Example: with a base of 1,000 euros and 21% IVA, the VAT comes to 210 euros and the invoice total is 1,210 euros; if your invoice also carries an IRPF withholding, it is calculated on the same 1,000 euros and subtracted from the amount payable.
The base includes the agreed price and, in general, the costs you charge the customer for the transaction, such as shipping, even when shown on a separate line. It does not include suplidos, which are payments you make on the customer's behalf and pass on at their exact amount, with the receipt in the customer's name. Discounts granted on the invoice itself do reduce it.
The typical mistake is calculating the withholding on the total including VAT, or the VAT on the amount already net of withholding. Both always start from the same base. Another mistake is confusing it with the taxable base for IRPF or corporate tax, which is something else: income minus deductible expenses for the period, with its adjustments.
The bases of your issued and received invoices add up in the quarterly VAT return and in the registers. In kontora each invoice separates base, VAT and withholding, and those amounts flow into the accounts and the returns.
Guides that use this term
- Corporate income tax in Spain: your SL's first year
- Renting out a property in Spain as a non-resident: what you pay and when you declare it
- Factura rectificativa (corrective invoice) in Spain: when it is mandatory, how to issue it and how to report it on the modelo 303
- Modelo 210: the Spanish non-resident tax, explained in full
- How to fill in the modelo 303 box by box: a practical 2026 guide with a worked example
Related terms
Rather have this calculated for you?
kontora generates your tax forms box by box, tells you how much to set aside and reminds you before every deadline.