How to fill in the modelo 303 box by box: a practical 2026 guide with a worked example

Before you start: form, period and identification

The 303 is always filed online, from the modelo 303 page on the AEAT e-office, using either the form or the Pre303 help service, which guides you through it. Individuals can use Cl@ve (the Spanish government's electronic identification system) or a digital certificate; SLs and SAs (limited companies) need a certificate, as does anyone who files monthly, even as an individual.

Have to hand the quarter's register of issued invoices, the register of received invoices and, if you bought capital goods (assets you use in the business for more than a year, art. 108 LIVA, the Spanish VAT Act), their register: every figure comes from there. If you are not sure which books apply to you, see the autónomo's (self-employed person's) record books.

The first page covers identification and the accrual period (the tax year and the period you are declaring). Almost everything is pre-filled; check the status tick boxes:

From Q2 2026 there is also a box 112 for payments on account for fuel released from tax warehouses (it appears in the instructions for Q2 to Q4 2026). If you do not hold such a warehouse or take products out of one, ignore it.

Modelo 303 deadline: the four filing windows of the year and what happens if you are late

The quarterly modelo 303 is filed from 1 to 20 April, July and October, and from 1 to 30 January for the fourth quarter. This is set by art. 71.4 RIVA (the VAT Regulation): "during the first twenty calendar days of the month following" the quarter and, for the last period of the year, "during the first thirty calendar days of the month of January". The deadline is the same whether the result is payable, to be offset, zero or no activity.

Direct debit (domiciliación). If you want the payment taken from your account, you must file five days before the end: by the 15th in the first three quarters and by 25 January for Q4 (annex II of Orden EHA/1658/2009).

Monthly filers. Those who file monthly (turnover above €6,010,121.04 in the previous year, those enrolled in the monthly refund register and the other cases in art. 71.3 RIVA) file from 1 to 30 of the following month, and the January return by the last day of February. With direct debit, by the 25th; for January, by 23 February (24 in a leap year).

If the last day is a non-working day, the deadline moves to the next working day (art. 30.5 of Ley 39/2015): the Q4 2026 return is due on Monday 1 February 2027, because 30 January falls on a Saturday. Each year's dates are in the Spanish tax calendar 2026-2027.

If you are late without a prior requerimiento (formal request from the tax office), art. 27 LGT (the General Tax Act) applies a surcharge of 1% plus another 1% for each full month of delay on the amount payable; after twelve months, 15% plus late-payment interest. The surcharge is cut by 25% if you pay the tax when you file and the surcharge within the period opened by its notification (art. 27.5 LGT). If the 303 has nothing to pay, there is no surcharge, but filing late is a minor offence: a fixed fine of €200, halved if you file without a requerimiento (art. 198 LGT). Work it out with the late-filing surcharge calculator and follow the steps in I have missed a Spanish tax deadline.

Output VAT (IVA devengado): boxes 01 to 27

The output VAT block records the IVA repercutido (VAT charged) on your invoices for the quarter and the VAT you self-assess on certain purchases. The base boxes take the base imponible (taxable base), always net of VAT, and each transaction goes in the quarter of its devengo (accrual, the moment VAT arises): services when they are performed, supplies of goods when they are made available to the customer (art. 75 LIVA). The rate is the one in force at that moment: 21% standard (art. 90 LIVA), 10% and 4% reduced (art. 91 LIVA).

Rows 153 to 155 and 165 to 167 are not linked to any current rate in the 2026 instructions: leave them blank. Boxes 14 and 15 are not broken down by rate and, if the change reduces the base, they carry a minus sign. The surcharge rates are set by art. 161 LIVA and are declared by the supplier who charges them, not by the retailer.

When the supplier does not charge you VAT because you are the person liable for it, the VAT still exists: you declare it here as output VAT and, if the expense is deductible, again in the next block (art. 92 LIVA). The net effect is zero, but both boxes must be filled in.

Deductible VAT (IVA deducible): boxes 28 to 46

This is where the IVA soportado (input VAT) you are allowed to deduct goes. You need an invoice in your name (art. 97 LIVA), an expense used for the business and not one of those excluded by law (art. 96 LIVA); we cover this in deductible expenses for autónomos. Bases are entered without applying the pro rata even if you use it, and zero-rated or exempt purchases are not included.

