How it's calculated
Two things come off a Spanish salary before it reaches your account: your Social Security contributions and IRPF withholding (retención), an advance on your income tax. The calculator works out both as your employer must, then estimates the tax you actually owe for 2026, which depends on the region you live in.
Social Security. Employees on a permanent contract pay 6.50% of their contribution base: 4.70% for common contingencies, 1.55% for unemployment, 0.10% for vocational training and 0.15% for the intergenerational equity mechanism (MEI). On a fixed-term contract unemployment is 1.60%, for 6.55%. The base is your monthly pay including a twelfth of any extra payments, capped at 5,101.20 € a month in 2026. Pay above the cap carries a small solidarity contribution.Boletín Oficial del Estado
IRPF withholding. The rate follows the Tax Agency's 2026 algorithm and the IRPF Regulation.Agencia Tributaria
The formula
- Net work income = gross − employee Social Security
- Work-income reduction (art. 20 LIRPF): 7,302 € up to 14,852 € of net work income, falling to nil at 19,747.50 €
- Withholding base = net work income − 2,000 € − the reduction (− 600 € with more than two children)
- Withholding tax = scale(base) − scale(personal and family minimum), on a single scale of 19% to 47%; the minimum is 5,550 € plus the child amounts, which count at half unless you are a single parent. If pay is 35,200 € or less, the tax is at most 43% × (pay − the exclusion limit for your situation), and nothing is withheld below that limit.
- Withholding rate = withholding tax ÷ pay, truncated to two decimals (at least 2% for contracts shorter than a year)
- Net pay = gross − Social Security − gross × withholding rate
For the annual return, the taxable base is taxed twice: on the state scale (9.5% to 24.5%) minus the state scale on the state minimum, and on your region's scale minus that scale on the region's minimum.Boletín Oficial del Estado Employees earning under 20,048.45 € then deduct up to 590.89 € (DA 61ª). Two regions changed their scales for 2026: the Comunitat Valenciana and Extremadura lowered several rates.
Worked example
A gross salary of €40,000 in Madrid, single, no children, permanent contract and 14 payments, has Social Security of €2,600 and a withholding rate of 19.36%, leaving €2,118 per payment, or €29,656 a year. The IRPF actually owed with Madrid's scale is €7,204, so the return settles at -€540 (negative means a refund).
| Line | Per year | Per payment (×14) |
|---|---|---|
| Gross salary | €40,000.00 | €2,857.14 |
| Social Security (6.5%) | -€2,600.00 | -€185.71 |
| IRPF withholding (19.36%) | -€7,744.00 | -€553.14 |
| Net pay | €29,656.00 | €2,118.29 |
At the 2026 minimum wage of 17,094 €, the withholding rate is 3.06%, and the low-earner deduction brings the tax owed to €0. The same €40,000 in Cataluña owes €7,936 for the year.
Assumptions and limitations
- Employees in the general Social Security scheme, with salary as their only income. Rental, savings and self-employed income are not included.
- The Basque Country and Navarra have their own complete tax systems and withholding tables, so they are not covered.
- No regional deductions (rent, childcare, birth and so on), and no disability or dependent-parent allowances.
- The minimum contribution base used is that of professional groups 4–7 (1,424.40 € a month); higher groups have higher minimum bases.
- Your employer also pays about 30.65% on top (31.85% on fixed-term contracts), plus work-accident insurance that depends on the activity.