Madrid, Spain
Answers · current to October 2026

Moving from Spain, for a high earner.

Ranked on what $1,000,000 of income keeps over 10 years, with what Spain charges on the way out.

In short, current to October 2026

  • On the Patrician.ch board, the address that leaves a $1,000,000 earner leaving Spain with the most after 10 years is Dubai, UAE, at $10M kept against an effective 0%.
  • Within 5 hours of Spain, the address that keeps the most is Monaco, at $10M over 10 years.
  • Leaving Spain itself carries a charge: Exit tax on shares if you were resident for at least 10 of the last 15 years and your holdings exceed 4M EUR, or a stake above 25% is worth more than 1M EUR. Spain treats them as sold the day you leave and taxes the gain on the savings scale, 30% above 300,000 EUR. Years under the Beckham regime do not count toward the 10.
  • Deferral: On election, notified to the tax agency, inside the EU or EEA, falling due only if you sell or move outside it within 10 years. Elsewhere it is due on departure, but on request it is deferred for a temporary move for work to any country that is not a tax haven, or for any reason to a treaty country with information exchange, and cancelled if you return within 5 years without selling. Tax already paid is refunded if you return without having sold.
  • Figures are current to October 2026 and modeled on indicative 2026 headline brackets for a single filer. Confirm with counsel before relying on any of them.

Each address on this page was last checked against its official sources between and . The sources for each are named on its page.

Source: the Patrician.ch board, an original ranking of 100 residence addresses across 47 countries and territories. Tax rates, thresholds and routes are sourced. Cost, safety, schools, sun and beauty are Patrician.ch editorial indices. Figures current to October 2026. Updated . Cite as: Patrician.ch, Moving from Spain 2026: where a high earner keeps most, patrician.ch/answers/moving-from-spain/, October 2026.

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By the Patrician.ch research desk · Updated 7 November 2026 · 11 min read
Ranked

Leaving Spain: where $1,000,000 goes furthest.

Ordered by what a single filer keeps over 10 years after income tax, on Patrician.ch's 2026 model, with the flight time from Spain. The engine reorders this on your own income, liquidity event, passports and household.

01Dubai, UAE
Dubai 🇦🇪 UAE0% effective on $1M, no capital gains tax, 7h 40m nonstop from Spain
$10M
02Abu Dhabi, UAE
Abu Dhabi 🇦🇪 UAE0% effective on $1M, no capital gains tax, 6h 55m nonstop from Spain
$10M
03Punta del Este, Uruguay
Punta del Este 🇺🇾 Uruguay0% effective on $1M, foreign gains untaxed 11 years by qualifying election, 12h 40m nonstop from Spain, special regime for arrivals
$10M
04Anguilla
Anguilla 🇦🇮 Anguilla0% effective on $1M, no capital gains tax, 11h 30m with 1 stop from Spain
$10M
05Monaco
Monaco 🇲🇨 Monaco0% effective on $1M, no capital gains tax, 1h 55m nonstop from Spain
$10M
06Christophe Harbour, St Kitts and Nevis
Christophe Harbour 🇰🇳 St Kitts and Nevis0% effective on $1M, no capital gains tax, 11h 40m with 1 stop from Spain
$10M
07George Town, Cayman Islands
George Town 🇰🇾 Cayman Islands0% effective on $1M, no capital gains tax, 13h 10m with 1 stop from Spain
$10M
08St John's, Antigua and Barbuda
St John's 🇦🇬 Antigua and Barbuda0% effective on $1M, no capital gains tax, 11h 50m with 1 stop from Spain
$10M
09Providenciales, Turks and Caicos
Providenciales 🇹🇨 Turks and Caicos0% effective on $1M, no capital gains tax, 11h 20m with 1 stop from Spain
$10M
10Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau 🇧🇸 Bahamas0% effective on $1M, no capital gains tax, 12h 35m with 1 stop from Spain
$10M

Within 5 hours of Spain.

The same ranking, kept to addresses a direct flight of 5 hours or less from Spain.

01Monaco
Monaco 🇲🇨 Monaco0% effective on $1M, no capital gains tax, 1h 55m nonstop from Spain
$10M
02Gibraltar
Gibraltar 🇬🇮 Gibraltar6% effective on $1M, no capital gains tax, 1h 20m nonstop from Spain, special regime for arrivals
$9.4M
03Andorra la Vella
Andorra la Vella 🇦🇩 Andorra10% effective on $1M, no capital gains tax, 1h 20m nonstop from Spain
$9.0M
04Tivat, Montenegro
Tivat 🇲🇪 Montenegro17% effective on $1M, 17% on gains, 3h 05m nonstop from Spain
$8.3M
05Vaduz, Liechtenstein
Vaduz 🇱🇮 Liechtenstein18% effective on $1M, no capital gains tax, 2h 20m nonstop from Spain
$8.2M

Model note. Income tax on the published 2026 rules. Social contributions, most deductions and treaties are not modeled. Where a place is modeled on a regime for new arrivals, its city page says so. Flight times are scheduled gate to gate times on the fastest routing, from airline schedules read October 17, 2026. The exit charge from Spain is modeled separately and is not netted into the figures above.

See these 2 places for your own income.Dubai and Abu Dhabi, side by side on your income, passports and family. Free, in the ranking of all 100. Then the Dossier: a written report in 10 chapters on the 3 places that rank first for you. The Dossier is $500. The founding price, $250, holds until 30 November.
Compare them on my income →
Questions

The short answers.

Where should a high earner move from Spain?

On $1,000,000 of income, Dubai keeps the most over 10 years, $10M, followed by Abu Dhabi and Punta del Este.

Within 5 hours of Spain, Monaco keeps the most. The ranking changes with the passports held, the household and a liquidity event, all of which the engine takes as inputs.

Does Spain charge an exit tax?

Exit tax on shares if you were resident for at least 10 of the last 15 years and your holdings exceed 4M EUR, or a stake above 25% is worth more than 1M EUR.

Spain treats them as sold the day you leave and taxes the gain on the savings scale, 30% above 300,000 EUR. Years under the Beckham regime do not count toward the 10.

Can the exit tax on leaving Spain be deferred?

On election, notified to the tax agency, inside the EU or EEA, falling due only if you sell or move outside it within 10 years.

Elsewhere it is due on departure, but on request it is deferred for a temporary move for work to any country that is not a tax haven, or for any reason to a treaty country with information exchange, and cancelled if you return within 5 years without selling. Tax already paid is refunded if you return without having sold.

Which addresses on the board levy no capital gains tax?

39 of the 100 addresses on the board levy no personal capital gains tax on listed securities, among them Abu Dhabi, Andorra la Vella, Anguilla, Athens, Bora Bora, Christophe Harbour.

The Dossier: your top 3, on your numbers.A written report on the 3 places that rank first for you, compared line by line on your income, a sale, your passports and your family. 10 chapters, written the moment you pay. Every tax figure carries its official source and the date it was last checked. The Dossier is $500. The founding price, $250, holds until 30 November. Refunded in full within 7 days of delivery, no reason needed.
Read chapters 1 to 3, free →
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The income tax of Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Punta del Este, Anguilla, Monaco and Christophe Harbour, side by side on 2026 rates. Your readers type their own salary and the places reorder. Free on any site, with the credit line under it.

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Income tax on the published 2026 rules. Social contributions, most deductions and treaties are not modeled. Figures are for a non-US single filer. Wealth tax, an exit and your passports are added when you run the engine on your own numbers. Not advice. Residence rules change often. Verify before acting.

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