Calculators
Three questions people moving to Spain ask constantly: what will I actually take home, what does going self-employed cost per month, and what will buying this flat cost on top of the asking price. This page explains the mechanisms; the calculators themselves are being built.
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Not legal advice. This page explains how Spanish income tax, self-employed contributions and property purchase costs are structured in general terms so you know what to expect. It is not legal, tax or immigration advice, and it cannot account for your situation. The figures produced by these tools are estimates for orientation, not tax calculations. Confirm anything that matters with the official body or a qualified gestor or abogado before you act on it.
How IRPF actually works
Spanish income tax has a structural feature that catches out almost everyone arriving from a country with a single national income tax: the rate you pay is half national and half regional. There is a state scale that applies everywhere, and each autonomous community sets its own scale on top. Madrid has consistently set lower regional rates than Catalonia. The same salary genuinely produces a different net figure depending on where you are tax resident, and it can be a difference worth thousands a year at higher incomes.
The second thing worth understanding is what the bands apply to. They do not apply to your gross salary. In simplified terms the calculation goes:
- Start from gross annual salary.
- Subtract your employee Social Security contributions.
- Subtract the applicable earned-income reduction and personal allowances, which depend on your circumstances — children, dependants, disability, age.
- Apply the progressive bands, state and regional, to what remains.
- Subtract any deductions and credits you qualify for.
Because of steps 2 and 3, your effective rate is always meaningfully lower than the marginal rate of your top band. People frequently quote their band rate as though it were what they pay on everything; it is what they pay on the last euro only.
A related point: what is deducted from your monthly payslip is a retención, a withholding estimate, not the final tax. The annual declaration reconciles it, which is why a refund or a bill arrives afterwards.
Comparing a job offer? A gross salary in Spain is not comparable to a gross salary elsewhere without also accounting for fourteen-payment structures — many Spanish contracts pay in fourteen instalments rather than twelve, with extra payments in summer and at Christmas. The annual total is what matters; the monthly figure can be misleading in either direction.
Autónomo contributions after the 2023 reform
Self-employment in Spain used to work in a way that was unusual in Europe: you largely chose your own contribution base, and most people chose the minimum regardless of what they earned. That ended with the reform phased in from 2023.
The system now works on brackets based on expected net earnings:
- You forecast your net annual earnings — income after deductible business expenses, not turnover.
- That forecast places you in a bracket, and the bracket determines your monthly contribution.
- You can adjust your forecast several times a year as reality diverges from your estimate, and you should.
- Afterwards, your real earnings are reconciled against what you paid. Pay too little and you are billed the difference; pay too much and you are refunded.
The bracket table is on a multi-year transition and is revised annually, which is precisely why this page does not quote figures: any number written here in prose would be wrong within a year. The calculator page will carry the current table with its own date stamp.
Two practical notes. New autónomos can usually access a reduced flat-rate contribution for an initial period, subject to conditions about not having been self-employed recently. And the contribution is payable monthly regardless of whether you invoiced anything that month — the single biggest shock for people used to systems where contributions scale with actual income in real time.
What buying a property costs beyond the price
Purchase costs in Spain typically add 10–15 % to the asking price. The largest component is transfer tax, and which tax applies is a binary fork:
| Resale property | New build (first sale) | |
|---|---|---|
| Main tax | ITP — transfer tax | IVA — VAT |
| Who sets the rate | The autonomous community — it varies by region | National — the same everywhere |
| Additional | — | AJD (stamp duty), also regionally set |
On top of whichever applies, budget for the notary, the land registry, and a gestor or lawyer if you use one — and if you are taking a mortgage, its own valuation and arrangement costs. Some regions offer reduced ITP rates for buyers under a certain age, for a primary residence, or for large families, which is worth checking before assuming the standard rate.
One warning that costs people money: the tax is assessed on the higher of the declared price and the tax authority's own reference value for the property. Buying below that reference value does not reduce the tax bill, and can trigger a supplementary assessment months later.
How these calculators handle your data
They do not handle it, because they never receive it. Every calculator on this site runs as JavaScript inside your own browser. Your salary, your property price, your earnings forecast — none of it is transmitted anywhere. There is no submit-to-server step, no account, and nothing logged.
That is a deliberate design constraint rather than a policy promise: the safest way to hold sensitive financial data is not to hold it. It also means the tools keep working with the tab offline once loaded. The same commitment is written into the privacy policy.
Frequently asked questions
How is IRPF calculated in Spain?
IRPF is a progressive tax applied in bands, but with a twist that surprises newcomers: the total is the sum of a state scale and a regional scale, and each autonomous community sets its own half. Two people on identical salaries in Madrid and Catalonia pay different amounts of income tax. On top of that, the bands apply to a taxable base that is already reduced by your Social Security contributions and by personal and family allowances, so your effective rate is always well below the headline rate of your top band.
How much do autónomos pay in social security?
Since the 2023 reform, self-employed contributions are based on your expected net earnings rather than a flat rate you choose freely. You declare a forecast, that puts you in a bracket, and the bracket sets your monthly payment. The system is being phased in over several years, so the brackets change annually, and your actual earnings are reconciled against your forecast afterwards — meaning you can be asked for more, or refunded. New autónomos can generally access a reduced flat rate for an initial period, subject to conditions.
What does it cost to buy a property in Spain?
Beyond the purchase price, budget roughly 10–15% in costs. The largest single item is transfer tax, and which one you pay depends on whether the property is new: a resale property attracts ITP (Impuesto de Transmisiones Patrimoniales), set by the autonomous community and therefore regionally variable, while a new-build attracts IVA plus stamp duty (AJD) instead. Add notary fees, land registry fees, and a gestor or lawyer if you use one.
Is my data stored when I use the calculator?
No. The calculators run entirely in JavaScript in your own browser. What you type — salary figures, property prices, anything else — is never sent to the server, so it is not logged, stored or seen by anyone. Close the tab and it is gone. This is not a policy promise about data we hold; it is that the data never reaches us in the first place.
Are these calculators accurate enough to file a tax return with?
No, and they are not meant to be. They are for estimating: working out whether a job offer is worth taking, or whether a property is within budget. Real tax outcomes depend on deductions, family circumstances, regional rules and reliefs that a general calculator cannot know about. For anything binding, use the Agencia Tributaria tools or a gestor.