Self-employed social security contributions in Spain 2026: the complete bracket table and how to work out yours

How the contribution works in 2026: you pay according to what you earn

Since 2023, self-employed workers in Spain contribute on their real earnings. The monthly amount you pay into the RETA, the special social security scheme for autónomos, is no longer a base picked at will: it comes from the net income bracket you sit in. The system was created by Royal Decree-law 13/2022 and lives in article 308 of the General Social Security Act: every year a general table and a reduced table split net income into brackets, and each bracket carries a minimum and a maximum contribution base.

2026 is a year without a Budget Act, so the tables have not moved: Royal Decree-law 3/2026 rolled over the 2025 tables and Orden PJC/297/2026 of 30 March republished them unchanged. Only two details differ: the MEI, the intergenerational equity mechanism, goes up from 0.8% to 0.9%, and the maximum contribution base is set at €5,101.20 a month.

Three ideas before the table. What you contribute is a forecast: when you register you declare the average monthly net income you expect, and the TGSS, the social security treasury, places you in a bracket. Within the bracket you choose the base between the minimum and the maximum; a higher base costs more but improves sick pay, the cessation-of-activity benefit and your pension. And everything is provisional until the tax agency passes your real income to social security and it carries out the annual adjustment, up or down. If you have just registered for the first time, for twelve months you pay the €80 flat rate and you do not enter the table until it ends.

The complete table: the 15 brackets for 2026

This is the full table from article 18 of Orden PJC/297/2026. Net income means the monthly average of your annual net income, calculated as explained in the next section; the minimum contribution is 31.5% of the bracket's minimum base.

How to read it. Below €1,166.70 a month you are in the reduced table, three brackets whose minimum bases sit below that of the general employee scheme; from €1,166.70 you are in the general table, with twelve. Brackets 2 and 3 of the general table share the same minimum base, €960.78, and therefore the same contribution, €302.65; and the maximum base of the last two is the ceiling of the whole system, €5,101.20, which is where the highest possible contribution, €1,606.88, comes from, and you only pay it if you choose that base. You will find these figures on the tax figures 2026 page too.

How the contribution is calculated: the 31.5% and the base you choose

Your monthly contribution is your contribution base multiplied by the total RETA rate, which in 2026 is 31.5%. It is not a round number: it is the sum of five separate contributions, set in Orden PJC/297/2026 and Royal Decree-law 3/2026.

• Common contingencies: 28.30%. Funds the retirement pension, permanent disability and sick leave for common illness.
• Occupational contingencies: 1.30%. Accidents at work and occupational illness.
• Cessation of activity: 0.90%. The self-employed equivalent of unemployment benefit, run by your mutua (see cese de actividad).
• Vocational training: 0.10%.
• MEI: 0.90%. The earmarked contribution to the pension reserve fund, and the only item that rises in 2026.

With that, the two extremes of the year fall out on their own: the absolute minimum contribution is €653.59 × 31.5% = €205.88, in the first bracket of the reduced table, and the maximum is €5,101.20 × 31.5% = €1,606.88, for anyone who picks the ceiling base.

Between the two, you decide. Within your bracket you can choose any contribution base between the minimum and the maximum, and the contribution rises in proportion: in the €2,030 to €2,330 bracket, the minimum base of €1,274.51 costs €401.47 and the maximum of €2,330 costs €733.95. The difference buys a higher benefit base for sick leave, cessation of activity and, above all, your pension, because benefits are calculated on what you contributed, not on what you earned. And the contribution is 100% deductible in your income tax, as explained in the guide to deductible expenses for autónomos.

You make that choice for the first time when you register: signing up for the RETA is where you declare the income you expect, and that sets your bracket. If you have not taken that step yet, the guide on registering as self-employed in Spain lays out the paperwork and the deadlines.

Which net income counts for social security (and why the 7% is not the 5% income-tax rule)

Here is the most common mistake: the net income social security looks at is not exactly your income-tax figure. It is derived from it, under the rules of article 308.1.c) of the General Social Security Act, and with a generic-expense percentage that people routinely confuse with a different one from the tax agency.

