What is the IRPF (Spanish Personal Income Tax)?

IRPF (Impuesto sobre la Renta de las Personas Físicas — Personal Income Tax) is the main direct tax in the Spanish tax system. Every year, individuals resident in Spain who have earned income declare to the State what they earned between 1 January and 31 December. The IRPF determines how much is contributed to the public coffers based on income, family circumstances and the autonomous community of residence.

What does IRPF actually tax?

The taxable event for IRPF, defined in Article 6 of Law 35/2006 (the IRPF Act), is the earning of income by a taxpayer. But "income" is not just salary: the AEAT (Spanish Tax Agency) distinguishes five components that add up to form the taxable base.

Added to these five blocks are the imputed income items provided for by law (for example, the use of a second home that is not rented out generates a real-estate imputation).

🔵 General income vs. savings income

The AEAT splits income into two categories for tax calculation: general income (work, business, imputations, rentals) and savings income (interest, dividends, capital gains on transfers). Each has its own progressive scale.

Characteristics of the tax

Article 1 of the IRPF Act defines it as "a personal and direct tax that taxes, in accordance with the principles of equality, generality and progressivity, the income of individuals according to their nature and their personal and family circumstances." Four features follow from that definition:

• Personal: each individual is taxed separately and on their own income.
• Direct: it taxes the taxpayer's economic capacity, not consumption (as VAT does).
• Progressive: the higher the taxable base, the higher the tax rate that applies. Progressivity works in brackets: only the portion of income that falls within a bracket pays that bracket's rate.
• Periodic: the tax period coincides with the calendar year (1 January – 31 December) and the tax accrues on the last day of the period, except in the event of the taxpayer's death, when it accrues on that day.

Who is required to file in Spain?

Subject to IRPF are individuals resident in Spanish territory who earned income during the year. Tax residency in Spain, governed by Article 9 of the IRPF Act, is determined by applying any of these tests:

1. Days of presence: living more than 183 days during the calendar year in Spanish territory. Sporadic absences count as presence unless tax residency in another country is proven.
2. Centre of economic interests: having in Spain the centre of activities or economic interests, directly or indirectly.
3. Family presumption: a person is presumed resident in Spain when their non-legally-separated spouse and dependent minor children live here.

Anyone who fails all three tests is not subject to IRPF but to the Non-Resident Income Tax (IRNR), regulated by a separate act.

🧮 Example: tax residency and taxation

Marta is a French citizen who works remotely from Madrid for a French company and lives in Spain the whole year.

1. More than 183 days in Spanish territory → days-of-presence test met.
2. Unless France certifies her tax residency there, Marta is a Spanish IRPF taxpayer.
3. She will be taxed on her worldwide income (both her French salary and any additional income earned in Spain or other countries), applying the tax treaties for the avoidance of double taxation.

IRPF and the autonomous communities

IRPF is a State tax partially ceded to the autonomous communities. Since 1 January 2009, under Article 3 of the IRPF Act and Organic Law 8/1980 (LOFCA), common-regime autonomous communities receive 50% of the revenue produced in their territory and may exercise their own legislative powers within the limits set by Law 22/2009 on funding.

The autonomous communities may modify:

• The personal and family allowance applicable to the regional rate, with a variation limit of 10% with respect to the State amounts.
• The regional scale applied to the general taxable base (it must be progressive).
• Their own tax credits (deducciones) for personal and family circumstances, non-business investments and income allocation.

This is why two people with the same salary may pay different amounts depending on whether they live in Madrid, Catalonia, the Valencian Community or Andalusia: each autonomous community sets its own brackets and regional tax credits, which are added to the State portion of the tax.

State scale (general 2025)

🟡 Important: the regional scale, which differs in each community, is added to these State rates. The final tariff that the taxpayer pays is the sum of both scales applied bracket by bracket.

Special regimes: Basque Country, Navarre, Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla

IRPF applies throughout Spanish territory, but with important specialties set out in Articles 4 and 5 of the IRPF Act:

• The Basque Country and Navarre have a foral (regional) regime. They do not apply the State IRPF Act: each Historic Territory (Álava, Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa) and the Chartered Community of Navarre regulate and collect their own income tax. The structure is similar (general base, savings, allowances, credits) but the specific figures and the legislation are different. The content of this guide applies only to common territory (the whole State except the Basque Country and Navarre).
• Canary Islands: applies the State IRPF normally, although it has specific regional tax credits and particularities under the Economic and Fiscal Regime (REF), such as the Canary Islands Investment Reserve.
• Ceuta and Melilla: the State IRPF applies with a specific 60% deduction on the portion of the tax corresponding to income earned in those cities, regulated by the IRPF Act.

How it is calculated: worked example

To understand how the tax's progressivity works, it helps to follow the calculation step by step. Take someone with a general taxable base of €30,000 (after deducting the personal allowance and applicable reductions) in common territory.

🧮 Example: State gross tax liability on a €30,000 taxable base

1. Bracket 1 — €12,450 × 9.50% = €1,182.75
2. Bracket 2 — €7,750 × 12.00% = €930.00
3. Bracket 3 — €9,800 × 15.00% = €1,470.00
4. State gross tax liability on €30,000 = €3,582.75

To this State gross tax liability is added the regional gross tax liability (also progressive, different in each community) and applicable tax credits are then subtracted to reach the net tax liability. That is the figure the taxpayer ultimately pays — or, if the withholdings borne during the year exceed the liability, the figure that triggers the refund.

Frequently asked questions

What is the IRPF tax period?

The full calendar year: from 1 January to 31 December. The tax accrues on the last day of the period (31 December), except in the event of the taxpayer's death, in which case it accrues on the day of death and the period is shorter than the calendar year.

Do I pay IRPF in Spain if I lived less than 183 days here?

You are not subject to IRPF under the days-of-presence test. But you could still be subject if your centre of economic interests is here (businesses, companies, main real estate) or if your immediate family resides in Spain. If none of that applies, you are taxed as a non-resident under IRNR, only on income earned in Spanish territory.

I am a Spanish national living abroad. Do I pay IRPF?

Only if you are a tax resident in Spain under the tests of Article 9 of the IRPF Act. Nationality alone does not determine tax residency. There is an anti-avoidance rule (Article 8.2 IRPF Act): people who move their residence to a tax haven continue to be considered residents in Spain for the year of the change and the following four years.

If I am a tax resident in Spain and earn income in other countries, what happens?

You are taxed in Spain on your worldwide income, not only on what you earn here. To avoid double taxation, Spain applies the bilateral treaties signed with each country and specific credits against the tax liability.

How does foral IRPF differ from State IRPF?

The Basque Country and Navarre have their own IRPF laws. The most visible differences are: specific figures for personal and family allowances, the tax bracket scale, available tax credits, and filing-season deadlines that may not match the State ones. The philosophy of the tax (personal, direct, progressive) is the same.

Why does the tax liability vary so much between autonomous communities?

Because each community sets its own progressive scale on the general taxable base and its own tax credits. A person with €25,000 of taxable base may pay several hundred euros more or less depending on whether they live in Madrid, Andalusia or Catalonia, while the State portion of the tax stays identical.