Opening a Bank Account in Spain as an American: What the Bank Must Ask
Published Last verified
Opening a bank account in Spain as an American runs into one form that a Spanish customer answers differently: the tax self-certification. Under the agreement Spain and the United States signed in Madrid on May 14, 2013, a Spanish bank must identify the U.S. persons among its customers, and the rules it follows treat a U.S. citizen as a U.S. tax resident wherever that citizen lives. This guide covers what the bank asks, what it reports once it has your answer, and the police certificate you use to open an account as a non-resident.
Can you tell a Spanish bank you are not a U.S. taxpayer because you live in Spain?
No. The due diligence rules in Annex I of the U.S.-Spain FATCA agreement require the bank to obtain a self-certification that lets it determine whether you are resident in the United States for tax purposes. They add a rule written for this exact situation: for that purpose, a U.S. citizen is considered resident in the United States for tax purposes, even if also a tax resident of another country. A TIE in your wallet and a Spanish tax return do not change the answer on that form.
The bank does not take the answer on trust. It must confirm that the self-certification is reasonable against what it collected when you opened the account, including the documents gathered under its anti-money-laundering checks, and the agreement bars it from relying on a self-certification it knows or has reason to know is incorrect. A form that says “not a U.S. person” filed next to a copy of a U.S. passport is the case that rule exists for.
Once the self-certification shows a U.S. person, the bank must treat the account as a U.S. reportable account and obtain a self-certification that includes your U.S. taxpayer identification number, which may be an IRS Form W-9. Staying silent does not make the account invisible. If a change of circumstances makes the original self-certification unreliable and the bank cannot obtain a valid new one, it must treat the account as reportable anyway. The same agreement states that the United States will not require a Spanish bank to withhold tax on, or close, the account of a customer who does not cooperate, provided the U.S. competent authority receives the information on it. Under the agreement, the answer to a customer who does not cooperate is reporting, not closure.
What the bank asks an American, and the rule behind each question
The questions below all come from the same agreement. The last column is what keeps the appointment short.
| Question at the counter | What the agreement requires | What to have ready |
|---|---|---|
| Who you are | The self-certification is checked against documents collected under the bank’s anti-money-laundering procedures | Your passport and the bank’s own document list, requested in advance |
| Where you are tax resident | A U.S. citizen counts as resident in the United States for tax purposes, even if also resident elsewhere | An answer consistent with your passport |
| Your U.S. taxpayer number | Required once the self-certification shows a U.S. person; it may be given on an IRS Form W-9 or a similar agreed form | Your U.S. federal taxpayer identification number |
| When the form is due on a deposit account | No review is required until the balance exceeds $50,000 at the end of a calendar year, unless the bank elects otherwise where Spanish rules allow it; the self-certification is then due within 90 days after that year ends | Your answer at opening, in case the bank applies the procedure to every account |
| What changes later | A change of circumstances makes the old self-certification unusable; the bank must obtain a new one or report the account | A prompt answer when the bank writes to you |
Dollar amounts in the agreement include their equivalent in other currencies. For a euro account, the bank converts the $50,000 line using a published spot rate from the last day of the calendar year before the one it is testing, so the euro figure moves from year to year.
What the bank reports, and when
For a reportable account, the agreement lists the data: the name, address and U.S. taxpayer identification number of each U.S. account holder, the account number, the bank’s name and identifying number, the balance or value at the end of the year (or just before closure if the account was closed), and for a deposit account the gross interest paid or credited during the year. The bank reports it every year to the Spanish competent authority, and Spain exchanges it with the United States within nine months after the end of the calendar year it covers.
How the bank files that report on the Spanish side, and the basic payment account a legal resident can fall back on when a branch is reluctant, are covered in preparing your U.S. finances before the move. None of it replaces your own filings. The bank’s report travels from the bank to Spain to the IRS; the FBAR and Form 8938 travel from you, and the same guide sets out what the first Spanish balance starts on both sides.
