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Practical manual for Income Tax 2023.

Delimitation of the obligation to declare in personal income tax

Note: For the purposes of determining the obligation to declare, exempt income is not taken into account.

Positive delimitation

The following taxpayers are required to file the declaration for the fiscal year 2023

New in 2023:for this fiscal year 2023, the First Final Provision of Royal Decree-Law 13/2022, of July 26 ( BOE of July 27) has modified article 96.2 of the Personal Income Tax Law , establishing the obligation to declare for all those natural persons who at any time during the tax period had been registered, as self-employed workers, in the Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers or Autonomous Workers, or in the Special Social Security Regime for Sea Workers, regardless of the amount of their income.

a. Those who have obtained income in the year greater than the amounts indicated below for each class or source.

b. Those who , regardless of the amount and nature or source of the income obtained, were entitled to apply the transitional regime of the deduction for investment in habitual housing, the deduction for international double taxation , or have made contributions to protected assets of people with disabilities, pension plans, insured pension plans, company social security plans, dependency insurance or social security mutual funds that reduce the tax base, when they exercise the corresponding right.

c. Those not required to file due to the amount, nature or source of income obtained in the year, who request the refund derived from the regulations of Personal Income Tax that, where applicable, corresponds to them (among other cases due to the withholdings and payments on account incurred or due to deductions for maternity, large families or dependents with disabilities).

The provisional liquidation that, where appropriate, the tax administration may carry out on these taxpayers may not imply any obligation other than the restitution of what was previously returned plus the late payment interest referred to in article 26.6 of the LGT . All of this without prejudice to any subsequent verification or investigation that, where appropriate, may be carried out by the State Tax Administration Agency.

In relation to the LGT see Law 58/2003, of December 17, General Tax.

d. From 2023, all natural persons who at any time during the tax period were registered as self-employed or freelance workers :

  • in the Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers or Autonomous Workers, or

  • in the Special Social Security Regime for Sea Workers 

In both cases, regardless of the amount of their returns.

Precision: Please note that and are also affected by this obligation the collaborating family members of self-employed or freelance workers, who are registered in the indicated regimes (Special Regime for Self-Employed or Freelance Workers, or Special Social Security Regime for Sea Workers).

Beneficiaries of the minimum vital income: in accordance with the provisions of article 36.1.f) and 2.c) of Law 19/2021, of December 20, which establishes the minimum vital income, the holders of the minimum vital income and all the members of the cohabitation unit are obliged, in order to maintain the minimum vital income benefit, to annually submit the declaration corresponding to IRPF , regardless of whether or not they meet the requirements established in article 96 of the IRPF Law for the obligation to declare.

For these purposes, the cohabitation unit is the one defined in article 6 of Law 19/2021, of December 20.

When minors are part of the minimum vital income cohabitation unit, they must file a declaration individually or jointly with their parents (if it is the taxation option of the family unit) and, to do so, they can access the Renta WEB help service, authenticating themselves as follows:

(*) In the case of a joint declaration, the minor's NIF must be entered but authentication with a reference number (RENØ) or Cl@ve will not be necessary, unless the minor obtains income.

  • With reference (RENØ) . 

    Please note that if the minor did not file a IRPF return in the previous year, he/she must be the holder or co-holder of a Spanish bank account ( IBAN ) opened in his/her name as of December 31, 2023 (for Income Tax 2023) in order to be identified.

  • With Cl@ve Móvil (includes Cl@ve PIN) .

    In order to register in Cl@ve , minors must come with their valid ID issued by the General Police Directorate, accompanied by the person exercising their parental authority with the documentation that proves their identification and parental authority.

    They cannot register in Cl@ve with a NIF K.

The declaration of these minors may also be submitted on their behalf:

  • By legal representatives (normally, the parents) with their own authentication system (electronic certificate or Cl@ve), if they have previously registered in the Registry of successions and legal representations of minors and incapacitated persons.

    See the Resolution of May 18, 2010, of the General Directorate of the State Agency for Tax Administration, in relation to the registration and management of power of attorney and the registration and management of successions and legal representation of minors and incapacitated persons for carrying out procedures and actions online before the Tax Agency ( BOE of May 21).

  • By a social collaborator or by an authorized public official (face-to-face attention in offices) where identification with Cl@ve Móvil (includes Cl@ve PIN) or reference is not necessary because the one who signs is the collaborator or the official with his certificate.

  • By an authorized public official (telephone assistance) after identifying the minor with Cl@ve Móvil (includes Cl@ve PIN) or reference number for their assistance (RENØ).

Negative delimitation

are not required to file a tax return for the amount and nature of the income obtained:

1. Taxpayers whose income comes exclusively from the following sources, provided that they do not exceed any of the limits indicated in each case, in individual or joint taxation:

A. Gross employment income (including, but not limited to, pensions and passive earnings, including those from abroad, as well as compensatory pensions and non-exempt alimony) the amount of which does not exceed the sum of:

• 22,000 euros per year , in general.

• 15,000 euros per year , in the following cases:

  1. When the income from work comes from more than one payer.

    However, the limit will be 22,000 euros per year in the following cases :

    1. When, coming from more than one payer, the sum of the amounts received from the second and remaining payers, in order of amount, do not exceed in total the amount of 1,500 euros per year.

    This is regardless of whether the amounts paid by the second and subsequent payers are subject to the general withholding procedure, are compensatory pensions or other income not subject to withholding or are subject to a fixed withholding rate.

