US LLC and S-Corp Owners on Spain's Digital Nomad Visa: Which IRS Documents Prove Your Income (2026)

Owners of a US LLC or S-corp apply for Spain's Digital Nomad Visa on the business owner route, and the IRS documents that prove your income depend on how the IRS classifies your company. An S-corp owner on payroll files pay stubs, a W-2 and Form 941. An LLC owner with no payroll files a personal Form 1040, with Schedule C or a Schedule K-1, plus bank statements showing the money reaching a personal account.

The UGE (Unidad de Grandes Empresas), the office that decides applications filed in Spain, publishes a documentation list for company owners. It was not written with US pass-through entities in mind, so each item needs a US equivalent.

This guide maps one system onto the other and explains how to pay yourself in the months before you apply.

Key Takeaways

• A W-2 from your own S-corp does not make you an employee for the visa. If you own or control the company, you file as a business owner (autónomo societario).
• The UGE asks owners for the company's latest corporate income tax return. For an S-corp that is Form 1120-S and for a multi-member LLC it is Form 1065. A single-member LLC files no entity return at all.
• A Schedule K-1 shows your share of the profit, not money you received. It needs matching transfers into your personal account.
• No published rule sets how often you must pay yourself, but the UGE asks for a bank certificate of the last three months with payments identifiable with your company.
• Income must reach €2,849 gross per month for the main applicant in 2026.

In This Guide

• Which Digital Nomad Visa route US LLC and S-corp owners apply under
• How the IRS classifies your LLC or S-corp and why it decides your documents
• What the UGE asks US business owners to prove
• IRS documents that prove your income, by entity type
• How to pay yourself from your LLC or S-corp before you apply
• Bank statements, share certificates and operating agreements: stamp, notarisation or apostille
• Social Security and Beckham Law for US business owners
• Have your US company reviewed before you apply

Which Digital Nomad Visa Route US LLC and S-Corp Owners Apply Under

Spain's Digital Nomad Visa, officially the residence authorisation for international teleworkers, covers two kinds of relationship with a foreign company under Article 74 bis of Ley 14/2013: employment, and professional (self-employed) activity.

The UGE's documentation guidance places applicants who are the sole owner of their company, or who hold effective control of it, on the professional side as autónomo societario: a self-employed person who works through a company they own.

That holds even when your S-corp pays you through payroll. The same guidance warns that proof of an employment relationship is not valid to prove a professional one, so a W-2 presented as an employee's does not establish your route.

The guidance sets no ownership percentage. The clearest benchmark in Spanish law is Article 305.2.b) of the General Social Security Law: control exists with at least half of the capital and is presumed from one third, or from 25% if you manage the company.

Our article on how the UGE decides between the employee and business owner route covers shareholdings in detail, and our guide for business owners covers the route as a whole.

Two neighbouring cases are worth separating. If you invoice a single client through a one-person LLC, in Hoply's experience the UGE can ask for the requirements of both the owner and the freelancer route, and our article on self-employment registration proof explains the freelancer side. If your company is a UK limited company, see our guide for UK limited company directors.

How the IRS Classifies Your LLC or S-Corp and Why It Decides Your Documents

An LLC is created under state law, and the IRS does not tax it as an LLC. It taxes it according to its number of members and the elections it has made.

A single-member LLC is a disregarded entity by default. A disregarded entity is a business the IRS does not tax separately from its owner: its income and expenses go on the owner's personal return, usually on Schedule C of Form 1040.

An LLC with two or more members is taxed as a partnership by default. It files Form 1065 and gives each member a Schedule K-1, the form that reports each owner's share of a pass-through entity's income for the year.

An S corporation files Form 1120-S and also issues a Schedule K-1 to each shareholder. The IRS requires an S-corp to pay a shareholder who works in the business reasonable compensation as wages before making non-wage distributions.

An LLC can also elect to be taxed as a corporation with Form 8832, so confirm your current classification with your CPA before you read the table.

What the UGE Asks US Business Owners to Prove

Every Digital Nomad Visa file must show that the foreign company has had real and continuous activity for at least one year (Article 74 ter a) of Ley 14/2013).

On top of that, the UGE's guidance lists four extra documents for an autónomo societario who owns or controls the company. The table pairs each requirement with the US documents commonly used to meet it.

This is a working map, not a list published by the UGE. The UGE publishes no list of accepted US documents and can request more at any point. Spanish consulates in the US apply the same law with their own checklists, so confirm the list for your jurisdiction.

Two rows need explaining.

The corporate tax return does not translate cleanly. LLCs and S-corps are pass-through entities that generally pay no federal corporate income tax, but the entity return is still the document that shows revenue, expenses and profit. A single-member LLC has no entity return, so the file relies on the owner's Schedule C and explains the US classification.

The employee report has no single US equivalent, and the UGE's own wording allows a report "or similar". Form 941 is the closest federal record when the company runs payroll. Having no employees does not rule you out, but the file then has to show activity another way: clients, invoices, expenses and tax filings.

There is no official minimum company revenue. As a working benchmark, Hoply's lawyers look for annual revenue of roughly twice the income you need to show.