Opening as a non-resident: the police certificate
If you open the account before you live in Spain, the official proof of that status is the certificate of non-residence issued by the Policía Nacional. It certifies that you are a foreigner who is not resident in Spain, and any foreigner, from the EU or not, can request it.
The procedure is short on paper. You file form EX-15, the same form used to request an NIE, with proof of the fee paid on form 790 code 012. The police fee table sets certificates issued at the request of the person at 7.31 euros. In Spain, you file with the Dirección General de la Policía directly, at an Oficina de Extranjería or at a police station. From abroad, the request goes to the Comisaría General de Extranjería y Fronteras through Spain’s consular offices. The police must decide within 5 days of registering the request, and if no answer comes within that time, the request counts as refused.
The certificate is valid for 3 months from the day it is issued. Get it close to the bank appointment, not months ahead: a certificate that expired before the branch saw it proves nothing. If you still need the number itself, the NIE guide explains when the police assign one automatically and when you must apply.
Where Americans get stuck
The first sticking point is the account that grows. A deposit account that stays below the $50,000 line needs no FATCA review under the agreement, but the year it ends above that line, the bank has 90 days after the year end to obtain your self-certification. If the bank asks for the form in the months after a year end, that request is the deadline at work, not an audit.
The second is a small local institution. The agreement lets certain small Spanish financial institutions with a local client base skip FATCA reporting, on conditions that cut both ways for Americans. Such an institution must not have policies or practices that discriminate against opening or maintaining accounts for U.S. persons who are resident in Spain, and it must not provide accounts to U.S. persons who are not resident in Spain. A local cooperative that turns away an American who lives in Texas may be following the agreement rather than breaking it.
The third is an account held through a company or a trust. For a new account opened by an entity that is a passive non-financial entity, the bank identifies the natural persons who control it and must treat the account as reportable if any of them is a U.S. citizen or resident. Opening a Spanish account for a U.S. LLC or a family trust is a different file from opening one in your own name.
Before your bank appointment
Ask the bank for its document list in writing, bring your passport and your U.S. taxpayer identification number, answer the tax residence question as a U.S. citizen, and if you open as a non-resident, request the police certificate so that its 3 months cover the appointment.
A personal account in your own name is something most Americans open alone: the self-certification is one page, and the reporting that follows is the bank’s job. The cases that need a professional are accounts held through a company or a trust, an account opened while your U.S. status is changing, and any situation where the bank’s classification and your own tax position disagree.
The bank appointment sits early in the move, after the documents it depends on and before the first transfer. The Spain Navigator, the app that puts every step of your move to Spain in order, places it in that sequence with the date each document runs out.
FAQ
My spouse is not American. What happens to our joint account?
It is still a U.S. reportable account once identified as one: the agreement defines it as an account held by one or more specified U.S. persons. The report names each U.S. account holder with an address and U.S. taxpayer number, and when the bank tests the $50,000 threshold for a deposit account, each holder of a joint account is attributed the entire balance, not half of it.
Can I prepare any of this from the United States?
The police certificate, yes. The Policía Nacional says that a foreigner who is not in Spain when applying requests the certificate of non-residence from its Comisaría General de Extranjería y Fronteras through Spain's consular offices abroad. Whether a bank opens the account itself without a visit to a branch is that bank's own policy, so ask for its document list before you plan the trip.
Does the bank have to use the IRS Form W-9?
No. The agreement says the self-certification that includes your U.S. taxpayer identification number may be an IRS Form W-9 or another similar agreed form, so a Spanish bank can use its own document. What matters is the content: your tax residence, with a U.S. citizen counted as a U.S. resident, and the U.S. number.
Is the certificate of non-residence the same thing as an NIE?
No. Both are requested on the same police form, EX-15, but the NIE is a personal and unique identification number, while the certificate proves one fact, that you are not resident in Spain, and expires 3 months after it is issued. The police must decide on a certificate request within 5 days of registering it, and silence after that counts as a refusal.
Sources
Official pages this guide was checked against, with the date we last read them.
