Temporary imputation of work income

General rule

Regulations: Art. 14.1 a) Law Income Tax

Earnings from work, both income and expenses, are allocated to the tax period in which they are payable by the recipient.

Special rules

A. Yields pending judicial resolution

Regulations: Art. 14.2 a) Law Income Tax

When all or part of an income has not been paid, because the determination of the right to its collection or its amount is pending a judicial resolution, the unpaid amounts will be charged to the tax period in which the payment becomes final.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the employment income is not received in the year in which the court ruling becomes final, it will not be necessary to include it in the declaration corresponding to that year. Instead, by applying the rules relating to "arrears" discussed below, it must be declared through the corrective self-assessment corresponding to the year in which the court ruling became final. This declaration must be made within the period between the date on which the income is received and the end of the immediately following period for filing declarations for the IRPF . 

Please note that, as of March 14, the date of approval of Order HAC /242/2025, of March 13, which approves the return forms for Personal Income Tax and Wealth Tax, fiscal year 2024, the effective application of the corrective self-assessment is established in the field of Personal Income Tax as the sole system for correcting self-assessments. This new rectification system is configured as the general procedure for modifying personal income tax returns corresponding to the 2024 tax period. Therefore, as of January 1, 2024, amendments to tax returns for tax periods prior to 2024 will be made according to the previous system (supplementary self-assessment). In this regard, see the section on Regularization of tax situations in the manual corresponding to the affected tax period .

In any case, by applying this special rule of temporary imputation, if income corresponding to a generation period of more than two years is included in the declaration for a financial year, the reduction percentage of 30% will be applicable to them.

B. Delays

Regulations: Art. 14.2 b) Law Income Tax

When, due to justified circumstances not attributable to the taxpayer, income derived from work is received in tax periods other than those in which it was due, it must be declared when received, but allocated to the period in which it was due, through the corresponding corrective self-assessment, without penalty, late-payment interest or any surcharge.

The self-assessment must be submitted within the period between the date on which the arrears are received and the end of the immediately following period for submitting self-assessments for the IRPF .

Therefore, depending on whether the arrears are received before the start of the period for filing personal income tax returns for the 2024 financial year, during that period, or after it, and depending on whether they are arrears from financial years prior to 2024 or from the 2024 financial year itself, we find ourselves in the following situations: 　

Important : The corrective self-assessment must be adjusted to the individual or joint taxation chosen in the original declaration.

C. Income derived from the transfer of the exploitation of copyright

Regulations: Art. 7.3 Regulation Income Tax

In the case of income derived from the transfer of the exploitation of copyright that accrues over several years, the taxpayer may choose to allocate the advance payment to the account of the same as the rights accrue.

For these cases (advances on account of the transfer of the exploitation of copyright that will accrue over several years) the retention percentage, as of December 7, 2023, is 7%. Art. 101 Regulation Income Tax .

Attention: If the taxpayer chooses to charge the advance payment as the royalties accrue, he/she must check box [0002] on the declaration.

D. Estimated returns on work

Regulations: Art. 14.2 f) Law Income Tax

Estimated work income must be attributed to the tax period in which the work or service that generates such income was performed.

E. Income from work in kind derived from the delivery of shares or interests in a start-up company

Regulations: Art. 14.2 m) Law Income Tax

Income from work in kind derived from the delivery of shares or interests in a start-up company referred to in Law 28/2022, of December 21, to promote the ecosystem of start-ups, which, meeting the requirements established in article 42.3.f) of the Income Tax Law are not exempt for exceeding the amount provided for in said article, will be imputed in the tax period in which any of the following circumstances occur:

• That the company's capital is eligible for trading on a stock exchange or in any multilateral trading system, whether Spanish or foreign.

• That the corresponding share or participation leaves the taxpayer's assets.

However, after a period of ten years has elapsed from the delivery of the shares or interests without any of the circumstances indicated above having occurred, the taxpayer must impute the income from work referred to in this section to such shares or interests, in the tax period in which the aforementioned period of ten years has elapsed.

See under “Exempt benefits in kind” of this chapter, the exemption for “ Delivery to workers of shares or interests in the company itself ”.

F. Benefits derived from pension plans

The income from work derived from these benefits must be attributed to the tax period in which they are received, even if this does not correspond to the period in which the contingency occurred.