If you are currently living and working here, you will be subject to paying income taxes in Spain (as well as on your assets) and will have to file a Spanish tax return. Depending on your residency status, you could be taxed both on your worldwide income or only your Spanish-based income.
If you are considered by the state to be an official resident in Spain, you will be obliged to pay Spanish tax on your worldwide income. If you are a non-resident in Spain, you will only pay income taxes in Spain on your Spanish income.
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Who has to pay income tax in Spain
After your first year of tax residency, everyone should file a Spanish tax return. However, you don’t have to file a Spanish tax return if your income from all sources is less than €8,000 or you earn less than €22,000 as an employee or €12,000 if you are filing jointly (this is due to the fact that your income taxes in Spain will have been deducted by your employer).
The Spanish tax year
The Spanish tax year runs from 1 January to December 31, but you will need to have declared by no later than (depending on the calendar year) the end of June with the filing period being opened up usually at the beginning of April.
In order to declare your income taxes in Spain, you will need to use Modelo 100.
You have 3 different ways of filing – online, in person or by phone.
1. Filing your Income Taxes Form Online:
In order to file your Income Taxes online, you will need to use the service of Rentaweb (RentaWeb technical help in English) to obtain your tax draft/template also called a Borrador de la Declaración. There are three different ways to access your Borrador. You can use a reference number for your taxes called “Número de referencia del borrador,” along with your DNI, a Certificado Electrónico or with a Clave PIN.Our Advice
One of the easiest ways is to go with your DNI/NIE and your “Número de referencia del borrador o de los datos fiscales (RENØ). You can get this number by clicking on the first option you get: “Obtención del número de referencia del borrador o de los datos fiscales (RENØ)”. This will ask you for your DNI/NIE number, surname and, if you did your taxes the previous year, it will ask you for an amount shown in a particular concept of your taxes from the previous year (a box number). If you didn’t do any taxes the previous year, then you will have to obtain a Certificado Electrónico or Clave PIN.
What comes next?
After this step, you will get to a screen where the system will ask you for your phone number, so they can send you your official reference number via SMS. Once you get your number via SMS, you can obtain your tax draft (Borrador de la Declaración).
Tax draft
Your tax draft will be generated automatically as Hacienda already has your financial information from the previous year in their system. It is best that you review what you can on the template to the best of your ability – and to find out about certain deductions depending on which Autonomous Community you are living in.
Important!
The most important part of this process is that you review the concept/box number 540. If this is a positive number, that means you haven’t paid enough taxes last year and that the Agencia Tributaria will demand that amount from you. If the number is a negative number, that means that the Agencia Tributaria will have to pay you back that amount.
Situation 1: I owe Hacienda money
If you do owe money to Hacienda you can choose for it to be paid in two payments – usually taken out of your bank account around July 1st for the first payment & November 1st if you have chosen the two-payment option.
Situation 2: Hacienda owes me money
If you are owed money by Hacienda, they have until December 31st to pay you the amount – usually it is transferred within a few days of your filing but sometimes it can take them several months to process the payment. If they have not paid you by the end of the year they will have to pay interest on the amount owed to you – starting January 1st of the following year.
Happy with everything?
If you’re happy with the result (again, box number 540), then you continue through to the end of the Document until you’re asked for a bank account number where the Agencia Tributaria will process your payments (whether you owe or are owed money).
And that’s it! Click on “Presentar Borrador” and make sure to save it for your own personal records as a pdf document.
2. Filing your Income Taxes Form in person with Hacienda:
Spanish Residents can get an appointment to meet with someone in person from the Agencia Tributaria by either calling or online by going to Sede Electrónica de Agencia Tributaria, where you should go to the section “Trámites destacados” and click on the option “Cita previa“. *This website can also be viewed in English by clicking on the top right-hand corner.
Obtaining your confirmation
In order to obtain your confirmation you will need to provide your DNI/NIE into the online appointment system. If you have already received a letter or email previously from Hacienda, you will only need to provide your Código Seguro de Verificación (CSV). Even if you don’t have your CSV, the online appointment system will still allow you to obtain the appointment by then taking you to a section where you can choose which office/location you would like to make the appointment with.
Need to cancel or modify?
Once all of your information has been sent, you can cancel or modify the appointment by going back online to the original webpage (Seen above) of the Sede Electrónica. In fact, the online system has the option for the Agencia Tributaria to send you an SMS and/or email with all of the information regarding your appointment.
Arrange an appointment by phone
If you would like to call and make your appointment, you can call either by calling 901 12 12 24 or 91 535 73 26 (automatic service); and 901 22 33 44 or 91 553 00 71 (personal attention) from Monday to Friday between 9h and 19h – this is called plan ‘Le Llamamos’. Another new option this year is to make an appointment via the app from AEAT that is available on both Google Play and the Apple Store.
3. Filing your Income Taxes Form by Phone with Hacienda:
You can also file your Income Taxes in Spain by phone – meaning you can make an appointment for someone from Hacienda to call you at the time you wish and process your filing all via telephone. You would need to make an appointment which you can do online or by calling 901 12 12 24 or 91 535 73 26 (automatic service); and 901 22 33 44 or 91 553 00 71 (personal attention). Once you have the confirmation of your appointment, a Hacienda representative will then call you on the day and time of your appointment.
Stacey Taylor, US, co-founder of SpainGuru
Need help filing your income taxes in Spain? Book a tax consultation here.
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