Spain's módulos or direct estimation in 2026: limits, calculations and switching

Check eligibility before comparing quarterly percentages. Work through both income calculations, the 2026 thresholds and what changing methods means for your business.

The most efficient tax method starts with eligibility, not with the smallest percentage on a quarterly return. Spain's módulos regime calculates business income using specified parameters. Direct estimation uses revenue and deductible expenses. Neither figure, on its own, is your final income-tax bill.

This guide covers self-employed individuals within Spain's common-territory IRPF system in 2026. It explains the thresholds, works through a hairdressing business using the official coefficients and sets out how a change takes effect. It also places a US LLC in the right context: choosing a business structure is a separate decision from choosing a Spanish profit-calculation method.

Can your activity use módulos in 2026?

The starting point is the activity list in Order HAC/1425/2025 for 2026. Identify your IAE activity classification, then check the entry's conditions. A shop, taxi operator and hairdresser do not share one universal set of coefficients or staffing limits.

Low turnover alone does not establish eligibility. The activity must be listed, remain within its specific limits and satisfy the rules on waivers, exclusions and incompatible methods. Having few expenses or collecting every invoice by bank transfer does not change that test.

The thresholds that apply to 2026

The extended thresholds remain applicable for 2026. The AEAT's clarification of 1 April 2026 addresses their treatment following Parliament's failure to ratify the extension decrees. These are 2026 figures, not a guarantee of the rules for 2027.

Use the statutory income and purchase measures, not your closing bank balance. Where the activity began part-way through the preceding year, annualise those amounts. Grants, compensation and certain VAT components receive specific treatment.

Identical or similar activities of certain family members and income-attribution entities can also require aggregation where there is common management and shared resources. Registering another activity does not automatically create a fresh allowance.

Overseas customers are not the same as overseas activity

The territorial condition concerns work carried on wholly or partly outside Spain, with exceptions for specified transport activities. A foreign customer's address does not by itself establish where your activity takes place. An invoice sent overseas from a business carried on in Spain needs to be assessed on that basis.

Nor is “online business” an IAE classification. Establish what is actually being sold. Professional consultancy does not become eligible simply because its fees are predictable. Online retail still requires the relevant activity classification and conditions to be checked.

How módulos turns business parameters into taxable income

For non-agricultural activities, the calculation uses the relevant units: owner, employees, floor area, electricity consumption, vehicles or other measures. The annual order supplies the coefficients. Applicable employment and investment adjustments, depreciation, corrective indices and reductions follow.

This is not necessarily a permanently fixed bill. Hiring someone, moving premises or changing the measured inputs may change the result. Equally, ordinary expenses are not all deducted individually: rent and the owner's social-security payments are not deducted again from the objective result as though it were direct estimation.

Worked example: an established hairdresser with no employees

This is an illustration, not a client story or personal tax assessment. Assume an established business operating throughout 2026 under IAE 972.1. Its individual owner counts as one non-salaried person. There are no employees, one 50 m² salon in a municipality with more than 5,000 residents, no business vehicle and annual electricity use of 2,400 kWh.

Use the order's income-tax coefficients, not the separate VAT table:

The preliminary income figure is 16,338.59 euros. Assume 1,500 euros of allowable tax depreciation supported by the assets and applicable tables. This is an example input, not a standard flat deduction.

That leaves 14,838.59 euros. Under the stated conditions, the small-business corrective index is 0.80, giving 11,870.87 euros. The excess-income index is not added because it is incompatible with this small-business index.

The general 5% reduction for 2026 then produces 11,277.33 euros. We assume no start-up or seasonal adjustments, grants, additional receipts or special territorial measures. Different facts require a fresh calculation.

The outcome is business income for IRPF purposes. It is not an 11,277.33-euro tax bill.

Direct estimation: normal and simplified methods

Direct estimation starts with revenue and tax-deductible expenses. Among its conditions, the simplified method requires the preceding year's combined net turnover from all activities not to exceed 600,000 euros, with no valid waiver or incompatibility. A partial preceding year must be annualised.

The normal and simplified methods differ in accounting requirements and certain adjustments. Neither should be confused with corporation tax: a Spanish limited company has its own tax framework.

Under simplified direct estimation, depreciation follows the applicable simplified table. As a general rule, provisions and hard-to-substantiate expenses are represented by 5% of positive net income before that allowance, capped at 2,000 euros annually. It is not 5% of turnover. Certain other reductions are incompatible, and specific territorial measures require separate treatment.

