Quarterly tax returns for the self-employed in Spain: which forms you file each quarter and by when

Quarterly taxes for autónomos: which forms you file each quarter

These are the quarterly taxes of a self-employed person in Spain and who files each one (what happens in a quarter with no activity is covered further down, in its own section):

Most autónomos under direct assessment end up with two fixed forms each quarter, 303 and 130, and the rest appear depending on their situation. A professional who invoices almost everything to Spanish companies usually files only the 303, because those companies withhold tax from them and the 70% rule exempts them from the 130. An online shop with rented premises files 303, 130 and 115. A software developer invoicing a company in Ireland normally files 303, 130 and 349.

If you are under estimación objetiva (the module system), two things change: the IRPF payment on account goes on the 131 instead of the 130, and IVA usually goes under the régimen simplificado (a special IVA scheme tied to the modules), which is also declared on the 303 every quarter. The rest of the map is the same.

This guide describes the common territory (the rest of Spain). In the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla IVA does not apply (art. 3 LIVA), so there is no 303 or 349 there, although IRPF does apply, and with it the 130, 111 and 115 (art. 4 LIRPF). In the Basque Country and Navarre the Concierto and Convenio Económico (their own tax agreements with the State) apply (art. 2 LIVA): check the forms and deadlines of your regional (foral) tax authority.

Modelo 303: quarterly VAT, deadline and who does not file it

Modelo 303 is the IVA self-assessment return. The standard period is the calendar quarter (art. 71.3 RIVA). Only businesses whose turnover exceeded 6,010,121.04 € the previous year, and some specific cases such as those authorised to claim monthly refunds or keeping their books under the immediate supply of information system (SII), file monthly.

Modelo 303 deadline: the first twenty calendar days of the month after the quarter, that is, 1 to 20 April, July and October. For the fourth quarter it is extended to the first thirty calendar days of January (art. 71.4 RIVA).

Who does not file it:

• Anyone carrying out only transactions exempt under articles 20 and 26 of the IVA Act, such as certain healthcare or teaching activities: art. 71.1 RIVA expressly excludes them from the obligation. If you mix exempt and non-exempt transactions, you do file it.
• Retailers under the recargo de equivalencia (equivalence surcharge scheme), for sales covered by that scheme: they do not settle or pay the IVA on those transactions (art. 154 LIVA), because they pay the surcharge to the supplier with each purchase.

Calculation in two lines: add up the IVA charged on the invoices you issued in the quarter and subtract the deductible IVA on the invoices you received (art. 99 LIVA). If the result is positive, you pay; if it is negative, you carry it forward to the following quarters for four years, and you can only claim a refund of the balance in the last period of the year, unless you are on the monthly refund register (art. 115 LIVA).

For a first figure before closing the quarter, use the modelo 303 estimator. The modelo 303 guide explains it box by box.

Quarterly modelo 130: the IRPF payment on account and the 70% rule

The IRPF pago fraccionado (instalment payment) is an advance on your income tax for the year. As a general rule, every taxpayer carrying on an economic activity (business or professional) files it (art. 109.1 RIRPF): on modelo 130 if you are under estimación directa (direct assessment) and on the 131 if you are under the module system (Orden EHA/672/2007, arts. 1 and 3).

The 70% exemption. You do not have to file the 130 if you carry out a professional activity and, in the previous calendar year, at least 70% of the income from that activity was subject to withholding or a payment on account (art. 109.2 RIRPF). Three points that change the answer:

• It is a rule for professionals (and for agricultural, livestock and forestry activities, with their own calculation). A business activity, such as a shop, a workshop or an online store, files the 130 even if some invoices carry withholding.
• It looks at the previous year. If in 2026 you invoiced almost everything to Spanish companies and in 2027 you start working for foreign clients or private individuals, who do not withhold, your 2027 exemption depends on what happened in 2026. Check it every January.
• If you have just started, there is no previous year: the percentage of income subject to withholding in the very period the instalment payment refers to is used instead (art. 109.5 RIRPF).

