresholds for people living outside the United States. For an unmarried individual, or a married individual filing separately, living abroad, the threshold is total assets of more than $200,000 on the last day of the tax year or more than $300,000 at any time during the year. Form 8938 is attached to your annual US income tax return and is due with it, including extensions.

Practical consequences of running both systems:

• Your Spanish accounts go on your FBAR, because they are outside the United States. The Modelo 720 does not cover your Spanish accounts at all, since those are not abroad from Spain's point of view.
• Your US checking, savings and brokerage accounts, and a US home, are what the Modelo 720 looks at.
• The two countries use different currencies, dates and valuation tests, so keep year-end statements and the last-quarter balances for each US account in one place.

A practical checklist

1. Confirm that you are a Spanish tax resident for the year in question.
2. List every account abroad on which you are a holder, authorized person or beneficial owner, with the 31 December balance and the last-quarter average.
3. List securities, insurance and similar holdings abroad, and any real estate abroad with its acquisition value.
4. Total each block separately, netting negative balances, and compare it with 50,000 euros.
5. For joint holdings, use the full value and record your percentage.
6. File the blocks that cross the threshold through the AEAT electronic office between 1 January and 31 March.
7. In later years, refile a block only when its joint value has risen by more than 20,000 euros since your last filing, or when a reported asset is sold or cancelled.
8. Keep filing your FBAR and, where it applies, Form 8938 in the United States.

Getting help

The Modelo 720 is filed online, and the official pages are written for Spanish tax professionals. If you work with a Spanish tax adviser (asesor fiscal), keep your balances and values on file for later years. Either way, the official AEAT FAQ pages linked below are the reference to bring to that conversation.

Common questions

Do I have to file Modelo 720 every year? No. The AEAT says you only file again for a block when its joint value has risen by more than 20,000 euros over the value that triggered your last filing, or when a reported asset is sold or cancelled.

Does a joint account with my spouse count in full? Yes. The AEAT says you report the total balance without prorating it and indicate your percentage of participation, regardless of how many holders the account has.

When is the Modelo 720 due? The AEAT filing page gives the period as 1 January to 31 March 2026, with four extra calendar days if technical problems prevent online filing.

Are the old Modelo 720 fines still in force? No. After CJEU judgment C-788/19 and Ley 5/2022, the AEAT says penalties follow the general rules in articles 198 and 199 of the General Tax Law, applied per block.