Obligation to declare for Personal Income Tax (IRPF)
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See when it is mandatory to declare and clarify certain doubts that usually arise in these cases.
Obligated to declare
For receiving income from work
In general, when a person's main source of income is from work (salary, retirement pension, unemployment benefit, etc.) and it does not exceed 22,000 euros, that person is not required to file the IRPF declaration [LIRPF, art. 96.2]. In these cases, since the paying company or administration has already made the corresponding withholding according to the payments to be made throughout the year, the Tax Office does not require the submission of a declaration that, once the withholdings suffered are deducted, will end up yielding a very small amount to be paid or refunded.
However, remember that there may be other circumstances that require you to declare, in which case the limit for income from work is only 15,876 euros. For example:
- If during the year you have received income from work from more than one entity and the sum of the income from the second and the remaining payers (in order of amount) exceeds 1,500 euros (since the payers will have only taken into account a part of the annual salary to calculate the withholding, the IRPF declaration will normally result in a payment, so the Tax Office requires its submission).
- If you have received income subject to a fixed withholding rate (as is the case for company directors).
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Or if the payer is not required to withhold (for example, if you are a domestic employee or receive a pension from abroad).
If you have received income from different entities and one of them is a public administration, bear in mind that public administrations also count as payers. In the event that you have received income from several public administrations, check the VAT number of each one. You should only consider them as a single payer if they share the same VAT number.
For receiving other income
It may also happen that, even if your work income does not exceed the aforementioned limits, you are still required to declare. This occurs, for example:
- If the sum of your income from movable capital and capital gains subject to withholding exceeds 1,600 euros.
- If the sum of your imputed income from real estate, returns from Treasury bonds, and subsidies for the purchase of protected or capped price housing exceeds 1,000 euros.
- If during the year you have obtained income from economic activities or rentals, or capital gains (unless such income, together with work and movable capital income, does not exceed 1,000 euros).
- If you have incurred capital losses of 500 euros or more.
- Or if you want to benefit from incentives such as the deduction for home purchase or reductions for contributions to pension plans or protected assets.
When calculating all these limits (both for income from work and for other income), exempt income (public study grants, alimony payments by court decision, maternity benefits, etc.) should not be taken into account. Likewise, these limits are the same for both individual and joint tax returns.
Examples
See some examples in which, even if a person only has income from work of 21,000 euros from a single payer, they may be required to file a tax return:
- If they own a second home with a cadastral value of over 100,000 euros updated less than ten years ago (in this case, they must declare an imputed income of 1,100 euros: 100,000 x 1.1%).
- If they have earned more than 1,600 euros in interest from a fixed-term deposit they have with their bank.
- If they have rented a property during the tax year, regardless of the income obtained.
- If they have sold shares resulting in a loss of over 500 euros.
Controversial cases
When fulfilling the obligation to file a tax return, see below how to proceed in some controversial situations.
Incorrect refund
It may happen that, even though a person is not required to file a tax return, they believe they can benefit from an incentive and decide to submit the income tax return to receive a refund. This could be the case of a person who, by applying a regional deduction in their income tax return, receives a refund of 360 euros. In this scenario, if the Tax Agency considers that the deduction was not applicable and issues a parallel income tax assessment resulting in a tax due of 175 euros, can they force the taxpayer to pay 545 euros (360 + 175)?
Well, in these cases (where there is no obligation to file a tax return), the Tax Agency can only demand the repayment of the amounts refunded (in this case, the 360 euros) plus interest, but not the amounts that would have been due (i. e. the 175 euros).
Married couple not filing a tax return
It can also happen that the members of a married couple do not file the income tax return because they believe they are not obligated to do so. In these cases, if the Tax Agency considers that one of the spouses did have this obligation, they will issue a separate income tax assessment only to that spouse, following the individual modality. If it turns out that this spouse is the only one earning income, the amount to pay from this individual assessment will be higher than if the assessment had been joint.
Well, know that you can avoid this: for this, within the ten business days following the date of the request, request in writing to the Tax Agency to correct the individual assessment and issue a joint one.
Deceased Income Tax
Finally, remember that when a person dies, their successors are obliged to fulfill their outstanding tax obligations, excluding penalties. Therefore, they must file the individual income tax return of the deceased for the year of death (provided that the income obtained requires filing).
The filing deadline is the general one. Thus, if a person passed away in April 2025, their heirs must file their return by June 30,2026.
If the return results in a refund, the successors must also submit form H-100 (the "refund payment request to heirs" or an equivalent document) and a series of documents that vary depending on the amount to be refunded.
The H-100 form and the documents can be submitted on paper or through the Electronic Headquarters of the AEAT following this path: "All procedures/Taxes, fees, and asset benefits/Others/Refunds to heirs".
If the refund is up to 2,000 euros, the heirs must provide a certified copy of the following documents:
- Death and last will certificates, will (if any), and complete family book.
- Bank certificate showing the account where the refund will be deposited.
If the refund exceeds 2,000 euros, a copy of the Inheritance Tax (ISD) settlement must also be submitted. This way, the Tax Office verifies that the credit has been included in the base of that tax (otherwise, the refund will not be processed).
If the income tax to be refunded was not included in the inheritance, it is necessary to formalize a deed of inheritance addition to include it and submit a complementary ISD return.
Even if a person has worked for a single company throughout the year and their employment income has been less than 22,000 euros, they may still be required to file the income tax return.
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