Modelo 130 deadline: 1 to 20 April, July and October, and 1 to 30 January for the fourth quarter. If nothing is payable, it is still filed as a nil return (declaración negativa), that is, at zero and with no payment (art. 111.1 RIRPF).

Calculation in two lines (direct assessment): 20% of the net income (revenue minus deductible expenses) accumulated from 1 January to the last day of the quarter, minus the instalment payments of the earlier quarters of the same year (art. 110.1 RIRPF). Agricultural, livestock, forestry and fishing activities have their own formula. If you are a professional, you also subtract the withholdings applied to you over that same accumulated period (art. 110.3 RIRPF). Under the module system, the 131 does not start from your actual income but from the method's base data (the module parameters, such as staff employed or the floor area of the premises).

The modelo 130 guide walks through the boxes and the reductions you can apply.

Modelos 111 and 115: the withholdings you apply

These two forms do not report your tax but other people's: they are the withholdings you deduct when paying and then pay over to Hacienda (the Spanish tax authorities) on behalf of the recipient. The law also requires autónomos to withhold on income they pay in the course of their business (art. 99.2 LIRPF).

• Modelo 111: you file it if you have employees on payroll or if you pay professionals' invoices that carry withholding. Professionals are generally subject to 15% withholding, or 7% in their first year and the following two if they carried out no professional activity the previous year and tell you so in writing (art. 95.1 RIRPF).
• Modelo 115: you file it if you rent premises, an office or a warehouse for your business and withhold 19% of the rent from the landlord, excluding IVA (art. 100 RIRPF). There are exceptions, such as when the rent paid to the same landlord does not exceed 900 € a year or when the landlord proves they meet the requirements not to be subject to withholding (art. 75.3 RIRPF).

Deadline: the first twenty calendar days of April, July, October and January (art. 108.1 RIRPF). Watch out: for these two forms the fourth quarter is not extended to 30 January; it ends on the 20th, ten days before the 303 and the 130.

Calculation in two lines: add up the withholdings applied in the quarter (salaries, professionals' invoices, rent receipts) and pay them over as they are, with nothing to subtract. If in the quarter you paid no income subject to withholding, you do not file the form; if you paid it but no withholding was due because of the amount, you file a nil return (art. 108.1 RIRPF, last paragraph).

You will find the details in the guide to modelos 111 and 115, and you can work out the amounts with the 111 and 115 withholding calculator.

Modelo 349: only if you trade with businesses in other EU countries

Modelo 349 is an informative return: nothing is paid with it. You file it if you make intra-EU supplies or acquisitions of goods, or if you provide or receive intra-EU services between businesses (art. 79 RIVA). The typical case is the designer invoicing a company in Germany without Spanish IVA, or the shop buying stock from a supplier in France. If you are still unsure when an invoice to another country goes without IVA, see the guide on invoicing foreign clients and what the ROI and VIES are (the Spanish register of intra-EU operators and the EU VAT number database).

Frequency: the general rule is monthly, and July can be filed during August and up to 20 September. But if neither in the quarter nor in any of the four previous quarters your intra-EU supplies of goods and services exceed 50,000 € excluding IVA, you file it quarterly, in the first twenty calendar days of the following month (art. 81.2 RIVA; Orden EHA/769/2010, art. 10). If you pass that figure partway through a quarter, you file a return for the month or months elapsed and switch to monthly from then on.

The last period of the year, whether monthly or quarterly, is filed in the first thirty calendar days of January (art. 81.3 RIVA). Since the obligation arises from carrying out those transactions, a quarter with no intra-EU transactions at all is not filed.

The amounts on the 349 should match the intra-EU transaction boxes of your 303 for the same period. More detail in the modelo 349 guide.

Quarterly tax return calendar: the four windows of the year

All quarterly forms share the same window. These are the general dates set by the regulation and by the direct debit order:

Sources: art. 71.4 RIVA (303), art. 111 RIRPF (130), art. 108 RIRPF (111 and 115), art. 81 RIVA (349) and Orden EHA/1658/2009 (direct debit).

