La Sirena owner José Elías on leaving Spain to pay less taxes: "Moving to Andorra would cost me €200 million to have a physical company."

In recent years, we've seen a mass exodus of social media personalities and content creators moving to Andorra for tax reasons . Known as "the influencer paradise," Andorra's Personal Income Tax ( IRPF ) on salaries over €40,000 per year is below 10% in the neighboring country. In Spain, it can reach 53%—a difference of more than 40 percentage points, which is driving many to relocate.

But doing so isn't that easy. This is what billionaire businessman and owner of La Sirena, José Elías, refers to in his recent interview on Jordi Wild's podcast, "The Wild Project." During part of the conversation, Elías mentions that Andorra and Formentera are two of his favorite vacation destinations, although he clarifies that he wouldn't consider moving to the neighboring country.

The reason? The " exit tax ," a tax measure that affects individuals or companies that decide to transfer their tax residence abroad. It allows the State to collect the latent capital gains accumulated by certain assets to prevent the flight of assets or wealth without having paid taxes in Spain under more favorable tax regimes, explains DiG Abogados.

Broadly speaking, the millionaire explains, "Those of us who have physical businesses and want to leave Spain for Andorra are given a simulated estimate of how much our business is worth, compared to how much we bought it for, and simulated a sale. They make us pay 21% or 28%."

"The last time I asked, moving to Andorra cost me around 200 million ," Elías explains. Regulated in Article 95 bis of the Personal Income Tax Law , the exit tax applies to taxpayers who have been tax residents in Spain for at least 10 of the 15 tax periods prior to the last tax period, a requirement that Elías more than meets.

However, to apply this regime, the market value of the shares or interests must jointly exceed four million euros or, failing that, the entity's participation percentage must exceed 25% on the accrual date of the last tax period for which this tax must be declared (provided that the market value of the shares exceeds one million euros).

However, "YouTubers (referring, in this case, to Jordi Wild, who is interviewing him) have an advantage; they don't do the 'Tax Exit' on you ," Elías points out.