Taxes

Modelo 390: What Spain's Annual VAT Summary Is and How It Ties to Your Quarterly Returns

August 28, 2026

Four quarterly modelo 303 returns, four payments to the Agencia Tributaria, and then at the end of the tax year comes one more declaration: the modelo 390. For many autónomos (self-employed workers) this is the one that generates the most questions — not because it’s complicated, but because it’s not clear what it’s actually for if you’ve already filed all four 303s for the year.

The short answer: the 390 is not a new tax payment. It’s the year-end close. The document that says “here’s everything I charged, everything I paid, and everything I’ve settled with the tax authority over the year, added up”. It’s also your last chance to spot anything in the quarterly returns that doesn’t add up.

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How to pay yourself a salary as a freelancer (without spending the tax money)

August 19, 2026

When you’re an employee, a fixed number lands in your account on payday. You know exactly what you have to work with, and everything else (taxes, social security) has already been taken out without you having to think about it. When you go freelance, that fixed number disappears. A client pays you 1,200 and, if you’re not careful, that 1,200 “feels like yours” the same day it lands in your account. It isn’t. Part of it has to go back out in taxes, another part covers business costs, and only what’s left after that is, genuinely, your salary.

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I Bill 40,000 Euros a Year as a Freelancer: This Is What I Actually Keep

May 28, 2026

Note: the “I” in the title is an example, not a real person. This article works through a hypothetical case —a typical freelancer billing 40,000 euros (net of VAT) a year— so you can follow the numbers step by step using the official contribution and tax figures in force.

When someone asks how much you earn as an autónomo (a self-employed worker / freelancer) and you say “I bill forty thousand a year”, the next question should be: “yeah, but how much do you actually keep”. Because between billing forty thousand and having forty thousand in your pocket there’s a chasm that only those who live it understand.

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Your first quarter as an autónomo: a fiscal survival guide

May 18, 2026

Nobody explains this to you when you register as an autónomo (self-employed worker). They tell you to fill in form 036, to sign up for the RETA (the self-employed Social Security scheme), to take advantage of the tarifa plana (the flat-rate Social Security contribution for new freelancers) if you can, and little else. Three months later your first quarterly return arrives and the question is always the same: “And now, what exactly do I do?”.

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What happens if you file your quarterly taxes late

May 10, 2026

You’ve missed the deadline. The 20th came and went, and you didn’t file the modelo 303 (the quarterly VAT return) or the 130 (the quarterly IRPF instalment). Or maybe it was 30 January and the fourth quarter went unfiled. First of all: it’s not the end of the world. Second: every day you let pass without filing it, the situation gets a little worse. So let’s look at the consequences and what you can do right now to minimise the damage.

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How to fill in the modelo 303 step by step (a practical guide for autónomos)

May 8, 2026

The modelo 303 is the form that every autónomo (self-employed worker) files each quarter to declare VAT (IVA). If you already know how quarterly VAT is calculated, filling it in is just a matter of knowing which figure goes in each box. And out of the sixty-plus boxes the form has, most of them don’t affect you.

This guide goes box by box, with a real example, so you can sit down in front of the Spanish Tax Agency (Agencia Tributaria) form and complete it without hesitation.

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Quarterly IRPF for the self-employed: what modelo 130 is and when you don't have to file it

April 30, 2026

Modelo 130 (the quarterly IRPF prepayment) is the second big quarterly form for the self-employed, alongside the modelo 303 for IVA. Unlike IVA (the Spanish VAT), which you settle on behalf of the State, modelo 130 is a payment on account of your own annual tax: the IRPF (Spanish personal income tax).

The most common confusion is thinking it’s an additional tax. It isn’t. It’s an advance on the IRPF you would pay anyway in your annual tax return. The difference is that, instead of paying everything in June of the following year, you pay it in four instalments throughout the year.

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How to Calculate Your Quarterly VAT Without an Accountant

April 18, 2026

The modelo 303 (the quarterly VAT return) is the form you use to declare VAT every quarter. For many autónomos (self-employed workers) it’s the first tax obligation they face, and also the one that causes the most confusion at first. Not because it’s especially complex, but because nobody explains exactly what you need to fill it in or how the calculation works underneath.

The good news is that the calculation itself is simple. The tricky part, if there’s anything tricky at all, is having your data well organized before you sit down to fill it in.

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