Large family tax deduction in Spain: €1,200 a year, Modelo 143 and past years

In short: the large family tax deduction in Spain (deducción por familia numerosa) is €1,200 a year, €2,400 in the special category, plus up to €600 more for each child above the minimum of your category. The AEAT (the Spanish Tax Agency) pays it even if your tax is 0. It goes to people working and registered with Social Security or receiving unemployment benefit or a public pension. You can receive it each month in advance with Modelo 143 or in one go through the Renta (the annual income tax return). If you did not receive it, it can be claimed for 2022 to 2025: by our calculation, 2022 until 30.06.2027.

In person or by representative? You do not need to go to an office. The advance is requested with Modelo 143 on the AEAT website, online with Cl@ve, an electronic certificate or an electronic DNI: Cl@ve and electronic certificate. Paper also works: the form is generated on the website, signed by all applicants and handed in at an AEAT office. The AEAT also mentions the phone for the collective application. A person or entity with the status of AEAT social collaborator (colaborador social) can file it online on your behalf. The deduction in the Renta is applied with Renta WEB.

Who is entitled

You have to meet two conditions at the same time, month by month.

1. Work or receive a benefit. Be registered (dado de alta) with Social Security or a mutual scheme for employed or self-employed work. Or receive unemployment benefit (contributory or assistance) or a Social Security or Clases Pasivas (civil service scheme) pension. One day in the month is enough. Being registered as a job seeker without receiving benefit does not count, nor do dependency benefits (Ley 39/2006). According to the AEAT's 2022 and 2025 Renta manuals, registration with another country's public system similar to Social Security also counts, as does receiving unemployment benefit or a public pension there.

2. One of these two family situations. They are incompatible with each other: you cannot get both.

• Large family. You are a parent, or an orphaned brother or sister, in a large family (familia numerosa) under Ley 40/2003. In the most common case that means 3 or more children; the special category starts at 5 children, or 4 under certain conditions. It is proved with the large family certificate (título de familia numerosa) issued by your autonomous community. According to the AEAT, the certificate takes effect from the date you applied for it or renewed it.
• Parent with 2 children. You are legally separated or not married, you have 2 children with no right to child maintenance, and you are entitled to the whole minimum for descendants for both. In general, these are children under 25 who live with you and earn no more than €8,000 a year. With shared custody the minimum is split and there is no deduction. If you are not married, both children have to live only with you, without living with the other parent. The right to child maintenance is set by a court decision or an equivalent separation agreement. According to the Supreme Court, cited by the AEAT, the deduction also applies if it is proved that the maintenance is not received even though a judgment recognises it.

If you are married and your husband lives in Ukraine, you do not get the parent-with-2-children deduction: you are not legally separated. If you have a large family certificate (usually with 3 or more children; with 2, for example, if one has a disability), you can get the large family one, if you meet point 1. The law splits the deduction between the IRPF taxpayers who are entitled. We have not found an AEAT criterion for when the other parent lives outside Spain and is not a taxpayer here: review your case.

How much

• General large family: up to €1,200 a year, that is, €100 for each month you meet the requirements.
• Special large family: up to €2,400 a year.
• Extra children: up to €600 a year more for each child above the minimum of your category.
• Parent with 2 children: up to €1,200 a year.

How the months are counted. It is paid in proportion to the months in which you meet everything at the same time. The certificate, marital status and number of children are checked on the last day of each month. Registration, or receiving unemployment benefit or a pension, counts even if it is only one day in the month.

Cap if you work. Each deduction cannot exceed what you contributed that year to Social Security or the mutual scheme since you met the requirements. Contributions count at their full amount, without subtracting rebates. The special category extra and the €600 per child are outside the cap. If you receive unemployment benefit or a pension, there is no cap.

If both parents are entitled. It is split equally. One can transfer their share to the other: then the person receiving it applies it in full, the months in which either of them meets the requirements count, and both parents' contributions are added up. If the person transferring it is not required to file the Renta, they report it with Modelo 121 within that year's Renta filing period.

Two ways to receive it

• Each month, in advance (Modelo 143). The AEAT pays you by bank transfer €100 a month for a general large family or a parent with 2 children, and €200 for a special one. Add €50 a month for each child above the minimum. With the collective application, the person listed as first applicant receives the full amount; with the individual one, the amount is divided between the parents of the large family. For the advance you need a minimum of registration in the month: for example, 15 days full-time, or the whole month with at least 50% of the working day. That minimum only applies to the advance: in the Renta one day of registration is enough. People receiving unemployment benefit or a pension get it for each month they receive it. You do not need to repeat the application each year; the type of application can be changed in January. Changes are reported with Modelo 143 within 15 calendar days: for example, if the certificate expires or you stop working without receiving unemployment benefit.
• In the Renta. In the 2025 Renta, the large family deduction goes in box 0660 and the advance received in box 0661; the parent-with-2-children one in boxes 0662 and 0663. It is subtracted from the result even if it is a refund, so it can increase the refund.