The right to deduct does not lapse at the end of the quarter: art. 99.Tres LIVA lets you exercise it in the period in which you bore the VAT or in later periods, as long as four years have not passed since the right arose. If an expense invoice reaches you late, include it in your next 303.

Box 59 of the modelo 303: intra-Community supplies of goods and services

Box 59 (casilla 59) holds the amount, without VAT, of exempt intra-Community supplies of goods and intra-Community supplies of services in the period. The 2026 instructions define it as "the amount of exempt intra-Community supplies of goods carried out during the settlement period, under article 25 of the VAT Act, and the amount of intra-Community supplies of services in the settlement period".

In practice these are your invoices without VAT to businesses in another EU Member State identified by their NIF-IVA, the European VAT number with a country prefix. If you sell goods, the exemption is the one in art. 25 LIVA (the VAT Act); if you supply a service to an EU business, under the general rule in art. 69 LIVA it is located in the customer's country, and the customer self-assesses the VAT there. To trade like this you need your own NIF-IVA, that is, to be on the ROI register, and you should check your customer's number in VIES before invoicing.

Box 59 is on page 3, the additional information page, and does not change the result: it carries no VAT amount. But the AEAT cross-checks it against the modelo 349, where you report those same transactions customer by customer, and, if you are exempt from filing the 390, against box 93 of the last period, which holds the same figure for the whole year. Leaving it blank will not make you pay more, but if box 59 and the 349 do not match, a requerimiento is likely.

Box 59 does not include services to businesses outside the EU (box 120) or sales to consumers in other EU countries that you declare under the one-stop shop (box 123). We go through examples in invoicing foreign clients without VAT.

Box 60 of the modelo 303: exports and similar transactions

Box 60 holds the total amount for the period of exports and similar transactions exempt from VAT. According to the 2026 instructions, it includes:

• Exports outside the EU, including permanent shipments to the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla (art. 21 LIVA).
• The tax bases of refunds made under the travellers' scheme (tax-free shopping) in the period, entered as a positive figure.
• Supplies of goods and services under articles 22 (transactions treated as exports, such as certain supplies and repairs of ships) and 64 (services related to imports).
• The exemptions in articles 23 and 24 (temporary storage and customs and tax arrangements).
• Transactions under the special scheme for travel agencies that are exempt under art. 143 LIVA.

The amount is the sum of the consideration, including advance payments or, failing that, the domestic value of the goods and services. Like box 59, it carries no VAT and does not change the result, but it forms part of your turnover: if you are exempt from filing the 390, the figure for the year goes in box 94 in the last period.

Watch out with services: a service to a customer outside the EU is not an export. As a general rule it is outside the scope of Spanish VAT under the place-of-supply rules and goes in box 120, not box 60. A service-based autónomo (self-employed person) rarely uses box 60; a business shipping goods to Switzerland, the United Kingdom or the Canary Islands does, and must keep the documents proving that the goods left.

Box 61 of the modelo 303: why you cannot find it and where that amount goes

Box 61 does not exist in the current modelo 303: it appears neither in the official 2026 instructions nor in the 2025 ones published on the AEAT e-office. On page 3, boxes 59 and 60 are followed by 120, 122, 123 and 124, and then by the cash accounting boxes (62, 63, 74 and 75). If an old template, a software package or a forum mentions box 61, work out which transaction it means and put it in its current box:

The numbering of the 303 is not consecutive because each time the form is replaced, boxes with new numbers are added and others are withdrawn. For example, Orden HAC/1274/2020 split the old box 67, for carried-forward amounts applied, into three new boxes (today 110, 78 and 87), and the latest replacement of the form was made by Orden HAC/27/2026. That is why you should not fill in the 303 from a template that is a few years old: always use the instructions for the year you are declaring.

None of these boxes carries VAT or changes the result, but they feed into the AEAT's cross-checks and your turnover. The practical approach is to reconcile them with your sales invoice book: every invoice without VAT should have its box.

