Treatment in the IRPF of the new system of regularization of the payment of self-employed contributions based on income.

The Directorate General of Taxes (DGT) in a recent consultation V2518-22, of December 7, 2022, has ruled for the first time on the treatment that should be given in the IRPF the regularization of the RETA quotas paid in the previous year, provided for in the new contribution system of the self-employed approved by Royal Decree-Law 13/2022, of July 26.

With the entry into force on January 1, 2023 of the new contribution system in the Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers (RETA) approved by Royal Decree-Law 13/2022, of July 26, many doubts, interpretations, and unresolved questions have arisen, raised among all the people who are directly or indirectly related to the new contribution system for the self-employed.

It is important to remember that under this new system, contributions are based on the annual income earned from economic activities. One of the biggest questions that arises for the self-employed (whether or not they are part of a company) is what tax obligations or procedures they should follow if, at the end of the fiscal year, the General Treasury of the Social Security (TGSS), based on information about annual income provided by the State Tax Administration Agency (AEAT), adjusts their contributions because they have paid a higher amount than they should have (resulting in a refund) or have contributed less than the amount that, according to the approved tables, would correspond to the income received (resulting in a higher amount to be paid).

Attention. The computable income of each of the activities carried out by "the self-employed person" will be calculated in accordance with the Personal Income Tax regulations for the calculation of net income.

In this regard, one might ask whether, due to these higher amounts payable or refundable as a result of the adjustment "suffered" by the self-employed individual, a supplementary declaration of the Personal Income Tax Return submitted between April and June should be filed? Or perhaps a correction of the same?

It will be important to distinguish whether these self-employed workers have imputed the RETA contributions for which they have paid as a deductible expense in the income classified as economic activities in direct estimation or as deductible expenses of employment income, since it is in those sections of the income tax return where they must act subsequently.

Attention. The chosen bases will be provisional, until they are adjusted according to the annual income obtained and reported by the AEAT from the following year onwards for each self-employed worker.

DGT criteria

The Spanish Directorate General of Taxes (DGT), in its binding ruling V2518-22 of December 7, 2022, clearly clarifies how self-employed workers should proceed in each situation. According to the DGT, under the new RETA (Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers) contribution system, even if the adjustments made in the following year result in different amounts depending on the actual income earned, the amounts paid as RETA contributions in the previous year cannot be considered incorrectly paid. This is because they correspond to the legally required amounts, as the law stipulates that an initial payment is made based on estimated income, followed by an additional payment or a refund in the following year based on actual income.

Thus, understanding that these provisional contributions are legally calculated for the previous year, it must be concluded that "the self-employed":

1. You will not need to submit a corrected self-assessment or a supplementary declaration.
2. If, as a result of the regularization, an additional amount must be paid in the following year, this will be charged as a higher deductible expense for Social Security contributions corresponding to that same year.
3. If the self-employed individual receives a refund due to the adjustment, this amount will be treated as a reduction of expenses for the year related to Social Security contributions paid. If the refund exceeds the Social Security contributions paid, the excess amount must be recorded as additional income (regardless of whether the contributions were treated as a deductible expense from the net income of the business activity under the direct estimation method or from employment income).

You can contact this professional office for any questions or clarifications you may have.

Warm regards,

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MGI Àmbit

A Àmbit Assessor, SL has 40 years dedicated to the tax, comptable and labor consultancy of the Pime.

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