When the last day falls on a public holiday or a weekend, the deadline moves to the next working day, and the AEAT (the Spanish Tax Agency) reflects this every year in its taxpayer's calendar. In 2026 the first three quarters fall due on their normal dates: 20 April and 20 July were Mondays, and 20 October is a Tuesday. For the fourth quarter of 2025, the 2026 calendar set 20 January for the 111 and 115 and 30 January for the 303, 130 and 349, with direct debit for the 303 and 130 until 27 January, because the 25th fell on a Sunday.

The fourth quarter of 2026 is filed in January 2027, and the exact dates are published by the AEAT in its calendar for that year. You have the full calendar, including the annual summaries, in the 2026-2027 tax calendar guide. If you file IVA monthly (large businesses, the immediate supply of information system or monthly refunds), your deadlines are different and are not covered by these tables.

Direct debit: a shorter deadline than the filing deadline

If you want the payment to come out of your account without arranging it separately, you can pay by direct debit (domiciliación) when filing the form through the AEAT electronic office (sede electrónica). The condition is to file before the direct debit window closes, and that window is shorter than the filing window (Orden EHA/1658/2009, art. 3.2 and Annex II):

• 303, 130 and 131: 1 to 15 April, July and October, and 1 to 25 January.
• 111 and 115: 1 to 15 April, July, October and January.

If the last day of the filing window is a non-working day and is extended, the direct debit window is extended by the same number of days, and there must be at least three working days or five calendar days between the end of one and the other (same order, art. 3.2.b). In addition, when the last direct debit day falls on a weekend, the AEAT sets another date in its calendar: in January 2026 the 25th was a Sunday and direct debit for the 303 and 130 ran until the 27th.

While the direct debit window is still open, you can change the account or cancel the instruction from the sede (arts. 3.3 and 3.4 of the order). Once it has closed, you can no longer pay by direct debit: you file within the general window and pay another way, for example with the full reference number (NRC) your bank gives you when you make the payment.

Two cases where direct debit does not apply: the 349, because there is no amount to pay, and any 303 or 130 whose result is a balance to carry forward, a refund or nil, because there is nothing to charge. In those cases the only deadline that counts is the filing deadline.

The practical advice is simple: put the 15th (or the 25th in January) in your diary, not the 20th. If you close the quarter's books in the first week of the month, you will have time to spare.

Quarter with no activity: what you still file

A quarter without invoices does not get you off everything. As long as you remain registered (de alta), the rule depends on the form:

The wording of the IVA regulation is clear: the 303 is filed “even in cases where no output tax has accrued and no input tax is deducted” (art. 71.1 RIVA). Not filing it is a breach even if there is nothing to pay.

The most common case is someone who registers in March and does not invoice until May. The first-quarter 303 is still filed, at zero or with the IVA on their first purchases to carry forward, and the first-quarter 130 is filed as a nil return. Another frequent case is a holiday quarter or a period of sick leave with no invoices: same treatment.

If the quarter is idle because you have stopped trading, the answer is not to file blank forms forever, but to deregister with Hacienda and the Seguridad Social (Social Security) and file your final forms. It is covered step by step in the guide to deregistering as an autónomo.

What to have ready before filing, and common mistakes

The quarterly return takes little time if your books are up to date and a whole afternoon if they are not. Before opening the sede, have all of this sorted:

• IVA record books (libros registro): invoices issued, invoices received, capital goods and, where applicable, intra-EU transactions (art. 62 RIVA).
• IRPF books if you are under direct assessment: income, expenses and capital goods (art. 68 RIRPF). We explain them in the autónomo's record books.
• All the quarter's invoices, issued and received, dated within the period, with deductible expenses clearly separated from personal ones.
• Withholdings applied to you: what your clients have withheld from you so far this year, to subtract on the 130.
• Withholdings you apply: the quarter's salaries, professionals' invoices and rent receipts, for the 111 and 115.
• The year's earlier 130 returns, because the calculation is cumulative and they are subtracted.
• Access to the sede: a digital certificate or Cl@ve (the Spanish government's identification system), and the account you will use for direct debit.