1. Add up all your activities. Count the net income of the calendar year from all your economic or professional activities, whether individually or as a partner in an entity.
2. Start from the net income of each activity. Under direct estimation, the computable income is your net income plus the social security contributions you deducted to get there: social security adds them back. Under the modules system, it is the previous net income. If you are an autónomo societario, a director or controlling shareholder, everything your company pays you as employment income and as a share of profits also counts, where you hold at least 33% of the capital, or 25% if you are a director.
3. Deduct 7% for generic expenses from that sum, with nothing to justify. For company directors and for partners in the entities listed in letters b) and e) of article 305.2 it is 3%.
4. Divide by twelve. The result is the monthly average you use to find your row in the table.

That 7% is not the 5% deduction for hard-to-justify expenses in income tax. They are two different deductions: the income-tax one (5%, capped at €2,000 a year, under simplified direct estimation) reduces the base you pay tax on; the RETA one (7% or 3%, uncapped) reduces the income that decides your bracket. A 7% income-tax deduction existed only for the 2023 tax year.

In practice the chain comes out of your books: income minus deductible expenses gives your net income, the same figure that feeds your quarterly modelo 130.

Three worked examples with the 2026 figures

Three profiles, using the exact 2026 bases and contributions. In all three we start from the income-tax net income (income minus expenses, with the contributions already deducted), add the contributions back, apply the 7% and divide by twelve.

A designer under direct estimation. Income of €30,000 and expenses of €6,000, including contributions of €302.65 a month (€3,631.80 a year). Income-tax net income: €24,000. Computable: 24,000 + 3,631.80 = €27,631.80. Less 7%: €25,697.57. Divided by twelve: €2,141.46 a month. That is the €2,030 to €2,330 bracket, minimum base €1,274.51 and minimum contribution €401.47. If she paid €302.65 all year, the adjustment will claim (401.47 - 302.65) × 12 = €1,185.84.

A newcomer on a low income. Income of €12,000 and expenses of €3,000, including contributions of €205.88 a month (€2,470.56 a year). Net income: €9,000. Computable: €11,470.56. Less 7%: €10,667.62. Divided by twelve: €888.97 a month. Reduced table, €670 to €900 bracket: minimum base €718.95 and a contribution of €226.47. He paid €205.88, so the adjustment will ask for (226.47 - 205.88) × 12 = €247.08.

A consultant with a high profit. Income of €90,000 and expenses of €20,000, with contributions of €607.35 a month (€7,288.20 a year). Net income: €70,000. Computable: €77,288.20. Less 7%: €71,878.03. Divided by twelve: €5,989.84 a month. The €4,050 to €6,000 bracket: minimum base €1,732.03 and minimum contribution €545.59. She paid €607.35, the minimum of the next bracket up, and because that base (€1,928.10) falls within the limits of her real bracket (up to €5,101.20), there is no adjustment: the extra simply improves her benefits.

How to change bracket: six times a year, on these dates

You can change your contribution base up to six times a year, each change taking effect on a fixed date depending on when you request it, under article 45 of the General Regulation on Contributions (Royal Decree 2064/1995):

• Request between 1 January and the last day of February: effective 1 March.
• Between 1 March and 30 April: effective 1 May.
• Between 1 May and 30 June: effective 1 July.
• Between 1 July and 31 August: effective 1 September.
• Between 1 September and 31 October: effective 1 November.
• Between 1 November and 31 December: effective 1 January of the following year.

You do it in Import@ss, the social security treasury's portal, with a digital certificate, Cl@ve or SMS. Along with the new base you declare the average monthly net income you forecast for the year, which is what the TGSS will later check against the tax agency's data.

When to change. Upwards, as soon as you see the year going better than planned: every month you contribute below your real bracket is a month the adjustment will claim back in one go. Downwards, if a big client disappears or activity slows; the law actually obliges you to adjust your base to your forecasts. Two warnings: company directors and partners in certain entities cannot go below the minimum base of group 7 of the general scheme, €1,424.40 in 2026; and review your forecast every time you close a quarter, because it coincides with a change window and you already have the accumulated net income you need for the 130.

