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Practical Income Manual 2023.

4. Expenses of the owner of the activity

The following concepts that appear differentiated in the IRPF declaration are included within this category:

a. Social security or contributions to alternative mutual societies of the owner of the activity

Are included:

  1. The contributions of the owner of the activity to the Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers (RETA) or,

    New 2023 : regularization of the RETA quotas paid in the previous year

    Please note that Royal Decree-Law 13/2022, of July 26, which establishes a new contribution system for self-employed or self-employed workers and improves protection for cessation of activity ( BOE of July 27), has modified article 308 of the consolidated text of the General Social Security Law, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 8/2015, of October 30 ( BOE of October 31).

    Royal Decree-Law 13/2022, of July 26, which establishes a new contribution system for self-employed or self-employed workers and improves protection for cessation of activity ( BOE of July 27), has modified article 308 of the consolidated text of the General Social Security Law, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 8/2015, of October 30 ( BOE of October 31).

    As a consequence of this modification, as of January 1, 2023, all self-employed or self-employed people included in this special regime will contribute based on earnings annual profits obtained in the development of their economic, business or professional activities, having to choose the corresponding monthly contribution base based on their forecast of annual net returns, within the general table established in the respective Budget Law General of the State and limited by a minimum contribution base in each of its sections and by a maximum base in each section for each year, although with the possibility, when they foresee that their returns will be lower than the minimum interprofessional salary in calculation annually, to choose a contribution base within a reduced table.

    The bases chosen will be provisional, until they are regularized based on the annual returns obtained and communicated by the Tax Administration from the following year with respect to each self-employed worker.

    Based on the above, the amounts calculated in the previous year will be considered legally due, although provisional, amounts, which is why the presentation of a self-assessment rectification or a complementary declaration with respect to the declaration made in said year will not be appropriate.

    If, as a consequence of the regularization of the RETA quotas carried out in the following year, based on the actual returns obtained, an additional amount would result to satisfy or return as installments of the RETA , said amount will have the following tax treatment in the Personal Income Tax :

    • If there is an additional amount to be paid by the taxpayer in the following year, said additional payment must be treated as greater deductible expense for Security contributions Social in that next exercise.

    • If, on the contrary, there is an amount to be returned to the taxpayer, it will be treated as lower deductible expense for contributions paid to Social Security in that following fiscal year , and if the amount exceeds that of the contributions paid to Social Security, the excess must be reflected as a higher return in that fiscal year.

    Particular case: deductibility of the fee in the case of a taxpayer who obtains income from work (for example, as director of a company) and income from an economic activity

    In accordance with section 3 of the General Regulation on company registration and affiliation, registrations, cancellations and changes in data of workers in Social Security, approved by Royal Decree 84/1996, of January 26. "when self-employed workers simultaneously carry out two or more activities that give rise to inclusion in this special regime, their registration in it will be only , and they must declare all their activities in the application for registration or , if pluriactivity occurs after it, through the corresponding variation of data (…)”.

    With this configuration of the contributions of the special Social Security regime for Self-Employed or Self-Employed Workers (RETA) - which establishes the obligation to declare pluriactivity in this regime - to determine the incidence of the expense corresponding to these contributions in the Personal Income Tax of the taxpayer, it must be taken into account that these respond to registration in this regime by carrying out more than one activity, so their deductibility in Personal Income Tax may The taxpayer must carry it out either in the determination of the net income of the work (for his remuneration as director of the company) or in the determination of the net income of the economic activity, since in each of these cases he has the obligation to contribute to RETA , l or that allows the taxpayer to decide where to incorporate that single fee .

    Covid-19: the exemption from the obligation to contribute in favor of self-employed workers who have received the extraordinary benefit for cessation of activity provided for in section two of article 26 of Royal Decree-Law 11/2022, of June 25 referred to in article 97 of Royal Decree-Law 20/2022, of December 27, on measures to respond to the economic and social consequences of the War in Ukraine and to support the reconstruction of the island of La Palma and other situations of vulnerability determines its lack of impact on Personal Income Tax , as it does not correspond to any of the assumptions of obtaining income established in article 6 of the Personal Income Tax Law , not having therefore the nature of full performance nor correlatively that of deductible expense for the determination of income.

  2. Where applicable, the contributions made by the owner of the activity to the Social Security Mutual Funds when they act as alternatives to the aforementioned special Social Security regime.

