Who is required to file a tax return?

All taxpayers who are natural persons resident in Spain are to declare, except those who have received income exclusively from:

1. Personal earned income equal to or less than 22,000 euros a year:
   • Provided it comes from a single payer.
   • When there are several payers, provided the sum of the second and subsequent payers in order of amount does not exceed the sum of 1,500 euros.
   • When the only earned income consist of passive benefits (social security or civil service pensions, benefits from pensions plans, collective insurance, mutual policies for social benefits, company social provision plans, insured provision plans and dependence insurance benefits), provided the applicable withholding rate has been determined in accordance with the established special regulatory procedure (at the taxpayer's request through the presentation of form 146).

   The limit is set at 12,643 euros per year, except for taxpayers who died before July 5, 2018, when the limit remains at 12,000 euros, in the following cases:

   • When earned income comes from more than one payer and the sum of the amounts received from the second and subsequent payers in order of quantity exceeds the sum of 1,500 euros a year.
   • When spousal alimony or non-exempt alimony annuities are received.
   • When the payer of the employment income is not required to withhold.
   • When full employment income is received and is subject to a fixed withholding rate.

     In 2018 this corresponds to the withholding rate of 35 per cent or 19 per cent (when the earnings come from entities with a net turnover of less than 100,000 euros) applicable to remuneration received as administrators and members of Boards of Directors and their substitutes and other members of other representative bodies, as well as the withholding rate of 15 per cent applicable to income deriving from giving courses, lectures and similar or deriving from the writing of literary, artistic or scientific works, provided rights to exploit them are transferred.

2. Income from movable capital and capital gains subject to withholding or payment on account, with a joint limit of 1,600 euros per year.

   Capital gains from the transfer or buy-back of shares or holdings in collective investment institutions for which it is not appropriate to determine the withholding base from the sum to be integrated into the tax base are excluded from the joint limit of 1,600 euros. When the withholding base has not been determined in accordance with the amount to the integrated into the tax base, the capital gain obtained from the transfer or buy-back of shares or holdings in collective investment institutions cannot be calculated as a capital gain subject to withholding or payment on account for the purposes of the allowances in the obligation to make a return.

3. Attributed income from property, income from treasury bills and grants for purchasing officially protected or valued price housing, and other capital gains deriving from public aid, with a joint limit of 1,000 euros per year.

   Under no circumstances will those who obtain gross income from work, capital or economic activities, or capital gains that jointly do not exceed 1,000 euros or those who have had, exclusively, capital losses of less than 500 euros, have to file a tax return.

   Nevertheless, even if they are not obliged to declare taxes, all taxpayers who exercise the right to apply certain allowances or deductions, or to receive a refund, must confirm the draft or file their tax return.

   Income exempt from this tax is not taken into consideration

   The above limits apply both to individual and joint taxation.

   In all cases, taxpayers who receive any type of income other than the above or exceed the maximum sums indicated are obliged to make a tax return.