In short: the IRPF withholding on your payslip (nómina) is an advance on your Spain tax on salary, not the final bill: your employer deducts a percentage every month and hands it to the tax office. The yearly return (the Renta) then recalculates the tax with all your income and either refunds the difference or asks you for the rest. The employer works out the percentage only from what it pays you and from the data you give it in Modelo 145, the form with your family situation. With two payers, a short contract or a payer abroad that does not withhold, the withholding can fall short and the Renta can come out to pay.
What is on a payslip
- Gross: what you earn before deductions: salary, extras and bonus payments, even when they are spread over each month.
- Social Security paid by the employee: in 2026 it is 4.70% for common contingencies, 1.55% for unemployment (permanent contract) or 1.60% (temporary), 0.10% for vocational training and 0.15% for the MEI (Intergenerational Equity Mechanism, which goes to the Social Security Reserve Fund). Together that is 6.50% (permanent) or 6.55% (temporary) of your contribution base, which appears on the payslip itself. Source: Social Security, 2026 contribution rates.
- IRPF withholding: a percentage of the gross. It is not fixed: it comes out of the formula in the next section.
- Net pay: gross minus Social Security minus IRPF (and other deductions, if there are any). It is what lands in your bank account.
How the withholding percentage is calculated
The IRPF Regulation (arts. 80 to 86) and the AEAT 2026 algorithm (the Tax Agency) follow these steps:
- Annual total: what that employer pays you in the year, with extra payments and foreseeable variable pay (art. 83).
- Base: Social Security contributions are subtracted, plus €2,000 of other expenses (a fixed amount) and, if your pay is low, a work reduction of up to €7,302. That reduction disappears when what you earn minus contributions reaches €19,747.5 (art. 83).
- First quota: the withholding scale is applied to the base: 19% up to €12,450, 24% up to €20,200, 30% up to €35,200, 37% up to €60,000, 45% up to €300,000 and 47% above. Each percentage affects only the part that falls in its band (art. 85).
- Second quota: the same scale applied to your personal and family minimum, which as a general rule is €5,550 for you, plus what you declare for children, parents or disability (arts. 84 and 85, and art. 57 of the IRPF law). The withholding quota is the first minus the second. There is also a cap: if your annual total is €35,200 or less, the withholding quota cannot exceed 43% of the difference between your annual total and the no-withholding limit of art. 81 (art. 85.3).
- Percentage: the withholding quota divided by the annual total, times 100, with two decimals (art. 86). It is applied to every payslip.
Two separate rules. First: there is no withholding if the annual total does not pass a limit, which is €15,876 in the base case (no children and no spouse with low income) and goes up if you declare children or a spouse who earns €1,500 a year or less (art. 81). Second: there are minimum and fixed percentages, with a 2% minimum for contracts shorter than a year and a fixed 15% for courses, lectures and back pay from earlier years (arts. 80 and 86).
Worked example. A single person, no children, permanent contract, €24,000 gross a year and Social Security at 6.50% (€1,560). Base: €24,000 minus €1,560 minus €2,000 is €20,440, with no work reduction because €24,000 minus €1,560 is €22,440, above €19,747.5. First quota: €4,297.50. Second quota, on €5,550: €1,054.50. Withholding quota: €3,243. Percentage: €3,243 divided by €24,000 is 13.51%. The 43% cap does not apply here: 43% of €8,124 (€24,000 minus €15,876) is €3,493.32, more than €3,243. This is a hand calculation with the 2026 rules; the exact percentage for your payslip comes from the AEAT calculator.
Work out your own case: the yearly tax on your salary by region, children and deductions in our Spain tax calculator 2026. For the monthly withholding, use the AEAT withholding calculator.
Why it is not the final tax
- Withholding is a payment on account (art. 99 of the IRPF law). In the Renta the real tax of the year is calculated with all your income and what was already withheld is subtracted (AEAT, differential quota). If too much was withheld you get the difference back; if too little, you pay the rest.
- Your employer sees only what it pays you and your Modelo 145. It does not see a second job, income from abroad, rent or interest.
- The withholding calculation does not, in general, include deductions from the tax quota. The Renta does: for example, the work deduction of up to €590.89 for 2026 income (additional provision 61 of the IRPF law), the international double taxation deduction and regional ones.
- Withholding uses a single state scale, with a special regime only for Ceuta, Melilla and La Palma. The final tax adds the state scale and the one of your autonomous community (Comunitat Valenciana).
- The percentage is a forecast for the year. If your pay or your situation changes during the year, the employer regularises it (art. 87).
Typical cases for a foreigner
- Two payers. Each company calculates from what it pays you and applies its own no-withholding limit (arts. 80 and 81). Example: two companies pay you €10,000 a year each, with no children and contracts of a year or more. Neither withholds anything, because each is below €15,876. You add up €20,000 and in the Renta you must file, because the limit for not filing drops to €15,876 when the second payer is above €1,500 (who has to file the Renta). With no withholding to subtract, the whole tax comes out to pay.
- A contract of a few months. The minimum withholding is 2% (art. 86), even if you earn less than the no-withholding limit (art. 81). If the contract ends and you stay with the same employer or return in the same year, the employer regularises the percentage (art. 87). With several short contracts from different employers, each calculates on its own and the 2% can fall short: expect the Renta to come out to pay.
- A change in your family situation. A child is born, you marry, you divorce or your spouse starts earning more than €1,500 a year: report the change with a new Modelo 145. If your withholding goes down, it applies from the notice as long as at least 5 days remain before the payslip is prepared. If it goes up, you must report it within 10 days (art. 88). The employer may choose to regularise once a quarter, on 1 April, 1 July or 1 October (art. 87).