Owners get one concession: the guidance treats the three-month relationship as met once you prove 100% ownership and more than one year of company activity. Partners with a smaller stake should be ready to document the relationship too.

Our Digital Nomad Visa document checklist covers the standard file for every route.

IRS Documents That Prove Your Income, by Entity Type

Company documents prove the business. Your personal income is a separate question, and the answer changes with your structure.

S-Corp Owners

You are on payroll, so your file looks closest to an employee's even though your route is not. Pay stubs for the last three months, your latest W-2 and the company's Form 941 show the salary. Form 1120-S and your K-1 show the company behind it and any distributions on top.

Single-Member LLC Owners

The IRS does not treat you as an employee of your own LLC, so there are no pay stubs and no W-2. For owners who are not on payroll, the UGE's guidance points to the personal income tax return for the fiscal year immediately before the application. For you, that is Form 1040 with Schedule C.

Multi-Member LLC Owners

Members of an LLC taxed as a partnership are generally not on payroll either. Your documents are the Schedule K-1 from Form 1065 and your Form 1040.

A K-1 is not enough by itself: it reports your share of the profit, whether or not the company paid it out. Pair it with the Operating Agreement and with bank records of what you received.

In every case, Hoply's lawyers prefer an IRS transcript to a plain copy of a return where more formality helps, because the transcript comes from the IRS itself.

How to Pay Yourself From Your LLC or S-Corp Before You Apply

No published UGE rule says how often an owner must be paid, or in what form.

What the UGE has asked for in its 2026 requests for documents is specific: a bank certificate of the last three months showing that you receive your remuneration, with movements identifiable with the company.

Three practical consequences follow.

• Pay into a personal account. Company statements prove the business. They do not prove your income unless a transfer to your own account is visible.
• Keep it regular. Monthly transfers at or above €2,849 gross for three months are the simplest pattern to read. A single lump sum may cover the amount, but it does not show three months of remuneration.
• Keep the story consistent. Bank movements, tax documents and company figures should describe the same income.

The €2,849 figure is 200% of Spain's minimum wage under Real Decreto 126/2026, and it rises with each family member. Leave a margin for the exchange rate, and see our income requirements guide for the family amounts.

Take two invented examples (the names are fictional). Megan owns a single-member LLC and moves money across when she needs it: $9,000 in March, nothing in April, $2,500 in May. Carlos owns 100% of an S-corp and runs payroll at $5,000 a month.

Carlos's bank certificate already reads as monthly remuneration. Megan earns more over the year, but her three months do not show it, so she sets a fixed monthly transfer well before she files.

Any change has to be real and correctly reported in the US. Moving to payroll, or electing S-corp taxation, is a US tax decision to take with your CPA and not something to do for the visa alone. If you want your structure checked first, you can request a free case evaluation and Hoply's lawyers will review how you are paid before you change anything.

Bank Statements, Share Certificates and Operating Agreements: Stamp, Notarisation or Apostille

Owners often hear that a document "needs a stamp" without being told which document. The rules differ by type.

• Bank statements. The UGE asks for statements signed and stamped by the bank, or notarised only when the bank cannot provide a signature and stamp. Ask your branch first. Our article on bank statement requerimientos covers the fallback options.
• State documents. A Certificate of Good Standing or a certified copy of your Articles is an official document. Apostilles for state documents come from that state's Secretary of State.
• Federal documents. Apostilles for documents issued by federal agencies come from the US Department of State's Office of Authentications.
• Private company documents. Operating Agreements, stock certificates and share ledgers are private. No published UGE rule requires them to carry a stamp. Their weight comes from matching the official record: your Articles, your state filings and the percentage on your K-1.

Documents in English also need a sworn translation into Spanish, at around €20 per page. US tax returns are long, so confirm what has to be translated, apostilled or notarised before you order anything. Hoply's lawyers decide that document by document.

Social Security and Beckham Law for US Business Owners

Business owners commit to registering with RETA, Spain's self-employed Social Security scheme, after approval. The flat rate is about €88 per month in the first year and about €230 per month afterwards at the minimum base.

How RETA interacts with US self-employment tax falls under the US-Spain Social Security agreement, and it is worth raising with a cross-border tax adviser. Our guide for US citizens covers the US tax side, including the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion.

The Beckham Law is Spain's special tax regime for people who move to Spain for work, set out in Article 93 of the Personal Income Tax Law. It taxes employment income at a flat 24% up to €600,000 a year.

Its remote-work gateway is written for employees who hold the international telework visa. A business owner accredits a professional relationship, so the owner route closes that gateway. Article 93 has other gateways with their own conditions, and they need individual tax advice.

If the regime matters to your plan, settle it before you file: you can book a tax consultation with Hoply's tax specialists, and our Beckham Law guide covers the regime in full.

Have Your US Company Reviewed Before You Apply

Your documents follow from how the IRS classifies your company and how you have been paid, and both are far easier to get right before you apply than to explain after a request for more documents.

At Hoply, our Spain-based immigration lawyers review your company structure, tell you which US documents fit each UGE requirement, prepare the file and submit it for you, with an approved-or-refunded guarantee. If you own a US LLC or S-corp, request a free case evaluation and we will tell you what your file needs before you commit to a plan.