Boxes 120 and 122 of the modelo 303: out-of-scope transactions and reverse charge

Box 120 holds transactions outside the scope of Spanish VAT under the place-of-supply rules, and box 122 taxable transactions where your customer is the person liable for the VAT (reverse charge). In neither do you charge Spanish VAT and neither changes the result, but the AEAT cross-checks them against your customers' returns.

Box 120. According to the 2026 instructions, this is where you put out-of-scope supplies of services, except intra-Community ones (box 59) and one-stop shop ones (box 123); supplies of goods installed or assembled in other EU Member States; out-of-scope distance sales that you do not declare under the one-stop shop; and any other supply of goods or services outside the scope under the place-of-supply rules that should not go in box 59. The typical autónomo case: services to a business in the United States, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, outside the scope of Spanish VAT under the general rule in art. 69.Uno LIVA. There are exceptions, such as services connected with property located in Spain (art. 70 LIVA). These transactions do not go in the 349.

Box 122. It holds supplies of gold under art. 84.Uno.2.º b) LIVA and of investment gold under art. 140, and the transactions in letters a), c), d), e), f) and g) of the same article: among others, scrap and waste, certain supplies of property (in insolvency, with waiver of the exemption or on enforcement of security), urbanisation, construction or renovation works contracted between developer and contractor or with subcontractors, and some supplies of mobile phones, silver or platinum. You invoice without VAT and your customer declares the VAT in their boxes 12 and 13: box 122 mirrors theirs.

Sales to final consumers in other EU countries that you declare in the modelo 369 go in box 123 (not subject in Spain) or 124 (subject). If you are torn between 59 and 120, the question is where your customer is: in the EU, box 59 and the 349; outside it, box 120. We explain it in invoicing foreign clients without VAT.

Cash accounting in the modelo 303: boxes 62, 63, 74 and 75

Boxes 62 and 63 (sales) and 74 and 75 (purchases) are filled in only by those who apply the special cash accounting scheme (criterio de caja) and by those who receive transactions under it. They do not change the result: they report what would have accrued in the period under the general rule in art. 75 LIVA, "as if the special cash accounting scheme had not applied to them", in the words of the 2026 instructions.

• 62 and 63: tax base and VAT on sales under the cash scheme that would have accrued this period without the scheme.
• 74 and 75: tax base and input VAT on purchases to which the scheme applies or which it affects, on the same basis.

The VAT you actually settle, however, follows your collections. Under the cash scheme, VAT on your sales accrues on full or partial collection, for the amount collected, or, if you are not paid, on 31 December of the year after the transaction (art. 163 terdecies LIVA); that VAT goes in boxes 01 to 09 of the period in which you collect. Deductions work the same way: input VAT is deducted when you pay or, at the latest, on 31 December of the following year. And if it is your supplier who applies the cash scheme, even if you do not, you only deduct their VAT when you pay them (art. 163 quinquiesdecies LIVA), and that purchase is reported in boxes 74 and 75.

You can opt into the scheme if your turnover in the previous year did not exceed €2,000,000 (art. 163 decies LIVA); the option renews automatically and a waiver lasts at least three years (art. 163 undecies). On the first page of the 303 you tick whether you apply it or receive transactions under it.

Result: from box 64 to box 71

The last block turns box 46 into what you pay or have in your favour. Almost everything is automatic, but it is worth understanding how carry-forwards work:

Using the example in the instructions themselves: if 66 + 77 add up to 1,000 € and you carry 1,200 € in box 110, you enter 1,000 € in box 78, the result comes to zero and the remaining 200 € go to box 87. Offsetting is optional, but if you offset you must apply the maximum possible amount, and a 303 with box 78 filled in cannot itself end with a result to be offset. The balance can be offset for as long as four years have not passed since the self-assessment in which it arose (art. 99.Cinco LIVA), so do not leave box 110 blank if you have a balance.

