Private Client, Private Wealth & Tax Lawyers in Mallorca and Spain

Lullius is a tax boutique with offices in Palma de Mallorca and Madrid. We advise clients across the whole of Spain, and act for international private clients on the questions that follow wealth across borders: Spanish and cross-border tax, private wealth and succession, and tax controversy. Our clients are individuals and families rather than the mass market, and most of them have connections to more than one country.

Our private client and private wealth practice

We advise on three disciplines and confine ourselves to them. The first is Spanish and cross-border tax, from residence and relocation to the ongoing position of a resident with assets and income abroad. The second is private wealth: the structuring, holding and succession of family wealth, including the Spanish treatment of trusts and foreign entities. The third is tax controversy, the defence of clients under inspection and their representation through the appeal and court system. The work is led throughout by senior lawyers, and the practice is deliberately narrow so that it can be deep.

Moving to Spain: tax residence and the Beckham regime

The threshold question for anyone relocating to Mallorca, Madrid or elsewhere in Spain is tax residence. Spain generally treats an individual as resident where they spend more than 183 days in the country in a calendar year, or where their centre of economic interests is in Spain (article 9 LIRPF), and residence determines whether Spain taxes worldwide income or only Spanish-source income. For those moving for work, or as directors of a Spanish company, the special regime for inbound workers, commonly the Beckham regime (article 93 LIRPF), can change that treatment for a limited period.

The regime is valuable and increasingly scrutinised, and it is best assessed before a move rather than after. We advise on eligibility, on the interaction with the client’s home-country position, and on the defence of the regime where it is challenged.

Private wealth structuring, trusts and succession

For resident clients, Spain levies an annual wealth tax alongside the state Solidarity Tax on Large Fortunes, and the result depends on the rules of the autonomous community, which matters in both the Balearic Islands and Madrid. International families also face the Spanish inheritance and gift tax on succession and on lifetime gifts, again with wide regional variation.

A recurring theme is the Spanish treatment of trusts and foreign structures: Spain does not recognise the trust and taxes through it, so a structure that is unremarkable in a common law jurisdiction can produce unexpected Spanish outcomes. We advise on holding and succession structures, on the reporting of foreign assets, and on aligning a Spanish position with the treatment in the client’s home jurisdiction.

Tax controversy and disputes

Where a position is examined, we defend it. Our tax controversy work runs from audits and inspections by the Spanish Tax Agency, through claims before the Regional and Central Economic-Administrative Courts, to contentious-administrative litigation and cassation before the Supreme Court.

Much of it concerns internationally mobile clients, where the authority’s current approach is firmly substance-driven. Our lawyers were contributing authors of the Spain chapter of the Chambers Tax Controversy guide and of The Legal 500 Tax Disputes Comparative Guide.

The UK and US desks

Because most of our clients carry tax obligations in another country, the home-country overlay is decisive, and we run dedicated UK and US desks so that the Spanish advice is built to sit alongside it rather than in isolation. A British client must reconcile Spanish residence with their UK position; an American client remains subject to US tax by reason of citizenship wherever they live, which makes the choice of Spanish structure inseparable from its US treatment.

Our US desk includes a lawyer with US legal training, and throughout a matter we coordinate with the client’s advisers at home so that the two positions are consistent rather than at odds.

Who we advise

We act for high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals, entrepreneurs and founders, family offices, and expatriates moving to or living in Spain. Our clients are predominantly international, with connections to the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, the Nordic countries and, increasingly, Latin America.

A specialist tax boutique

We are a boutique by design. A practice confined to tax, private wealth and tax controversy allows senior lawyers to carry the work themselves, keeps the analysis deep rather than broad, and avoids many of the conflicts that arise in a larger multi-service firm. For private clients whose affairs are complex and confidential, that combination of seniority, focus and independence is the point.

We are based in Palma de Mallorca and Madrid, and advise clients across Spain, in both Spanish and English. Enquiries may be directed to info@lullius.com