Modelo 720 has three separate blocks: accounts, securities and real estate. The obligation arises when the assets held abroad in one block exceed EUR 50,000. For accounts, the test is the balance at 31 December or the average balance of the last quarter. After a first filing, you file again only if the value of a block rises by more than EUR 20,000 against the last declaration, or when a declared asset is cancelled. The filing window runs from 1 January to 31 March for the previous year.

For the cash account, yes. Binding ruling DGT V2475-25 of 12 December 2025 holds that once a Spanish resident’s cash account migrated to a Spanish IBAN at the Spanish branch, the account is treated as situated in Spain and falls outside the Modelo 720 accounts block regardless of balance, with the branch reporting it itself. The conclusion is conditional on the quoted contract clauses applying. The ruling does not address the securities account and does not address Modelo 721. Clients who have not migrated keep full Modelo 720 exposure.

No. XTB uses local custodians, so Spanish securities are custodied in Spain and other securities abroad, and uninvested cash has been deposited in Germany since late 2024. Foreign-custodied ETFs and that cash stay inside Modelo 720 scope. XTB provides by default a 31 December PDF with the data the form needs: name, units, ISIN, country of deposit, currency and value.

Of the six ranked brokers, only Trade Republic states that IRPF withholding and reporting obligations apply, and only to clients migrated to its Spanish branch; the contract does not state the scope by income type. Trading 212 states that clients outside Germany handle their own tax. XTB, Lightyear, IBKR and Scalable Capital publish no AEAT reporting or withholding role for Spain. Spanish-established banks and brokers report to the AEAT themselves.

Trading 212 EU GmbH, a German entity supervised by BaFin and formerly FXFlat Bank GmbH. Its custodians are Interactive Brokers and BNY Mellon, and cash deposits are protected up to EUR 100,000 per person per partner bank. Its automatic German tax withholding applies to German tax residents only, not to Spanish clients.

Spain is on Fixed pricing only; there is no Tiered option in Spain. Spanish shares and ETFs cost 0.05% of trade value, minimum EUR 3.00, with SmartRouting, or 0.10%, minimum EUR 4.00, with direct routing. Currency conversion costs 3 basis points on automatic conversion, or from 0.20 basis points (0.002%) with a USD 2.00 minimum per order if you place a manual spot FX order.

Since 1 January 2025 (Ley 7/2024) the savings-income scale is 19% up to EUR 6,000, 21% from EUR 6,000 to EUR 50,000, 23% from EUR 50,000 to EUR 200,000, 27% from EUR 200,000 to EUR 300,000 and 30% above EUR 300,000. Capital gains, dividends and interest are taxed on this scale.

Generally not as retail clients. The PRIIPs Regulation, Regulation (EU) 1286/2014, requires a Key Information Document for packaged products sold to EU retail investors, and most US-domiciled ETFs do not publish one, so EU brokers block them. UCITS ETFs tracking the same indexes are the practical equivalent.

Generally yes, because they defer tax. A distributing ETF’s payouts are taxed as savings income in the year they are paid, even if you reinvest them. An accumulating ETF reinvests inside the fund, so tax falls due only when you sell. Both are taxed on the same savings-income scale.

If the Modelo 720 filing and self-declaration are what you want to avoid, consider it. Spanish-established entities such as MyInvestor, Openbank, Renta 4, Bankinter Broker, BBVA Trader, SelfBank, Andbank and ActivoBank report to the AEAT themselves, the same mechanism V2475-25 applies to Trade Republic’s branch. We hold no verified fee data for them, so compare their pricing on their own sites before deciding.