When Corporate Tax is paid in Spain: modelo 200 and modelo 202 dates in 2026 and 2027

When Corporate Tax is paid: the calendar in brief

An SL pays Corporate Tax (Impuesto sobre Sociedades) in two ways. The main one is the annual return, the modelo 200, which settles the closed financial year: it is filed and paid within the same deadline. The other is the instalment payments (pagos fraccionados) of the modelo 202, three advances a year that are later deducted in the 200. With a calendar-year financial year, which is the case for almost all SLs, the calendar for the rest of 2026 and for 2027 is this:

The dates moved because of weekends and the direct debit cut-offs come from the tax calendar 2026-2027, which also covers IVA (VAT) and withholdings. The general rule is that, if the last day of the deadline is a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, it moves to the next working day.

The modelo 200: 1 to 25 July with a calendar-year financial year

Article 124.1 of Law 27/2014 on Corporate Tax does not give a date, it gives a rule: the return is filed "within the 25 calendar days following the 6 months after the end of the tax period". If your financial year closes on 31 December, the six months end on 30 June and the 25 days run from 1 to 25 July. The 2026 tax is therefore paid in July 2027, and as 25 July 2027 is a Sunday, the deadline runs until Monday the 26th.

Payment goes together with filing. If the 200 results in an amount to pay, you choose how you pay when you file it:

• Direct debit (domiciliación) from a company account. The order closes about five days before the end of the deadline: in 2027, 21 July.
• Payment with an NRC. You pay at your bank and enter the receipt when filing. It is valid until the last day.
• Request for deferral, if you cannot pay in full. We cover it below.

The 200 is always filed, even if it comes out at zero or as a refund, and also for the short financial year of incorporation. How the settlement is built, from the accounting result to the tax liability, is explained in the guide to the modelo 200 step by step, and the Corporate Tax estimator gives you an idea of how much to set aside for July.

Payments on account with the modelo 202: April, October and December

Article 40.1 of the Law requires an instalment payment "in the first 20 calendar days of the months of April, October and December", on account of the tax period in progress on the 1st of each of those months. They are three fixed deadlines for all companies: 1 to 20 April, 1 to 20 October and 1 to 20 December, with the usual shift if the 20th is not a working day.

Under the general method, the one almost any small SL uses, each payment is 18% of the full tax liability (cuota íntegra) of the last period whose filing deadline had expired on the first day of the payment period, reduced by deductions, allowances and withholdings of that year (article 40.2). That produces a lag worth keeping in mind:

• The payment of April 2027 is calculated with the 2025 modelo 200, because the 2026 one has not yet expired on 1 April.
• Those of October and December 2027 are already calculated with the 2026 modelo 200, filed in July.
• If that reference tax liability is not positive, there is no payment and you do not have to file the 202.

Everything paid with the 202s of a year is deducted in the 200 of that same year. If you advanced more than the resulting tax liability, the difference is refunded to you. The other method, based on the taxable base of the first 3, 9 or 11 months of the year, is mandatory above €6 million of turnover and optional for the rest; it is explained in the modelo 202 guide.

If your financial year does not match the calendar year

The tax period coincides with the company's financial year and cannot exceed twelve months (article 27 of the Law). If your articles of association set another year end, the deadline for the 200 is calculated with the same rule of article 124 but from that date. Two examples:

The instalment payments, on the other hand, do not move: they are still in April, October and December for everyone. What changes is the financial year they are allocated to. Each payment is on account of the period in progress on the 1st of the month, and its basis is the last 200 that had expired on that date. With a 30 June year end, for example, the 200 for the year ending in June 2026 expires on 25 January 2027, and from the April 2027 payment it already serves as the reference.

If you have a financial year like this, note down your own dates: the general tax calendar is designed for the calendar year and does not work for your 200.

The first SL: when your first 200 and first 202 fall due

The first tax period of an SL runs from incorporation to the close of the financial year, which is normally 31 December. It is almost always shorter than a year, but it is filed within the same deadline as the others. With an SL incorporated in March 2026:

• First modelo 200: for the period from March to December 2026, from 1 to 26 July 2027. It is filed even if there are losses.
• 2026 modelo 202 payments: none. There is no earlier 200 that has expired, so there is no reference tax liability.
• April 2027 modelo 202 payment: none either. On 1 April 2027 the first 200 has not yet expired.
• First 202 with an amount: October 2027, and only if the 2026 modelo 200 showed a positive tax liability. It will be 18% of that tax liability, and it is repeated in December.

This has a cash-flow consequence that catches many people out: in the first profitable year you advance nothing, but in July you pay the whole tax liability at once and, three months later, the 202s of the following year begin. If you were an autónomo (self-employed) used to the quarterly modelo 130, the difference is large. The rate that applies to you in the first year, the 15% for newly created companies with its requirements, and the typical start-up mistakes are in the guide to Corporate Tax in the first year.

If Corporate Tax results in a refund

It results in a refund when the withholdings and instalment payments of the year exceed the tax liability. It happens, for example, when you paid the 202s on a good previous year and this year you earned less. The refund is regulated by article 127 of the Law:

• The tax authority may issue a provisional assessment within six months after the end of the filing deadline. With the 2026 modelo 200, whose deadline ends on 26 July 2027, that runs until 26 January 2028.
• If you file late, the six months are counted from the filing date. Filing late delays your own refund.
• If those six months pass without the payment having been ordered for a reason not attributable to you, the pending amount accrues late-payment interest in your favour.

In practice, the refund is requested in the 200 itself by indicating a company account. If the tax authority sends you a request before refunding, answer it on time; notifications to a company are electronic and mandatory.

If you cannot pay or you miss the date

You cannot pay the 200. File on time and, in the payment method, request a deferral (aplazamiento) or instalment plan. The annual Corporate Tax liability can be deferred; up to €50,000 in total, the AEAT (the Spanish tax authority) asks for no guarantee and usually grants up to 12 months to a company, with late-payment interest. The steps are in the guide to deferring or paying in instalments to the tax authority.

You cannot pay the 202. There is no way out here: article 65.2.g of the General Tax Law (Ley General Tributaria) excludes Corporate Tax instalment payments from deferral, and a request that includes them is not admitted. Set the money aside before April, October and December.

You missed the deadline. If you file late on your own, without a prior request, and there is a tax liability to pay, you pay the surcharge for late filing (recargo por declaración extemporánea) of article 27 of the General Tax Law: 1% plus another 1% for each full month of delay, with no penalty, and 15% plus interest after twelve months. You can estimate it with the late-filing surcharge calculator. If the 200 had no tax liability, article 198 provides a fixed fine of €200, reduced to €100 if you file without a request. If the tax authority requests it first, the penalty regime applies. The guide I missed a deadline sets out what to do, in this order.

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