- A payer that does not withhold. A payer abroad that has no permanent establishment and does not operate in Spain is not obliged to withhold on employment income (art. 76), and a person with no economic activity, such as a family that hires you at home, is not on the list of those obliged either. There is no withholding and no Modelo 145: you declare it yourself in the Renta, with the limit of €15,876 (remote work for a foreign company).
- You arrived in Spain this year. Withholding as a non-resident (IRNR, the non-resident tax) in the year you become a resident counts as a payment on account of IRPF (art. 99.8 of the law). The law also lets someone who is about to become a resident tell the AEAT their date of entry and receive a document so that the employer withholds under IRPF from that date (art. 99.8). It is a case for an adviser. To know since when you are a tax resident: tax residence and the 183 days.
A contract shorter than a year: getting back the 2% withheld (2022–2025)
On a contract shorter than a year the employer withholds at least 2%, even if you earn less than the no-withholding limit. The IRPF Regulation says so: the minimum in art. 86.2 applies even if you do not reach the limits in art. 81 (art. 81.3), and it was the same from 2022 to 2025. If you were not required to file the Renta that year and did not file it, that money stayed with the tax office. You only get it back by filing that year's Renta.
Who is usually in this case. People who worked on temporary contracts of a few months and earned little in the year, for example covering for someone or as extra summer staff. Also people who regularised their status with a first contract shorter than a year. The length is stated in your contract.
Until when, by our calculation (4 years from the end of each filing period, arts. 66 and 67 of the General Tax Law):
- 2022 Renta: until 30.06.2027.
- 2023 Renta: until 01.07.2028.
- 2024 Renta: until 30.06.2029.
- 2025 Renta: until 30.06.2030.
If it is a refund, there is no surcharge. If you were not required to file, in principle there is no fine for filing late either, although we have not found an official AEAT position on this case.
Several short contracts in the same year. Each employer is a separate payer. If the second and later payers add up to more than €1,500, the limit for having to file was €14,000 in 2022, €15,000 in 2023 and €15,876 in 2024 and 2025. Above that limit you were required to file, the 2% may fall short and the Renta may come out to pay. If you did not file, there may also be a fixed fine of €100, or €200 after a requerimiento, a formal request from the AEAT (art. 198 LGT).
Before you claim: check your situation
- Were you a tax resident that year? In general, if you spent more than 183 days of the year in Spain. If you arrived in 2022 after early July, you were most likely not a resident that year.
- Did you have income outside Spain from 2022 to 2025? For example, a FOP in Ukraine, a rental or remote work. That year's return must include it and may come out to pay: if the answer is yes or you are not sure, first ask for an analysis.
- Did you already file that year's Renta? Then the withholding was already subtracted in that return. If something was missing, you correct that same return and do not file another one.
- Are you also claiming maternity or large family? Check the advances under Modelos 140 and 143 and the child support supplement: the full 5 questions.
Roughly how much. What was withheld according to each employer's withholding certificate for that year, minus the tax for that year with all your income. Example (our calculation): a 3-month contract in 2023, €4,500 gross and no other income that year. At 2%, €90 was withheld. Your income is below the personal minimum of €5,550 (art. 57 of the IRPF law), so the tax comes to 0 and you get the €90 back. This is a rough figure: the exact amount is known when you file the return.
Help to do it
- Free estimate: the calculator of how much the tax office may refund you estimates maternity and family deductions for 2022 to 2025. It does not work out payslip withholding.
- Step-by-step guide «A contract shorter than a year» (now available on this page).
- Full help. We review your situation from 2022 to 2025: withholding on payslips and unemployment benefit, family deductions and foreign pensions. We work out an approximate amount and prepare a step-by-step instruction with screenshots for your case, with your figures. While you file, we support you by online chat. You file yourself: we never ask for your Cl@ve, electronic certificate, reference number or passwords. We cannot promise that there will be a refund or how much: it depends on your case and on the AEAT, and the review may show there is nothing to recover or that tax is due. Message @spain_asesor: we send you the price and the terms privately before any payment.
Other money the tax office may owe you (unemployment benefit, maternity, large family, foreign pensions): How to claim a tax refund from previous years in Spain.
What can be changed and what cannot. The percentage comes from the formula: neither you nor the employer chooses it. What you can change is the data you report in Modelo 145 and, if you want, ask to be withheld more. If you do not hand in Modelo 145, the employer uses the no-family case and the withholding can be higher than what applies to you; you recover that excess in the Renta.
What you can do
- Check your latest payslip: find the IRPF percentage and compare it with the AEAT withholding calculator for 2026 (the version in force since 10 September 2026).
- If you have children or another situation that lowers the withholding, fill in Modelo 145, sign it and give it to your employer. It is not sent to the tax office. You hand it in before 1 January or when the contract starts, and you do not need to repeat it every year if nothing changes (art. 88).
- If something changes, hand in a new one within the deadlines above. If the change raises the withholding and you do not report it, the fine runs from 35% to 150% of what was not withheld: the form itself says so, citing art. 205 of the General Tax Law.
- With a second payer or with income that has no withholding, you can ask one employer in writing to withhold more. It must act on it if you ask at least 5 days before the payslip is prepared, and it applies at least until the end of the year (art. 88). You can also set money aside for the Renta.
- File the Renta when it is due: withholding is subtracted from the tax. If you were obliged and did not file in earlier years: Renta not filed: surcharges and how to regularise.
Official source: IRPF Regulation, arts. 80 to 89, BOE, art. 99 of the IRPF law, BOE, AEAT, Modelo 145 and AEAT, withholding calculation service.
Informational only; check the official source and a professional for your specific case. Figures checked on 2 October 2026.
