How to Legalize Money in Spain in 2025

Money legalization is the main issue. In Spain, you can use cash, but only for small purchases such as furniture, food, and household appliances. You can pay in cash with a check for up to 1,000 euros. Everything else must be paid by card. Basically, cashless payments are accepted everywhere in Spain now.

Two individuals can pay each other in cash for up to 100,000 euros in Spain. But a Spaniard will never accept cash. Between two individuals, if an agent appears who takes a commission, this transaction is impossible.

To deposit your money into a current account legally, you must provide income certificates and documents confirming the origin of the funds.
There are several ways to legalize money.

If you have money on a card in your country. You need to:
1. Open a current account in Spain correctly. If you are a citizen of the European Union, then in Spain they will open an account for you in a bank only upon presentation of your passport. But this does not mean that you can transfer your funds from Poland, for example, or another EU country to this account. To open an account in Spain correctly, you need to provide a certificate of income for the last year, show a tax return. Some banks require a document stating what position you held and how many years you worked at this company. You are obliged not only to provide this certificate in your language, you must translate this certificate into Spanish. In the certificate of income, you must indicate how much you received in salary per month. The document on the origin of money is valid in Spain from 1.5 to 2 years.
2. Then you can send money from your country from your current account in your country to an account in Spain. Relatives cannot send you money from their account, they will block it.

- If you have cash?
Open a bank account. We recommend depositing in parts up to 50,000 euros at a time. There must be a declaration that the money has been declared. The declaration must be made at the airport. The declaration is valid for 24 hours.
- If you have a small amount, some banks accept up to 10,000 euros per month from any individual without a declaration. You can deposit money into the account in parts. But again, you need to open a bank account correctly. And if you deposit 10,000 euros monthly during the year, the bank may ask you for a certificate of income.
- If you have a large amount of money, you can open accounts in different EU countries, and then transfer money from these countries to your Spanish account.

Why can an account in Spain be blocked?
Every year, according to the law of Spanish banks, you must provide a certificate of income from your country, translated into Spanish, to the Spanish bank. If you do not provide them, the account will be blocked.
If you bring large amounts of cash and often, the account can also be blocked.