LumenWhen does a self-employed autónomo in Spain file quarterly VAT and income tax payments?
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Quarterly. VAT returns and IRPF instalments for the first three quarters are due in the first 20 days of April, July and October; the fourth quarter is due in the first 30 days of January. You file VAT returns even when there's no VAT to pay, and a nil IRPF instalment return when nothing is due.
Key facts
| What | The law says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| VAT period | Calendar quarter (monthly only for large businesses and other listed cases, such as turnover above €6,010,121.04 the year before) | RD 1624/1992, art. 71.3 |
| VAT return deadline, Q1–Q3 | First 20 calendar days of the month after the quarter | RD 1624/1992, art. 71.4 |
| VAT return deadline, Q4 | First 30 calendar days of January | RD 1624/1992, art. 71.4 |
| Nothing to pay | You still file the periodic VAT returns and the annual summary, unless you only make exempt operations under arts. 20 and 26 of the VAT Act | RD 1624/1992, art. 71.1 |
| IRPF instalment deadline, Q1–Q3 | 1–20 April, 1–20 July, 1–20 October | RD 439/2007, art. 111.1.a |
| IRPF instalment deadline, Q4 | 1–30 January | RD 439/2007, art. 111.1.b |
| IRPF instalment amount (direct estimation) | 20% of net income from 1 January to the end of the quarter, minus earlier instalments and (for professionals) tax withheld | RD 439/2007, arts. 110.1.a and 110.3.a |
| No IRPF instalments | Professionals with at least 70% of last year’s income subject to withholding | RD 439/2007, art. 109.2 |
VAT
The VAT regulation (RD 1624/1992, art. 71) sets the calendar quarter as the normal settlement period. You file the return in the first 20 calendar days of the month after each quarter, so in April, July and October, and the fourth-quarter return in the first 30 days of January. Businesses and professionals must file the periodic returns and the annual summary even when there’s no VAT charged or deducted. The exception is someone who only makes the exempt operations of arts. 20 and 26 of the VAT Act.
Income tax (IRPF) instalments
Self-employed people with economic activities pay instalments on account of their annual income tax (RD 439/2007, art. 109). The deadlines are the 1st to the 20th of April, July and October for the first three quarters, and the 1st to the 30th of January for the fourth (art. 111). If the calculation gives nothing to pay, you file a nil return.
Under the direct estimation method, each instalment is 20% of the net income from the start of the year to the end of that quarter, minus the instalments already due for earlier quarters. Professionals also deduct the tax their clients withheld over the same period (art. 110).
Exemption for professionals. You don’t have to make instalments for a professional activity if at least 70% of last year’s income from it had tax withheld (art. 109.2). When you’re starting out, the percentage withheld during the instalment period counts instead (art. 109.5).
Related questions
- Clients withhold 15% IRPF from a professional’s invoices, or 7% for new professionals in their first three tax years (RD 439/2007, art. 95.1).
Sources
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