    Specialties in personal income tax for contributions to Mutual Provident Insurance Social of the businessman or professional himself

    Regulations (Art. 30.2.1 Law Personal Income Tax )

    As a general rule, contributions to social security mutual societies of the businessman or professional do not constitute a deductible expense for determining the net income of the activity, given that they can reduce the taxpayer's tax base in accordance with the requirements and limits established by law. such effect.

    See in this regard in Chapter 13 the reductions for contributions and contributions to social security systems .

    However, the amounts paid under insurance contracts concluded with social security mutual societies by professionals not integrated into the special Social Security regime for self-employed or self-employed workers are considered deductible expenses of the activity when, In order to comply with the obligation provided for in the fifteenth Additional Provision of Law 30/1995, of November 8, on the Regulation and Supervision of Private Insurance, they act as alternatives to the special Social Security regime, in the part that Its purpose is to cover contingencies covered by said special regime, with the limit of the maximum quota for common contingencies that is established in each financial year.

    The fifteenth Additional Provision of Law 30/1995 has been repealed by Royal Legislative Decree 8/2015, of October 30, which approves the consolidated text of the General Law of Social Security, and integrated into the Additional Provision eighteenth of said consolidated text. Therefore, the reference made to the repealed provision will be understood to be made to the corresponding provision of the consolidated text.

    In addition, it must be taken into account for the purposes of the limit of the maximum quota for common contingencies that is established in each financial year that, for 2023, article 122 of Law 31/2022, of December 23, on General State Budgets for the year 2023 and Order PCM /74/2023, of January 30, which develops the legal rules for contributions to Social Security, unemployment, protection for cessation of activity, Salary Guarantee Fund and vocational training for the year 2023 ( BOE of January 31), establish a maximum limit of the contribution base of 4,495.50 euros per month and set a maximum rate of quote for common contingencies of 28.30 percent. Therefore, the maximum fee for common contingencies in 2023 is 15,266.72 euros [0.283 x (4,495.50 x 12)]. 

    When the contributions exceed this limit, the excess may be subject to a reduction in the taxable base of Personal Income Tax , although only in the part that is intended to cover the same contingencies as the pension plans and with the limits and requirements indicated in Chapter 13 in the section corresponding to "Reductions for contributions and contributions to social security systems."

b. Living expenses of the taxpayer himself incurred in the development of economic activity

Regulations: Art. 30.2.5.c) Law Personal Income Tax

Taxpayers may deduct maintenance expenses that meet the following requirements in order to determine the net income of the economic activity in direct estimation:

  • That they are expenses of the taxpayer himself.

  • That are carried out in the development of economic activity. That is, they are specific to the activity.

    For these purposes, keep in mind that the fact that the living expenses correspond to a working day - regardless of the fact that in business or professional activities it is not possible to speak in general terms of the existence of a work calendar - does not in itself imply the consideration that said expenses are expenses incurred in the development of an economic activity.

  • That occur in restaurant and hospitality establishments.

  • That are paid using any electronic means of payment.

  • That they do not exceed the quantitative limits established by regulation in article 9.A.3.a) of the Personal Income Tax Regulations for allowances and allowances for normal maintenance expenses of workers.

    The referral that the Personal Income Tax Law makes for the maintenance expenses of businessmen or professionals to the regulatory regulation established for the allowances and allowances for normal maintenance expenses of workers contained in article 9 of the IRPF Regulation, is limited to the quantitative limits established for said maintenance expenses, without, consequently, said remission contemplating expenses other than maintenance expenses, such as stay, nor other aspects regulated in article 9 regarding maintenance expenses other than their quantitative limits, given their different nature.

    In that sense, while the allowances constitute assignments made by the employer to the employed worker who, by virtue of the organizational power that assists the employer, must travel outside his workplace to carry out his work; The deductible expenses for the maintenance of the businessman or professional referred to in article 30.2.5 of the Personal Income Tax Law are expenses incurred by the businessman or professional himself, in the development of his activity. economical.

    These limits are:

    (*) It must be a municipality other than the taxpayer's usual place of work and the one that constitutes his or her residence..(Back)
    Information Spain Foreign
    Staying overnight in a different municipality (*) 53.34 euros/day 91.35 euros/day
    Without spending the night in a different municipality 26.67 euros/day 48.08 euros/day

    The excess over said amounts cannot be deducted.

Note: The taxpayer must keep, during the maximum limitation period, providing when required for this purpose, supporting documents for expenses to verify compliance with the requirements demanded by the standard.