The IRPF Regulations contain the relevant rules. Our guide to deductible expenses for a Spanish autónomo explains the distinction between current expenses, depreciable investment and personal use.

An unpaid invoice is not automatically non-deductible

Accrual accounting generally governs timing. Eligible taxpayers may opt for the receipts-and-payments timing method under the regulations, but that option must not be assumed.

First establish the business purpose, evidence, recording and correct tax period. Payment alone does not make a purchase a current-year expense. Equipment used over several years will commonly be depreciated even if paid for upfront. Conversely, an unpaid business invoice is not automatically excluded under the accrual basis.

This matters when comparing methods: use deductible costs for the relevant year, rather than simply adding up transfers leaving the account.

Compare the same business under two sales forecasts

Return to the salon and assume it also qualifies for simplified direct estimation and the general 5% allowance, with no additional reductions. Consider two revenue forecasts with 35,000 euros of deductible costs, including the owner's RETA contributions and allowable depreciation. Figures exclude recoverable VAT.

The higher-sales forecast produces 25,000 euros before the 1,250-euro allowance. The lower-sales forecast produces 8,000 euros before a 400-euro allowance. Keeping costs unchanged isolates the effect of revenue; it is not a claim that every salon's costs remain constant.

With unchanged module inputs and indices, the objective result is identical. Direct estimation follows the margin. That is why one method can be preferable in one forecast and the other in another.

The next step is the annual IRPF calculation, including region, other income, personal and family circumstances, reductions and credits. Our Spanish IRPF calculation guide covers that step. Social-security contributions have their own income-calculation rules: see planning your autónomo contributions.

Forms 130 and 131 are payments on account

Modelo 130, used for direct estimation, generally starts with 20% of cumulative net income since January, then applies the relevant adjustments, withholding credits and previous payments. Certain professional activities meeting the 70% withholding test do not make these instalments.

For non-agricultural módulos activities, Modelo 131 generally uses 4%, reduced to 3% with one employee and 2% with none. The base is determined under the instalment rules, which can use beginning-of-year information and specific adjustments.

“2% versus 20%” therefore compares different advances on different bases, not final tax rates. Payments on account are credited in the annual return.

VAT must be calculated separately. Objective income estimation and simplified VAT are coordinated, but their coefficients are not interchangeable. Some activities instead use the equivalence surcharge or another VAT regime. Include the VAT consequences before deciding to leave módulos.

Leaving módulos: procedure and timing

An express waiver uses Modelo 036, ordinarily in December before the year in which it takes effect. For a new activity, registration and the choice precede its start. A special deadline applied for 2026: 16 February 2026, which has already passed. It is not the standard deadline for every year.

A timely first-quarter Modelo 130 can also constitute a tacit waiver. An ordinary waiver binds for at least three years and then continues unless validly revoked while eligibility conditions are satisfied. Special exceptions need their own review.

Direct estimation for one activity generally brings the individual's other activities into that method too. A specific rule allows a newly started incompatible activity and an existing módulos activity to coexist for the current year, before the combined change the next year. This is not a choice made invoice by invoice.

Prepare opening records, inventory, remaining depreciation, invoices and timing adjustments before the transition. The purpose is continuity: preserve valid deductions without recording the same item twice.

Where a US LLC belongs in this decision

A US LLC can organise contracts, ownership, assets, accounts and international collections. It can support a business line with USD and EUR operations and access to different financial providers. Those capabilities are valuable for the business itself, alongside planning for an existing Spanish activity.

An LLC is a legal structure, not a third Spanish self-employed tax method. Its federal classification can be a disregarded entity, partnership or corporate taxation, depending on ownership and elections. Spain separately considers the entity's characteristics and the owner's residence. Where income attribution applies, income can belong to the member for tax purposes before any distribution. Business profit and a transfer to the owner are different events.

Understanding that distinction makes reinvestment planning more useful. Our US LLC and Spanish autónomo comparison explores the options. Decide who contracts, who performs the work, where it is organised and which records belong to each activity.

Turn the comparison into a practical decision

Exentax starts with your IAE classification, previous return, prior-year income and purchases, expenses, operating resources and plans for the next few years. We assess the available methods and compare annual outcomes, instalments and operating needs.

Where an LLC fits, our team coordinates formation, banking, payments and the tax work around your structure. Where the immediate priority is organising the existing activity, we help define that sequence first. You receive a specific recommendation and people you can speak to, not a percentage detached from your business.

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