If you’re self-employed under direct estimation (estimación directa), every quarter you file Modelo 130: a payment on account of your annual IRPF. A lot of people pay it without understanding where the figure comes from, which makes it impossible to plan for.

What Modelo 130 calculates

You pay 20% of the year’s accumulated net income, meaning all your income from 1 January to the end of the quarter, minus all deductible expenses over that same period, subtracting what you’ve already paid in previous quarters of that same year and, where it applies, any withholdings other clients have already applied.

A simple example

If in the first quarter you invoice €9,000 with €2,000 of deductible expenses, your profit is €7,000. 20% of that is €1,400, and since it’s the first quarter of the year, that’s the amount due.

In the second quarter, the calculation doesn’t start from zero, it accumulates. If by June you’ve invoiced €18,000 in total and have €4,000 of accumulated expenses, your accumulated profit is €14,000. 20% of that is €2,800, and you subtract the €1,400 already paid in the first quarter. Result: you pay another €1,400 in the second quarter.

When you don’t need to file it

This installment payment only applies to those taxed under direct estimation. On top of that, if more than 70% of your business income last year already carried an IRPF withholding, you’re exempt from filing Modelo 130 (this exemption is specific to professional, farming, livestock, or forestry activities: commercial or industrial activities don’t usually have invoices with withholding, so in practice they rarely benefit from it). Hacienda has already been collecting in advance through those withholdings. Even so, it’s advisable to file it anyway, to avoid surprises at tax return time.

Why it doesn’t match “what you think you’ll owe”

Modelo 130 is a payment on account, not the final calculation of your IRPF. The real adjustment happens in the following year’s income tax return (Declaración de la Renta), where the personal allowance, other income if you have any, and deductions that don’t appear in the quarterly calculation all come into play. That’s where it can turn into a refund, or into paying more.

How to estimate it yourself

If you keep your income and expense records up to date, you can apply 20% to the year’s accumulated total and subtract what’s already been paid in previous quarters to get a rough figure before the filing deadline arrives. Either way, we calculate and file it for you every quarter.

Want to see it coming in advance?

Email us, no strings attached, at contacto@asesoriamadal.es and we’ll go through it together before the deadline.