Do I have to file a tax return in Spain, and where do I get free help?

Probably not, if you had one employer and earned under €22,000. But if you had two or more employers and the second and later ones paid you more than €1,500 in the year, your limit drops to €15,876 — and that catches a lot of people in domestic work and hospitality. Spanish income tax is IRPF (impuesto sobre la renta de las personas físicas, Spanish income tax) and the tax agency is AEAT (Agencia Tributaria, the Spanish tax agency), which everyone calls Hacienda. You file once a year, in spring, for the previous year’s income.

Do I have to file

Those three figures are for the 2025 tax year — the return filed in spring 2026 — and they move, so check the year on any figure you are shown.

The case almost nobody warns domestic workers about

A private household is not on the list of employers required to withhold income tax, because it is not carrying on a business: that list is article 76.1 of the IRPF regulation, and it covers companies, taxpayers carrying on economic activities, and non-residents with a permanent establishment. So a domestic worker’s payslip usually shows no IRPF deduction — which means the €15,876 limit is the one that applies, not the €22,000 one. No AEAT page says that in a single sentence; it follows from the two rules read together, so confirm it with AEAT or an adviser before you decide either way.

If you are not sure

Do not guess, and do not file blind. Look at the draft return AEAT has already prepared for you, the borrador, together with your datos fiscales — the tax data AEAT already holds. If it shows a refund, filing is how you claim it. If it shows a payment and you were not obliged to file, you do not have to: a voluntary return is a binding self-assessment, so filing a calculation that comes out as a payment creates the debt.

What it costs

Nothing to file. AEAT does not charge for Renta WEB, or for preparing your return with you by phone or at an office. The phone call itself costs whatever your plan charges, and AEAT publishes a page on call costs. You pay only if you choose a gestor (a private paid paperwork agent, not a public office).

What to bring

• Your DNI, your NIE (Número de Identidad de Extranjero, the foreigner identification number) or your TIE (Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero, the foreigner identity card)
• Your NUSS (número de la Seguridad Social, your social security number)
• Your bank IBAN
• Your payslips, or the annual “certificado de retenciones” from each employer
• Your certificate from the padrón (Barcelona City Council’s register of residents)
• If you own or rent out property, the cadastral reference
• If you paid rent, your landlord’s NIF and the amounts

The dates

The campaign for the 2025 tax year ran like this, and the pattern repeats every year.

The next campaign, for income earned in 2026, opens in spring 2027.

How to get help, in order

• 1. Ring 91 554 87 70 for basic tax information, Mon–Fri 09:00–19:00, and 09:00–15:00 in August.
• 2. Ring 91 333 5 333 for information, help and appointments.
• 3. During the campaign, book a telephone appointment under the “Le Llamamos” plan and AEAT rings you back and completes the return with you. Book as soon as the window opens; the slots go.

How long it takes

Filing online with Renta WEB takes an hour or so if your papers are ready. A refund usually arrives within weeks. AEAT has six months from the end of the filing period to act — so 31 Dec if you filed on time, or six months from the day you filed if you filed late. That is article 103 of the income-tax law.

What happens next

You get a filed return with a reference number. If you are owed money it is paid into the account you gave. If you owe, you can pay in one go or split it, and direct debit is available only up to the June cut-off.

What goes wrong

Missing 30 Jun is survivable if you are owed a refund, but if you owe tax, a late return carries a surcharge that grows with the delay. The bigger trap is the opposite one: people with two employers in a year — very common in domestic work and hospitality — assume the €22,000 figure applies to them and never file, when their real limit was €15,876. That is how a small debt turns into a letter with a penalty on it.

If you are not resident in Spain

This is the part almost every guide leaves out. If you live in the Philippines, or you have left Spain, but you still own a flat here, rent it out, or have Spanish income, you pay a different tax — IRNR, the impuesto sobre la renta de no residentes — and you file it on Modelo 210, not on the ordinary return. There is no fee to file it, and the documents depend on the type of income; AEAT’s non-resident pages set them out. Deadlines depend on the income too.

Being taxed twice

Spain and the Philippines have a treaty to prevent it: the Convenio between Spain and the Republic of the Philippines, signed in Manila on 14 Mar 1989, with a Protocol of the same date, published in Spain’s state gazette on 15 Dec 1994. It decides which country taxes what. If you have income in both countries, say so when you ask for help and ask specifically about the treaty — the answer changes depending on which country counts as your tax residence.

When to pay a gestor rather than guess

Pay for one if:

• you have income in both Spain and the Philippines
• you are selling or have sold a property
• you are unsure whether you are tax-resident in Spain
• you have had a letter from Hacienda with a deadline in it
• you are self-employed

Do not pay one for an ordinary return with one or two Spanish employers and nothing else — AEAT will do that one with you by phone for nothing.

If a letter arrives

Do not ignore it, and do not post it in a group chat: it carries your identifying numbers. Note the deadline on it, then ring 91 333 5 333 or take it to an adviser.

Useful words

Read next

• What are my rights at work in Spain, and what if I clean or care for someone in their home? It explains the payslip and the registration that decide your tax position.
• How do I register on the padrón? Do I need papers? You will be asked for the certificate.
• Where can I get free help finding a job in Barcelona? Registering with the employment service is a separate thing from registering with the tax agency, and people confuse them.

Official source

Agencia Tributaria, the income tax campaign at sede.agenciatributaria.gob.es/Sede/Renta.html, who must file under “Quiénes están obligados a presentar declaración”, non-residents and Modelo 210 under “No residentes”, and the Spain–Philippines treaty under the double-taxation conventions.