FACT CHECK: No, Spain does not fine you for withdrawing €3,000

There have been several posts doing the rounds on X and Facebook claiming that the Spanish tax authorities will fine you for trying to withdraw €3,000 or more from your bank.

Some posts have even gotten up to 20,000 likes each and were shared more than 5,000 times.

Take this post, for example: “If you wish to withdraw more than €3,000 in cash, you must notify the Tax Agency at least 24 hours in advance of the withdrawal. You must also specify the purpose of the withdrawal. Failure to comply with this requirement may result in fines of up to €150,000”.

There have even been some very misleading headlines in the Spanish press such as in right-wing OK Diario ,which wrote “Fine of up to €150,000 for withdrawing cash from an ATM”, or in the widely read 20Minutos newspaper, which wrote “Up to €150,000: these are the fines imposed by the Treasury for unjustified withdrawals or deposits of money from the bank”.

These posts are categorically not true, the tax authorities won’t fine you for withdrawing €3000 from the bank.

Here's where the confusion comes in. What does happen is that banks are obliged to report any transactions above €3,000, whether that’s deposited or taken out. This is to help fight against tax fraud and money laundering.

READ MORE: When do banks inform Spain's Hacienda tax office of your transactions?

The law specifically states bank communication with Hacienda "must include information on deposits, withdrawals of funds and collections, when the amount exceeds €3,000”. You can read the full law here.

This is nothing new. This law came into force back in 2010 and it hasn't been amended since.

So while your bank may inform Spanish tax authorities if you withdraw more than €3,000 from the branch, it is not necessary that you justify it and you will definitely not be fined €150,000.

The truth is that no bank in Spain will even let you withdraw more than €3,000 in one go from an ATM.

Bank ATMs have a limit that varies depending on the institution. For example, Ibercaja has a daily ATM limit of €1,000, while Banco Santander’s limit is €600 and BBVA has a limit of €2,000.

If you do want more than €3,000 in cash, you will have to go to your local branch and do the withdrawal over the counter with a bank teller. This is so they can have a record of it to send to the Tax Agency.

As CaixaBank’s blog explains: "There is no legal limit for withdrawing money from an ATM, although if you want to withdraw more than €3,000 at once, you will need to speak to a bank employee and prepare a receipt, which will be sent to both the Tax Agency and the Bank of Spain”.

You must however make sure that you file all your tax declarations accurately and include all payments received or money given/received as a gift, otherwise you could be fined for tax fraud, but not simply for withdrawing money.