How Spanish income tax is calculated from income to final bill

Terms used

• IRPF — IRPF is Spain's personal income tax, charged on what tax residents earn in a year.
• Base liquidable — The base liquidable is your income in a base after reductions, the figure the tax scales are applied to.
• Cuota íntegra — The cuota íntegra is the tax from the state and regional scales, before minimums and credits.
• Cuota líquida — The cuota líquida is the tax due after minimums and all deductions, before subtracting what you already paid.
• Base liquidable del ahorro — The base liquidable del ahorro is your savings-base income after any remaining reductions.

Key rules

• Order: Tax is worked out in a fixed order: income, bases, reductions, scales, minimums and credits, then payments already made.
• Two scales: The same taxable amount is taxed once on the state scale and once on your region's scale, then the two are added.
• Default rates: In 2025 the default combined general scale runs from 19% to 47%, with the state part topping out at 24.5%.
• Minimums: Personal and family minimums are not taken off income; the tax on them is taken off your bill.
• Final bill: Withholdings are only an estimate, so the return can leave you owing money or due a refund.

The short version

Your bill is not one rate applied to your salary. It is a chain of steps: income, then two bases, then reductions, then two scales, then minimums and credits, then what you have already paid. Follow the chain and the result is predictable. The timeline and checklist below list the steps; this page explains what happens at each one.

Which year you are calculating

A return filed in the April to June 2026 campaign covers tax year 2025. The main scales and personal minimums did not change from earlier years. Changes tend to affect deductions and other details.

Step 1: Income by source, minus expenses

Add up your income in each category: work, capital (such as interest or rent), business activity and gains from selling assets. Subtract the expenses the rules allow in each category. The result is your net income for each source.

Step 2: Two bases

Net income goes into one of two buckets:

• General base: mainly work, business and rental income.
• Savings base: mainly interest, dividends and gains from selling assets.

The two bases are taxed on different scales, so the sorting matters.

Step 3: Base reductions

Some items reduce a base before any tax is calculated. Examples are contributions to pension plans (with an annual limit), contributions to protected disability assets, and alimony paid to children.

Reductions come off the general base first. If the general base is too small to absorb them, the excess is not taken off the savings base. What is left is the base liquidable general, and the savings equivalent is the base liquidable del ahorro.

If you have losses in one base, they are offset first. The savings base can only be reduced by a leftover negative general balance, and only within limits.

Step 4: Two scales, added together

The same base liquidable is taxed twice: once on the state scale and once on your region's scale. Add the two results to get the cuota íntegra. If your region sets no scale of its own, a default regional scale applies.

For 2025 the combined default general rate runs from 19% to 47%, and the state part tops out at 24.5%. Regions can set their own scales, so your combined rates depend on where you live. The Basque Country and Navarre have their own regimes.

The state general scale for 2025:

Your region adds a scale of similar shape on top. The savings base has its own scale, with the combined rates set out in the rest of this guide.

Step 5: Personal and family minimums

The minimum is the part of your income the system treats as needed to live on, and it rises with dependants. It is not taken off your income. Instead, the total minimum is taxed as if it were the first slice of income, at the state and regional scale rates. That tax is then subtracted from the cuota íntegra.

So the saving is worth the lowest scale rates, about 19% combined on that first slice.

Step 6: Deductions from the tax

Next come credits that come straight off the tax. State deductions include:

• donations
• protected heritage assets
• large-family and dependent-family deductions
• relief for tax already paid abroad
• investment in a habitual home, only for purchases made before 2013

Your region may add its own deductions. After these, you have the cuota líquida: the tax due after all credits.

Step 7: Subtract what you have already paid

Take off the withholdings from your pay, any payments on account and any instalments already paid. If the result is positive, you pay it. If negative, you get a refund.

This is why your final bill can differ from the withholding on your payslip: the withholding is an estimate made during the year, and the return is the full calculation.

Try it with your own numbers

Use the calculator below to estimate your tax by region and family situation. The quick answers below cover which region's scale applies to you.

Timeline and deadlines

• Add up your income by source (work, capital, business, gains), after deductible expenses: first step of the calculation

• Group the income into the general base and the savings base: after you have the income by source

• Subtract base reductions, such as pension plan contributions or alimony to children, from each base: after the two bases are set

• Apply the state and regional scales to each base and add them up to get the cuota íntegra, the tax before minimums and credits: after the reductions

• Deduct the tax on your personal and family minimums: after the scales are applied

• Subtract state and regional deductions to reach the cuota líquida, the tax due after all credits: after the minimums

• Subtract withholdings, payments on account and instalments already paid to get the amount payable or refundable: last step, giving your final bill

• File the return for tax year 2025 in the 2026 campaign: April to June 2026

Checklist

• Confirm the tax year: a return filed in 2026 covers 2025, and the main scales and personal minimums were unchanged from earlier years.

