How to file your Spanish income tax return (Renta)

What it is

The Renta (declaración de la renta, the personal income tax or IRPF return) is Spain's yearly income tax return. If you're tax resident in Spain, you declare your income from anywhere in the world for the previous calendar year. You file it in spring: the Renta for 2025 ran from 8 April to 30 June 2026, and each year follows the same pattern.

Are you tax resident?

You're a Spanish tax resident for a calendar year if any of these applies:

you spend more than 183 days in Spain that year (short trips away still count as days here);
the main base of your work or economic interests is in Spain; or
your spouse and children under 18 live in Spain (Spain presumes you do too, unless you prove otherwise).

Spain doesn't split the year: if you're resident, you declare that whole year's income, including what you earned before you moved. Double tax agreements usually stop the same income being taxed in two countries, but you claim that relief in the return.

On the special regime for people moving to Spain (Beckham law)? You file form 151 instead: see that guide.

Do you have to file?

You must file if your income for the year is over these limits (figures for the 2025 return):

Salary or pensions over €22,000 from one payer (or from several, if the second and later ones add up to €1,500 or less).
Salary or pensions over €15,876 if you had several payers (the second and later ones over €1,500), or a payer that doesn't withhold Spanish tax, for example a pension paid from abroad.
Savings income over €1,600 (interest, dividends, investment fund gains with withholding).
Imputed income from property (owning a home that isn't your main one, for example) over €1,000.

You must always file if you're registered as self-employed (autónomo), or if you want to claim double taxation relief or certain deductions. And if you'd get a refund, you only get it by filing.

Before you start

You'll need:

Your NIE.
A way to sign in: Cl@ve, a digital certificate, or a reference number (número de referencia) requested on the Agencia Tributaria website.
Your Spanish tax address up to date (see step 1).
Records of your income: payslips or your employer's certificate, pension statements from abroad, bank interest, rent.
Proof of tax paid abroad on the same income, if you'll claim double taxation relief.

Steps

Give the Agencia Tributaria your Spanish address when you move here, on form 030 (or online), so letters and your tax residence are right.
Each spring, from early April, sign in to Renta WEB on the Agencia Tributaria website. Spanish income is usually already filled in (datos fiscales).
Add what's missing, especially income from abroad (pensions, rent, interest) and tax paid abroad.
Check the result and file by 30 June.
Pay or get your refund. You can pay in two parts: 60% when you file and 40% in November. Paying by direct debit needs you to file a few days before 30 June.

Cost

Filing is free. A tax adviser (gestor or asesor fiscal) charges for their help.

Common pitfalls

Assuming a foreign pension is below the limit. With a pension from abroad the limit is €15,876, not €22,000.
Leaving out foreign income. As a resident you declare it all, even if it was taxed abroad; then you claim the relief.
Forgetting your assets abroad. Bank accounts, investments or property abroad over €50,000 may need Modelo 720, a separate declaration due by 31 March: see that guide.
Missing the deadline. If you owe tax, filing late brings a surcharge, even when nobody asked you to file.

When to ask a helper

Ask someone with a similar situation (a foreign pension, or income in two countries) who filed recently: they'll know what Renta WEB asks for and where the foreign income goes.