Teleworking expenses your Spanish employer must cover

Key rules

• No cost to you: Your employer must supply and maintain your work equipment, and you cannot be made to bear the costs of working remotely.
• Amount: No law fixes the amount, so your convenio and your written remote-work agreement decide it.
• Time limit: A money claim for unpaid costs generally has a one-year limit, and an unlawful change to your conditions has 20 working days.
• Tax: Reimbursement of genuine job costs is generally not taxed as salary, but amounts above real costs are.
• In writing: Make every request in writing and keep the reply.

What your employer must cover

Working from home must not cost you money. Your employer has to supply and maintain the equipment you need, and cover or compensate the costs linked to the job. This is now the law.

It applies if you work remotely regularly, meaning at least 30% of a reference period (for example, three months out of a 12-month period for a three-month reference), under a written remote-work agreement. Occasional working from home is not covered.

Who decides the amount

The law sets no amount and no formula. The amount comes from two places:

• Your collective agreement (convenio). It may set a daily or monthly allowance, or a method for working it out.
• Your written remote-work agreement. It must list the expenses you may have, how they are calculated, when and how you are paid, and which convenio rules apply.

Many convenios pay a flat sum per day worked at home for internet and electricity, and sometimes a one-off payment for equipment or furniture. Daily amounts are usually low single-digit euros, but they vary widely by sector and company. Some agreements pay no allowance if the employer provides the equipment and an internet allowance. Check your own convenio and agreement for the current figure. The checklist below shows what to look for in the convenio.

If no convenio clause covers the point, your individual agreement governs. You can dispute the amount in the labour courts.

What to claim

• Equipment and tools: laptop, screen, chair, desk. These should be supplied and maintained by your employer. If you bought them for work, claim them.
• Internet and phone, to the extent you use them for work.
• Electricity, to the extent you use it for work.

How to document it

Keep records from day one. The documents list below shows what to gather. In short: your signed agreement, the equipment inventory, invoices and bills with the work-related share noted, and every written request and reply. Keep payslips that show any allowance.

Tax on reimbursement

For income tax, money your employer pays or reimburses for equipment and tools needed for the job is not treated as salary in kind. For social security, compensation for genuine costs is generally not counted in your contribution base. Amounts above your real costs, or unrelated to the job, count as salary.

Flat allowances paid without proof of cost are treated less clearly. Ask a tax adviser before relying on them being tax-free.

How to claim

Follow this order:

1. Ask your employer in writing for the equipment or compensation, pointing to the remote-work law and your agreement or convenio. The template below helps.
2. If refused, take it to your works council or union.
3. File a mandatory conciliation request (papeleta de conciliación) at your regional mediation body.
4. If conciliation fails, file a claim in the labour court (Juzgado de lo Social).

You can also complain to the Inspección de Trabajo y Seguridad Social, the labour inspectorate.

For unpaid money, you generally have one year from when you could first have claimed it. Filing the conciliation request pauses that clock. A claim against an unlawful change to your working conditions has a shorter limit of 20 working days, so act quickly.

Timeline and deadlines

• Ask your employer in writing for the equipment or compensation, pointing to the remote-work law and your agreement or convenio: first step, as soon as a cost arises

• Take the issue to your works council or union if the employer refuses: after the written request is refused or ignored

• File the mandatory conciliation request (papeleta de conciliación) at your regional mediation body: before going to court; filing it pauses the claim deadline

• File a claim in the labour court (Juzgado de lo Social): if conciliation fails

• Make a money claim for unpaid costs: within 1 year of when you could first have claimed

• Challenge an unlawful change to your working conditions in court: within 20 working days of notification of the decision

Documents you need

• Your signed written remote-work agreement, plus any convenio clause on remote-work costs. Your employer issues the agreement.

• The inventory of equipment your employer supplied to you.

• Invoices and receipts for electricity, internet, phone, furniture and equipment you bought for work, with a note of the share used for work.

• Your home internet and electricity contracts and bills.

• Your written requests to your employer for reimbursement, and its replies.

• Payslips showing any remote-work allowance you receive.

What to look for on telework in your collective agreement

• Find out which convenio colectivo (collective agreement) applies to you. Check your employment contract and your payslip, where it is usually named.

• If the contract and payslip do not name it, ask HR, your workers' representatives or a union to confirm it. It depends on your company's main activity and territory, unless the company has its own agreement.

• Search for the full text in the state registry of agreements run by the Ministry of Labour. You can also look in the state gazette (BOE) or your region's or province's official gazette.

• Look for a fixed allowance for remote work. Many agreements set a monthly or daily amount for internet and electricity, and others leave expenses to the individual agreement.

• Check what the convenio says about equipment: who provides it and who maintains it.

• Check the schedule rules: the maximum or minimum days in the office, flexible hours and any hours when you must be reachable.

• Check whether remote work is voluntary and reversible, and which roles can do it.

• Read any clauses on time recording, digital disconnection, health and safety, data security and training for remote workers.

• Compare the convenio with your signed remote-work agreement. Your agreement may improve on the convenio but may not give you less. Where the convenio says nothing, the law applies directly.

Template to request reimbursement of remote-work costs

Use this message if you work remotely on a regular basis under a written remote-work agreement. Occasional home working is not covered. Send it by email or another method that leaves a dated record, and keep a copy.

Subject: Request for equipment or reimbursement of remote-work costs

Dear [name of manager or HR contact],

I work remotely under the remote-work agreement I signed on [date]. I am writing to ask formally for the equipment and means I need for my work, or for payment of the costs I have had.

Under the remote-work law, my employer must supply and maintain the equipment, tools and means my job needs. Working remotely cannot make me bear these costs. [Where it applies: My convenio, [name of convenio], also says [clause or section], and my remote-work agreement says [clause].]

I am asking for the following:

• [Equipment I need and do not have, e.g. laptop, monitor, chair, headset]
• Reimbursement of costs I have already paid: [list item, amount and period, e.g. internet, electricity, phone, furniture]
• [Or a regular monthly allowance of [amount] to cover these costs]

I have attached these documents:

• My signed remote-work agreement [and the relevant convenio clause]
• Invoices and receipts for the items above
• My internet and electricity bills, with the share I use for work: [percentage and how you calculated it]
• [My earlier requests and your replies, if any]
• [Payslips, if they show any allowance]

Please reply in writing by [date]. I would like to settle this directly with the company. If we cannot agree, I will look at the other options open to me, including asking the works council or a union to help.

Kind regards, [Full name] [Job title or employee number] [Date]

Before you send it

• Delete any line that does not apply to you, and fill in every blank.
• Give the amounts as exact figures from your receipts, not estimates.
• Choose a reply date that gives the company a reasonable time, such as two weeks.
• Keep the sent message, the attachments and any reply. You will need them if you have to take the claim further.

Frequently asked questions

Does my employer have to pay a fixed amount for working from home?

No, the law sets no fixed amount or formula for remote-work costs. Your collective agreement (convenio) may set amounts or a method, and your written remote-work agreement must state which expenses you may have and how they are calculated. If neither covers it, you can dispute the amount in the labour courts.

Is the money my employer pays for my home-working costs taxed?

No, not when it repays genuine costs of equipment and tools needed for the job under the remote-work law. It is also generally left out of social security contributions.

How long do I have to claim unpaid remote-work costs?

For a money claim, you generally have one year from when you could first have claimed. Filing the mandatory conciliation request (papeleta de conciliación) at your regional mediation body pauses that clock. Start by asking your employer in writing.

What can I do if my employer refuses to pay my remote-work costs?

Ask in writing first, then go to your works council or a union.