Modelo 303 example: a full quarter for an autónomo

Marta is a self-employed graphic designer under the general regime, with no pro rata and no balance to offset. In the third quarter of 2026 she has these transactions:

• Sales: invoices to Spanish clients for a base of 12,000 €, at 21%. VAT charged: 2,520 €.
• Domestic expenses: coworking desk rental, software and accountancy, for a base of 3,000 € plus 630 € of VAT at 21%, all with invoices in her name.
• One intra-Community invoice: 500 € of online advertising billed by an Irish company with a NIF-IVA, without VAT because Marta is registered in the ROI (Registro de Operadores Intracomunitarios, the Spanish register of intra-Community operators). Marta is the person liable and self-assesses 21%: 105 €.

Her 303 looks like this:

Result: 1,890 € payable. Note that the Irish invoice does not change the result: it adds 105 € above and subtracts 105 € below. What it does do is require Marta to declare that purchase in the modelo 349 for the period, because intra-Community acquisitions of services are among the transactions it covers (art. 79.1 RIVA).

Marta files this 303 from 1 to 20 October 2026 (art. 71.4 RIVA). If she wants to pay by direct debit, she has until 15 October. The other dates of the year are in the 2026-2027 Spanish tax calendar.

Variation: if Marta had also invoiced 2,000 € of design work to a French agency with a NIF-IVA, that invoice would go without VAT, in box 59 and in the 349, without changing the result. To test your own figures, use the modelo 303 estimator. The quarter's income tax (IRPF) goes separately, in the modelo 130.

Modelo 303 with no activity: how to fill it in step by step

A no-activity 303 (sin actividad) is filed like any other and within the same deadline: you tick "Sin actividad" and leave every amount box at zero. The 2026 instructions define it this way: the return is "no activity" when "no VAT has been charged or borne during the period declared". Step by step:

1. Open the form from the modelo 303 page on the AEAT e-office, with Cl@ve or a digital certificate (an SL always with a certificate).
2. Check the identification details and choose the year and period, for example 2026 and Q3.
3. Enter nothing under output VAT (01 to 27) or deductible VAT (28 to 46): with no invoices carrying VAT, everything stays at zero, including the result in box 71.
4. Tick the "Sin actividad" box, which in the instructions comes right after box 71.
5. File and keep the receipt. There is no payment, so there is nothing to direct-debit.

Filing is compulsory even if you have not invoiced: art. 71.1 RIVA requires returns "even where no output VAT has accrued and no deduction is made", except for those who only carry out transactions exempt under articles 20 and 26 of the Act. If you forget, there is no surcharge because there is nothing to pay, but there is the art. 198 LGT fine explained in the deadline section.

The tick only applies if there is no VAT at all. If you did not invoice but had expenses with VAT (your gestoría, your phone, a computer), declare them in 28 and 29, or in 30 and 31 for capital goods: the result will be negative and the return will be "to be offset" or, in Q4, "refund", not "no activity".

Offsetting, refunds and direct debit: boxes 71, 72 and 110

The form distinguishes five results based on box 71: payable, refund requested, to be offset, zero result and no activity. If box 71 is positive, you pay; if it is negative, you choose between offsetting and, where allowed, claiming a refund.

To be offset (a compensar). If box 71 is negative outside the last period of the year, the amount goes to box 72 and you carry it forward in box 110 of the next quarter. According to the instructions, the result cannot be "to be offset" if you have filled in box 78, that is, if the same 303 applies balances from earlier periods. The balance can be offset as long as four years have not passed since the return in which it arose (art. 99.Cinco LIVA).

Refund (a devolver). As a general rule, only in the return for the last period of the year, the Q4 return filed in January (art. 115 LIVA); during the year, only those enrolled in the monthly refund register (art. 30 RIVA). In Q4 you must claim the whole balance in your favour, including what you carry in box 110, and the AEAT has six months to issue, where appropriate, a provisional assessment.

Payable and direct debit. The amount payable matches box 71. You can pay by direct debit from 1 to 15 April, July and October, and from 1 to 25 January for Q4 (annex II of Orden EHA/1658/2009), giving your IBAN; since 2024, also from SEPA-zone accounts at non-collaborating banks. If you later file, within the direct debit window, a corrective return that turns out more favourable, you can ask in it for the original direct debit to be cancelled or reduced.