The annual adjustment: what happens if you got it wrong

The adjustment closes the loop and is set out in article 308.1.c) of the General Social Security Act. Once you have filed your income-tax return, the tax agency sends your previous year's income to social security; the TGSS computes your computable income, sets your definitive bracket and compares it with what you contributed.

• If your provisional base was within the limits of your real bracket, between the minimum and the maximum, nothing happens: what you paid becomes definitive.
• If you contributed below the minimum base of your real bracket, you pay the difference between what you contributed and the contribution on that minimum base. Social security notifies you of the result and you have until the last day of the following month to pay, with no interest or surcharge if you pay within that period.
• If you contributed above the maximum base of your real bracket, the TGSS refunds the difference automatically, without interest, before 30 April of the year after the one in which the tax agency sent it the data.

Some rules punish neglect. If you did not file an income-tax return, or filed one without declaring income under direct estimation, your definitive base becomes the minimum base of group 7 of the general scheme, €1,424.40 in 2026, however little you earned. And contributions left unpaid in the voluntary period are not revised downwards.

Two exceptions: the flat rate is not adjusted during its first twelve months, whatever you earn, and during its extension only if you exceeded the minimum wage. The practical consequence is that each monthly contribution is a payment on account, just as the 130 is for income tax: nobody fines you for choosing the wrong bracket, but they charge you the whole year's difference in a single instalment.

Special cases: flat rate, company directors and dual activity

Flat rate. If you register for the first time, or have been out of the RETA for at least two years (three if you already used it), you pay a reduced contribution of €80 a month for twelve months, plus €8.56 of MEI charged separately: €88.56 in total. It can be extended for another twelve months if your net income stays below the minimum wage. When it ends you jump straight to the contribution of your real bracket. The guide to the flat rate for new autónomos in 2026 covers the conditions, the extension and the usual mistakes.

Company directors (autónomo societario). Anyone who runs a company or controls a significant share of it contributes to the RETA with three differences: their computable income includes what the company pays them as salary and as a share of profits, their generic-expense deduction is 3% rather than 7%, and their base cannot fall below the minimum base of group 7, €1,424.40 in 2026, which puts their real minimum contribution at €448.69. Since 2023 they can access the flat rate like any other autónomo. The cost comparison between the two set-ups is in the guide autónomo or SL.

Dual activity (pluriactividad). If you also have a salaried job, you contribute to both schemes at once. Your RETA bracket is decided solely by your self-employed income, not by your payslip. And if the sum of your common-contingency contributions in both schemes exceeds €17,323.68 in 2026, you are entitled to a refund of 50% of the excess, capped at 50% of what you paid into the RETA for that item; the TGSS pays it automatically within four months of the adjustment. More in the glossary under pluriactividad.

Work out your contribution and keep it current

You have two tools so you do not have to do the sums by hand. The official one is the Import@ss simulator run by social security, which replicates the tables and lets you try out bases. Ours is the 2026 self-employed contribution calculator: you enter your expected monthly net income and it shows your bracket, the minimum base and the minimum contribution at the 2026 rate of 31.5%, and with the flat-rate box ticked it shows the €80 plus the MEI on top. It is an estimate for planning, not a calculation of your adjustment: the real contribution depends on the exact base you choose.

The hard part is not the formula, it is having the number up to date. That is where kontora comes in: every invoice you issue and every expense you record updates your accumulated net income, so at any moment you can see which bracket you are heading for and whether it is worth requesting a base change in the next window. The contribution is recorded each month as a deductible expense, the same net income feeds the draft of your modelo 130, and base-change dates and quarterly deadlines reach you as reminders before they expire. Changing the base in Import@ss and filing at the tax agency's electronic office remain yours to do; kontora puts the numbers in front of you so you are not deciding blind. Every date of the year is in the 2026-2027 tax calendar.

Frequently asked questions

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