If the advance does not match what you are owed. If you received less, you get the difference through that year's Renta, even if you were not required to file it. If you received too much and you file the Renta, it is settled there. If you are not required to file it, you pay back the excess with Modelo 122: from when you received it until the end of that year's Renta filing period. No late-payment interest is charged if it was not your fault.

2022 to 2025: the same rules. Art. 81 bis of the IRPF law has had the same wording since 2018 (Ley 6/2018), and art. 60 bis of the Regulation since December 2018. All four years are calculated the same way.

Claiming past years

The right to claim a refund expires after 4 years (art. 66 of the LGT, the General Tax Law). They are counted from the day after the last day of the filing period of each Renta (art. 67). The filing period for the 2022 Renta ran from 11.04.2023 to 30.06.2023, which is why the limit is 30.06.2027. By our calculation, the 2023 one can be claimed until 01.07.2028, because its filing period ended on 01.07.2024. The 2024 one is open until 30.06.2029 and the 2025 one until 30.06.2030.

• A. You filed that year without the deduction: that return is corrected (rectification) with Renta WEB for that year; you do not file another one.
• B. You did not file: you file that year's Renta late. If you were not required to file and did not request the advance, this is the only way to get it. If it is a refund there is no surcharge. The fixed fine of art. 198 of the LGT (€200, or €100 if you file without a prior request from the AEAT) applies to people who were required to file. For people who were not, in principle there is no fine, although we have not found an official AEAT position. More detail: Renta not filed: surcharges and how to file late.

Before you claim: check your situation

A return for a year carries all your income for that year, not just the deduction. Answer these 6 questions first:

1. Were you a tax resident that year? Each year counts separately: in general, if you spent more than 183 days of the year in Spain (art. 9 LIRPF). If you arrived in 2022 after early July, you were most likely not a resident that year and have no deduction for it: tax residence and the 183 days.
2. Did you have income outside Spain? For example, a FOP (Ukrainian sole trader) in Ukraine, a rental or remote work. That year's return must include it, and the result may turn into tax to pay. If the answer is yes or you are not sure, first ask for an analysis of your case.
3. Did you have a large family certificate in those months? It counts from the date you applied for it or renewed it. The autonomous communities send the certificate data to the AEAT every month. If you did not have one, review your case before claiming.
4. Did anyone receive the child support supplement of the minimum living income (IMV)? It does not affect this deduction: the law only excludes those months in the maternity deduction.
5. Have you already received the advance? What you received through Modelo 143 is subtracted from that year's deduction. If you received it and did not file the Renta, review your case first.
6. Did you file the Renta for that year? Yes: way A. No: way B.

Roughly how much you are owed

• Formula: months in which you meet the requirements, times €100 (general large family or parent with 2 children) or times €200 (special large family). Add €50 a month for each child above the minimum of your category. If you work, the €100-a-month part cannot exceed what you contributed in those months. If both parents are entitled, divide by two, unless one transfers their share. Subtract the advance you already received.
• Example (our calculation): you have a general large family certificate with 4 children for the whole of 2023 and you receive unemployment benefit all year. Your partner neither works nor receives benefits, so only you are entitled. That is €1,200 plus €600 for the fourth child, the one above the minimum of 3: €1,800 for the 2023 Renta. There is no cap because you receive unemployment benefit. If your partner were also entitled, each of you would get €900, unless one transfers their share to the other.
• Special category with the cap: when the contributions cap applies, we calculate the special category extra on the full €1,200. The AEAT does not publish an example of this case.

This is a rough figure: the exact amount is known when you file the return or the rectification.

Other money the tax office may owe you. If you have a child under 3: maternity deduction and Modelo 140. The AEAT lists only two incompatibilities for these deductions, and maternity is not one of them. If a child, an ascendant or your spouse has a disability, there is another €1,200 a year, compatible with the large family one: disability deduction for dependants and Modelo 143. Withholding you did not get back and foreign pensions: How to claim a tax refund from previous years in Spain: 2022-2025. In the Valencian Community there is also a regional deduction for large or single-parent families, which only lowers the tax: Valencian regional deductions.

Help to do it

• Free estimate: calculator of how much the tax office may refund you for 2022 to 2025.
• Step-by-step guides (now available on this page): how to fill in Modelo 143 and how to claim the large family deduction for 2022 to 2025.
• Full help. We review your situation from 2022 to 2025: large family and the other family deductions, withholding and foreign pensions. We work out an approximate amount and prepare a step-by-step instruction with screenshots for your case, with your figures, including the request for the advance with Modelo 143. While you file, we support you by online chat. You file yourself: we never ask for your Cl@ve, electronic certificate, reference number or passwords. We cannot promise that there will be a refund or how much: it depends on your case and on the AEAT, and the review may show there is nothing to recover or that tax is due. Message @spain_asesor: we send you the price and the terms privately before any payment.

Official source: IRPF law, art. 81 bis, BOE, IRPF Regulation, art. 60 bis, BOE, Orden HAP/2486/2014, Modelo 143, BOE and AEAT, large family deduction.

Informational only; check the official source and a professional for your specific case. Figures and dates checked on 8 October 2026.