Zero result. When the return comes to exactly zero, for example because the balances you apply in box 78 absorb the whole result. Deadlines and what happens if you are late are in the deadline section at the start of this guide.

Correcting a modelo 303 already filed: the corrective self-assessment

If you are looking for how to file a complementary modelo 303 (303 complementaria), the answer for recent periods is that you no longer do. Since the 303 for the third quarter of 2024 (or September 2024 if you file monthly), Orden HAC/819/2024 has built the autoliquidación rectificativa (corrective self-assessment) into the form, replacing the dual system of complementary return plus request for rectification. The legal basis is art. 120.3 and 120.4 LGT and art. 74 bis RIVA, which makes it compulsory to "rectify, complete or amend" a 303, whether the error works against you or in favour of Hacienda (the Spanish tax authorities).

How to fill it in:

1. File a new 303 for the same tax year and period and tick the autoliquidación rectificativa box.
2. Enter the receipt number of the return you are correcting; if you have already filed other corrective returns, that of the latest one.
3. Tick at least one reason: "Rectificaciones" (corrections), which covers almost every case, or "Discrepancia criterio administrativo" (disagreement with the administrative interpretation) if you disagree with the AEAT's reading.
4. Fill in the whole form again, with the data that does not change, the data that does and any new data (art. 74 bis.3 RIVA). You do not declare only the difference.
5. In box 70, enter the positive result of box 69 of the previous return, whether or not you paid it; in box 109, any refund the AEAT had already granted you. Box 111 (what must be refunded to you or deducted from what you have already paid, debited or deferred) is calculated by Pre303 itself.

The effects depend on the result (art. 74 bis.4 RIVA). If more is payable, or less is to be refunded or offset, the rules for complementary returns in art. 122.2 LGT apply: if late, it is a late return and carries the art. 27 LGT surcharge, with no penalty if there has been no requerimiento. If the result is a refund, the refund is deemed requested and the AEAT has six months to pay it. If the amount you owed goes down and you had not paid it yet, your obligation becomes the new amount; if you had already paid, the difference appears in box 111 as a refund. If the original was paid by direct debit and you file the favourable corrective return within the direct debit period, you can cancel or reduce the charge.

More details from the official corrective self-assessment page: you can correct data that does not change the result, you cannot attach documents, and if you used the wrong period you file a corrective return for the wrong period with everything at zero and then one for the correct period. The declaración complementaria (complementary return) remains only for periods before Q3 2024.

Common mistakes when filling in the 303 and how to avoid them

Check for these mistakes before you press "Presentar" (Submit):

• Deducting VAT that is not deductible. VAT on food, drink, entertainment or client hospitality is excluded from the right to deduct, subject to the exceptions in art. 96 LIVA. For cars and motorbikes, the law presumes 50% business use (art. 95.Tres LIVA): except for vehicles presumed to be 100% business use (for example, those of sales agents or mixed goods-transport vehicles), deducting more requires you to be able to prove greater use. And without a valid invoice there is no deduction, even if you have the till receipt and the card charge.
• Bases including VAT. The base always goes in net of VAT; if you add up gross totals, you inflate both output and deductible VAT and stop matching your books.
• Boxes 59 and 60 forgotten. They do not change what you pay, but the AEAT cross-checks box 59 against your 349 and against your European customers' returns. If they do not match, Hacienda is likely to ask you for an explanation.
• Reverse charge on one side only. An intra-Community purchase in 10 and 11 but not in 36 and 37 makes you pay VAT you did not owe; the other way round, you deduct something you have not declared.
• Carry-forward not brought across. A Q1 balance that does not appear in box 110 of Q2 is money you fail to use.
• "No activity" with expenses. If you bore deductible VAT, declare it.
• Reversed signs. Boxes 14, 15, 25, 26, 40, 41 and 43 go in as negatives when they reduce the base, surcharge or deduction.

The most reliable approach is for the 303 to come from your record books rather than from adding up invoices by hand on the 19th. If you keep your books in kontora, the software prepares the 303 box by box from your invoices and reminds you of the deadline; you file it from the app itself with your digital certificate, by direct filing, or your gestor (tax adviser) does.

Frequently asked questions

Keep reading