• List your income by source (work, capital, business, gains) and subtract the deductible expenses.

• Sort the income into the general base and the savings base.

• Subtract any base reductions, such as pension plan contributions or alimony to children, from each base.

• Apply the state general scale: 9.5% up to 12,450 euros, 12% to 20,200, 15% to 35,200, 18.5% to 60,000, 22.5% to 300,000 and 24.5% above.

• Add your region's scale, which gives a combined general rate from 19% to 47%.

• Deduct the tax on your personal and family minimums, then subtract state and regional deductions to reach the cuota líquida.

• Subtract the withholdings and payments already made to find what you owe or what is refunded.

Estimate your Spanish income tax by region and family situation

Work it out

What you enter

• Your general income after expenses, per year (EUR): Employment, business or rental income after allowed expenses, from your payslips or accounts.
• Your savings income, per year (EUR): Interest, dividends and gains from selling shares, funds or property, from your bank or broker statements.
• Age supplement to your personal minimum (EUR): Enter 0 if you are 65 or under, 1150 if over 65, or 2550 if over 75.
• Total family minimums for dependants (EUR): Add up the descendant, ascendant and disability minimums that apply to your household; enter 0 if none.

Figures used

• Personal minimum: 5,550 EUR (as of 2025)
• General scale: end of first bracket: 12,450 EUR (as of 2025)
• General scale: end of second bracket: 20,200 EUR (as of 2025)
• General scale: end of third bracket: 35,200 EUR (as of 2025)
• General scale: end of fourth bracket: 60,000 EUR (as of 2025)
• General scale: end of fifth bracket: 300,000 EUR (as of 2025)
• Combined general rate, first bracket: 0.19 rate (as of 2025)
• Combined general rate, second bracket: 0.24 rate (as of 2025)
• Combined general rate, third bracket: 0.3 rate (as of 2025)
• Combined general rate, fourth bracket: 0.37 rate (as of 2025)
• Combined general rate, fifth bracket: 0.45 rate (as of 2025)
• Combined general rate, top bracket: 0.47 rate (as of 2025)
• Savings scale: end of first bracket: 6,000 EUR (as of 2025)
• Savings scale: end of second bracket: 50,000 EUR (as of 2025)
• Savings scale: end of third bracket: 200,000 EUR (as of 2025)
• Savings scale: end of fourth bracket: 300,000 EUR (as of 2025)
• Savings rate up to first limit: 0.19 rate (as of 2025)
• Savings rate, second bracket: 0.21 rate (as of 2025)
• Savings rate, third bracket: 0.23 rate (as of 2025)
• Savings rate, fourth bracket: 0.27 rate (as of 2025)
• Savings rate, top bracket: 0.28 rate (as of 2025)

Worked example (with Your general income after expenses, per year 40,000 EUR, Your savings income, per year 5,000 EUR, Age supplement to your personal minimum 0 EUR, Total family minimums for dependants 2,400 EUR)

When the sum misleads

• Not for the Basque Country or Navarre, which have their own scales.
• Not for the special expatriate regime, non-residents, Ceuta, Melilla or the Canary Islands, which follow different rules.
• Your region may set its own brackets or change the minimums, so your real bill can differ.
• Joint filing, pension-plan reductions and regional deductions are not included.
• Withholding from your pay is only an advance, so this estimate can differ from what was withheld.

Quick answers on Spanish income tax

What is the personal minimum in Spanish income tax?

The personal minimum is 5,550 euros a year, the part of your income that is not taxed. It rises by 1,150 euros if you are over 65 and by a further 1,400 euros if you are over 75.

Do foreigners pay the same regional income tax scales as Spaniards?

Yes, foreigners who are Spanish tax residents pay the same rules and regional scales as Spanish nationals in their region. The main exception is a special regime such as the Beckham law, which has its own flat rates.

Which region's scale applies to me?

Your residence on 31 December decides which regional scale and deductions apply for the whole year. If you moved region during the year, the 31 December address is the one that counts.

Why is my final tax bill different from the retención taken from my pay?

The retención (withholding from your pay) is only an advance based on a projection of your year, so your final bill can differ. Pay changes, a second employer, rental or savings income, and deductions such as pension plans or regional deductions are not fully reflected in it.