    In the specific case of receiving a Social Security pension from the INSS , and the Civil Service pension from the General State Administration itself, it is considered that there are two payers until the total assumption of the management of the Civil Service Regime of the State by the INSS takes place, that is, until the integration of the General Subdirectorate of Civil Service Management into the INSS takes place. 

    2. In the case of pensioners whose only work income consists of passive benefits referred to in article 17.2.a) of the Income Tax Law from two or more payers, provided that the amount of the withholdings made by these payers has been determined by the Tax Agency, upon request of the taxpayer to this effect, through form 146 and, in addition, the following requirements met:

    • That the number of payers of passive benefits has not increased during the year compared to those initially reported when making the application.

    • That the amount of benefits actually paid by the payers does not differ by more than 300 euros per year from that initially reported in the application.

    • That no other circumstances determining an increase in the withholding rate provided for in article 87 of the Personal Income Tax Regulations have occurred during the year.

    Precision: Regarding Form 146, see the Resolution of January 13, 2003 ( BOE of January 14), which approves Form 146 for the request to determine the amount of withholdings, which may be submitted by taxpayers receiving passive benefits from more than one payer, and determines the place, deadline and conditions for submission.

  2. When spousal alimony or non-exempt alimony annuities are received.

    Please note that the annual alimony payments received from parents by virtue of a court decision or regulatory agreement are exempt from IRPF . See Chapter 2 in this regard.

  3. When the payer of the employment income is not required to withhold.

    Precision: When a taxpayer resident in Spain receives as his only income a pension from a foreign source and must pay tax on it in the IRPF , either because it is provided for in the Agreement to eliminate double taxation with the country of origin of the pension or because there is no such Agreement, it must be taken into account that the non-resident payer of the pension is not obliged to withhold on account of the IRPF as long as he does not operate in Spain, consequently, the determining limit for the obligation to declare is 15,000 euros. (Resolution of the TEAC of June 28, 2022, Claim number 00/02210/2022, issued in an appeal for the unification of criteria).

  4. When full employment income is received and is subject to a fixed withholding rate.

    This consideration is given in 2023 to the withholding rate of 35% or 19% (when the income comes from entities with a net turnover of less than 100,000 euros) applicable to the remuneration received for the status of directors and members of the Boards of Directors, of the Boards that act in their place and other members of other representative bodies, as well as the withholding rate of 15% applicable to income derived from giving courses, conferences and the like, or derived from the production of literary, artistic or scientific works, provided that the right to their exploitation is transferred. However, the withholding rate on work income derived from the production of literary, artistic or scientific works will be 7% when the volume of such gross income corresponding to the immediately preceding fiscal year is less than 15,000 euros and represents more than 75% of the sum of the gross income from economic activities and work obtained by the taxpayer in said fiscal year.

Note: In the case of joint taxation, the same quantitative limits indicated above must be taken into account. However, for the purposes of determining the number of payers, the situation of each member of the family unit individually considered will be taken into account. For example, in a joint declaration by both spouses, each of whom receives their income from a single payer, the determining limit for the obligation to declare is 22,000 euros per year.

B. Gross income from movable capital (dividends from shares, interest on accounts, deposits or fixed-income securities, etc.) and capital gains (gains from redemptions of shares in Investment Funds, prizes for participation in contests or games, etc.), provided that both have been subject to withholding or payment on account and their total amount does not exceed the sum of euros per year.

The IRPF regulations do not provide for the possibility of offsetting positive and negative gross income from movable capital for the purposes of the obligation to file a declaration. Consequently, only positive gross income will be taken into account to determine whether there is an obligation to declare.

Capital gains from transfers or reimbursements of shares or interests in collective investment institutions in which the withholding base cannot be determined by the amount to be included in the tax base are excluded from the joint limit of 1,600 euros per year.

Note: When the withholding base has not been determined based on the amount to be included in the tax base, the capital gain obtained from transfers or reimbursements of shares or interests in collective investment institutions may not be computed as a capital gain subject to withholding or payment on account for the purposes of the limits excluding the obligation to declare.

C. Imputed real estate income , gross income from personal capital not subject to withholding derived from Treasury bills and subsidies for the acquisition of officially protected or appraised housing and other capital gains derived from public aid , with a joint limit of 1,000 euros per year.

Since it does not give rise to the imputation of real estate income, the taxpayer's habitual residence will not be taken into consideration for these purposes, nor will the parking spaces acquired jointly with it up to a maximum of two, as well as undeveloped land.

2. Taxpayers who have obtained in the year 2023 exclusively gross income from work, capital (personal or real estate) or economic activities, as well as capital gains, subject or not to withholding, up to a maximum joint amount of 1,000 euros per year and capital losses of less than 500 euros, in individual or joint taxation.

Exception:

However, as of January 1 2023, all natural persons who at any time during the tax period were registered as self- workers in the Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers or in the Special Social Security Regime for Sea Workers will be required to file

Clarifications to points 1 and 2 above:

To determine the amounts indicated, income that is exempt from IRPF will not be taken into consideration, such as, for example, public scholarships to study at all levels and grades of the educational system, annual alimony received from parents by court order, etc.

Income subject to the special tax on prizes from certain lotteries and bets, regulated in the Thirty-Third Additional Provision of the Income Tax Law will also not be taken into account.

None of the amounts or limits will be increased or expanded in the case of joint taxation of family units.