You requested your Q4 VAT refund in Spain: how long the Tax Agency has to pay, and what happens if it's late
You closed the year with VAT in your favour, ticked “Solicitud de devolución” (refund request) on the Q4 modelo 303 –as we explained in the article on VAT to offset– and now you’re waiting. How long? Is there a date from which you can actually complain if it hasn’t arrived? There’s a precise rule for this, and a piece of good news almost nobody mentions.
The deadline: six months from the end of the filing period
Spain’s VAT Act sets the deadline precisely: the Tax Administration must issue the relevant assessment “within the six months following the end of the period set for filing the self-assessment in which the refund is requested.”1 For the Q4 modelo 303, that filing deadline ends on 30 January. So if you file on time, the six-month clock starts on 30 January and runs out on 30 July of the same year.