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Practical manual for Income Tax 2020.

General taxable base and general taxable base subject to tax

1. Determination of the general taxable base

Regulations: Art. 50.1 and 3 Law IRPF

The general taxable base is the result of reducing the general tax base by the amount of the reductions discussed so far in this same Chapter.

The reductions are applied to reduce the general tax base, in the order in which they have been discussed, without the latter being able to result in a negative result as a consequence of such reductions.

For these purposes, the general taxable base can only be negative when the general taxable base is negative because its negative components are greater than its positive components. In these cases, none of the reductions mentioned so far may be applied.

If the general taxable base turns out to be negative in the terms discussed above, its amount must be offset against the positive general taxable bases obtained in the following four years .

The offset must be made in the maximum amount permitted in each of the following years and may not be made outside the period referred to in the previous paragraph, by accumulating negative general taxable bases from subsequent years.

Note: the amounts of the negative general taxable bases for the years 2016 to 2019 pending offset at the beginning of the year, those applied in the declaration and the remainder pending application in future years, as well as the amount of the negative general taxable base for 2020 that remains to be offset in the following 4 years, must be recorded in Annex C.3 of the declaration in the section "Negative general taxable bases pending offset in the following years".

2. Determination of the general taxable base subject to tax

The general taxable base subject to tax is the result of making offsets of negative taxable bases from previous years on the amount of the positive balance of the general taxable base for the year, without said result being able to be negative.

These negative general taxable bases can only be those corresponding to the years 2016 to 2019.

Compensation rules in joint taxation

For the purposes of offsetting negative taxable bases, the following rules must be taken into account:

  • In the joint taxation regime, the negative general taxable bases carried out and not offset by the taxpayers comprising the family unit in previous tax periods in which they have paid taxes individually will be offset, in accordance with the general tax rules.

  • In the case of subsequent individual taxation, the negative general taxable bases determined in joint taxation will be offset exclusively by those taxpayers to whom they correspond in accordance with the rules on individualization of income contained in the Tax Law.