If you keep your books in kontora, the software prepares the 303, 130, 111, 115 and 349 box by box from your invoices and reminds you before each deadline closes; the 303, 130, 111 and 115 you file from the app itself with your digital certificate, by direct filing, and the 349 through the TGVI channel; or your gestor (tax adviser) does.

Common mistakes:

• Leaving the fourth-quarter 111 or 115 until 30 January, like the 303: they are due on the 20th.
• Not filing the 303 in a quarter without invoices.
• Calculating the 130 with the quarter's figures alone instead of the year-to-date totals, or forgetting to subtract earlier instalment payments.
• Treating yourself as exempt from the 130 under the 70% rule when you run a business activity, or without checking the previous year's figures.
• Declaring an intra-EU transaction on the 303 and forgetting it on the 349, or the other way round.
• Trying to set up direct debit on the 18th: the direct debit window closed on the 15th.
• Putting an invoice in the wrong quarter because it was collected or paid later. For invoices issued, the date of the transaction counts, not the date you are paid, unless you apply the criterio de caja (an optional cash accounting scheme in which IVA is declared when you collect and when you pay); for invoices received, IVA is deducted in the quarter in which you receive the invoice or in a later one, within four years (art. 99 LIVA).

Annual summaries and missed deadlines: 390, 190, 180, 347 and surcharges

The quarterly forms have their annual summaries, filed at the start of the following year:

• Modelo 390 (annual IVA summary): in the first thirty calendar days of January, together with the fourth-quarter 303 (Orden EHA/3111/2009, art. 8). It is not filed by, among others, quarterly autónomos who are taxed only in the common territory and have only activities under the régimen simplificado or the letting of urban property; instead they complete a specific section of the last 303 of the year (arts. 1.3 and 1.4 of the same order). Guide: modelo 390.
• Modelo 190 (annual summary of the 111) and modelo 180 (annual summary of the 115): in January; when filed online, 1 to 31 January (art. 108.2 RIRPF). In 2026 the AEAT calendar moved them to 2 February, because 31 January fell on a Saturday.
• Modelo 347 (transactions with third parties): in February, if your dealings with any client or supplier exceeded 3,005.06 € in the year (Orden EHA/3012/2008, art. 10; art. 33 RGAT). It is not filed by those under the module system who are also under the régimen simplificado or the recargo de equivalencia, subject to exceptions (art. 32 RGAT). In 2026 the AEAT calendar moved it to 2 March, because 28 February fell on a Saturday. Guide: modelo 347.

And in spring comes the annual income tax return (la renta), which takes into account the year's payments on account, including those on the 130: see the guide to the income tax return for autónomos.

If you miss the deadline. If you file late of your own accord, before Hacienda sends you a formal request, you pay a recargo por declaración extemporánea (late filing surcharge) of 1% plus another 1% for each full month of delay. After twelve months, the surcharge is 15% plus late payment interest from the end of those twelve months. In neither case is there a penalty (art. 27.2 LGT). The surcharge is reduced by 25% if you pay the tax when you file the form and pay the surcharge within the period given in Hacienda's notification (art. 27.5 LGT).

The surcharge only exists if you act first. If the AEAT opens a procedure first and finds you did not pay, failing to pay what a self-assessment should have produced can be a tax offence (art. 191 LGT). If the form shows zero, a balance to carry forward or a nil result, or it is the 349, which has no payment, there is no surcharge, but filing late is a minor offence with a fixed fine, halved if you file before Hacienda requests it (art. 198 LGT). File as soon as you notice.

To see how much it would cost you, use the late filing surcharge calculator, and for the practical steps, the guide I have missed a Spanish tax deadline.

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