Autónomo Quarterly VAT and Income Tax Returns in Spain

File Modelo 303 (VAT) and Modelo 130 (income tax instalment) from 1 to 20 April, July and October, and from 1 to 30 January for the fourth quarter. The standard VAT rate is 21 per cent. For activities under direct estimation, the instalment is 20 per cent of net income so far this year.

Your first quarter as an autónomo and the deadline is close? Generally, Modelo 303 (VAT) and Modelo 130 (income tax instalment) both go in from 1 to 20 April, July and October, and from 1 to 30 January for the fourth quarter.

When are the quarterly returns due?

Count from the quarter end: the VAT return goes in between the 1st and the 20th of the month after it. The fourth quarter is the exception, with 1 to 30 January. If the last day is a non-working day, which includes Saturday, you get the next working day.

If you pay by direct debit, file earlier: generally by the 15th in April, July and October, and by 25 January.

What does the income tax instalment take?

Modelo 130 is filed in the same windows. For activities under direct estimation, you pay 20 per cent of your net income from 1 January to the end of the quarter. If nothing is due, you still file a negative declaration.

Professionals get one way out. You do not have to make the instalment if at least 70 per cent of your activity’s income in the previous calendar year was subject to withholding.

Which VAT rate do you charge?

Charge 21 per cent unless your product is on a reduced list. Food products for human or animal nutrition are on the 10 per cent list. Ordinary bread is on the 4 per cent list. If you sell anything else at a reduced rate, check it against the full lists first.

The rate in force when the VAT falls due is the one that applies.

Which VAT can you deduct?

You can deduct VAT you paid on purchases from another taxable person, as long as you are a business or professional who has started regular supplies or services. Three things decide whether a given invoice counts.

• The purchase is used for activities that give a right to deduct.
• It is assigned directly and exclusively to your business or profession. A laptop you also use for private needs does not qualify.
• You hold the original invoice.

You have four years to use the deduction, counted from when the right to deduct arose. VAT you paid before regular activity started follows special rules in articles 111 to 113.

What must an invoice show?

An invoice needs these items:

• a consecutive number within its series;
• the date of issue;
• the full name or company name of issuer and recipient;
• the address of both;
• the rate or rates applied;
• the VAT charged, shown separately.

If the transaction is exempt, the invoice refers to the relevant provision or states that it is exempt.

What changes when your client is abroad?

A service for a business customer based in Spanish VAT territory counts as made in Spain, wherever you are established. The provider-location rule covers only customers who are not businesses or professionals. So for a client outside Spain, ask a gestor how to word the invoice.

If the client is a business in another EU country and the service is subject to VAT there, you also report it on Modelo 349 under key S. Quarterly filers file within the first twenty calendar days after the quarter, and within the first thirty calendar days of January for the last one.

Annual summaries

Modelo 390, the annual VAT summary, is filed during the first thirty days of January after the year it covers. If you were registered as self-employed at any point in the tax year, you also file the annual income tax return; the tax return calendar has those dates.

Register first: Modelo 036

Before you start, file Modelo 036 to register in the census. Do it before you start activities, and as an individual you use 036 because Modelo 037 was abolished. The autónomo registration guide walks through it.

What comes next?

Forming a company changes the filings: read the SL guide. On a nomad visa, see the digital nomad visa guide. For your own income tax position, read the tax residency guide.

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Not confirmed: Invoice wording for a service to a client abroad, and whether you file the intra-EU services return monthly or quarterly: ask a gestor. Article 91 changes from 1 December 2026: check the reduced lists before you invoice.

General information checked against the sources listed above. Prices, opening hours and other details change; confirm them with the provider before you act. See how guides are checked.

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