Under estimación directa simplificada you keep an income ledger, an expense ledger and, if you own equipment or furniture, a capital assets ledger. Each quarter you calculate your year-to-date net income and make the income tax prepayment; at the end of the year you settle it in your annual return. Depreciation follows a simplified table, easier than the one in the standard regime, and the deduction for hard-to-justify expenses is applied automatically on your net income, with no invoices needed.
A typical mistake is to think that the 5% replaces keeping your expenses in order. It does not: it is an extra on top of your documented expenses, not a substitute. Another slip is overlooking that if you exceed the turnover threshold set by the rules, or opt out of this method, you move to estimación directa normal, which comes with stricter bookkeeping. Opting out and changes of method are notified through the census declaration.
This regime is related to rendimiento neto, estimación objetiva and the cuota de autónomos, which is one of the most common deductible expenses. What you calculate here ends up in your quarterly prepayment and your annual return. In kontora double-entry accounting produces the income and expense ledgers this method requires.
Guides that use this term
- The autónomo's Spanish income tax return, step by step
- How to keep your business books in Spain without knowing accounting
- Registering as self-employed in Spain: the two procedures, in order and without fines
- Autónomo or SL: what suits you and when
- Choosing accounting software as an autónomo in Spain: Verifactu, the free AEAT app and eight criteria to get it right
Related terms
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