The Spain tax refund deadline for 2022 is 30 June 2027. If you paid Spanish income tax (IRPF) that year on a UK government pension, or your return left out deductions, you may be able to claim it back until then. Having a gestor does not rule this out: a return filed by a tax adviser can be corrected too.
Check first whether you qualify. For a UK government pension there are four conditions: it is a pension for government service, IRPF was paid on it in Spain, you do not have Spanish nationality and you were tax resident in Spain that year. If all four apply, you may have IRPF to recover. For family deductions, the free calculator gives an estimate in a few minutes; it does not calculate pensions.
What changes for you today
Nothing comes back on its own. Tax that was not due, extra withholding and deductions that were left out only come back if you correct or file that year's return. Today four years can be claimed, 2022 to 2025, and 2022 is the first to close. Everything the tax office may owe you, by group: How to claim a tax refund from previous years in Spain.
What happened
There is no new law: the clock is running. The right to claim a refund expires after 4 years, counted from the day after the end of the filing period of each Renta (arts. 66 and 67 of the General Tax Law). The 2022 Renta was filed from 11.04.2023 to 30.06.2023, which is why the limit is 30.06.2027. So the 2022 Renta is now in its last year.
How it works now
Claims are made online on the AEAT website (the Spanish Tax Agency), with Renta WEB for that year and Cl@ve or an electronic certificate. You do not need to go to an office. There are two ways:
- You filed that year: you correct that same return. For 2022 and 2023 it is a solicitud de rectificación (request for rectification); for 2024 and 2025, an autoliquidación rectificativa (corrective return).
- You did not file: you file that year's Renta late. If it is a refund there is no surcharge. If you were required to file, there may be a fixed fine of €100, or €200 if you had already received a requerimiento, a formal request from the AEAT (art. 198 LGT). If you were not required to file, in principle there is no fine, although we have not found an official AEAT position.
What changes on 1 July 2027
From that day, in principle, the 2022 Renta can no longer be claimed, as already happens with the years before 2022. A refund you have not claimed by then is lost.
What happens next
After 2022, the other years stay open, by our calculation: the 2023 Renta until 01.07.2028, the 2024 one until 30.06.2029 and the 2025 one until 30.06.2030. In spring 2027 the 2026 Renta is filed as well; the AEAT will announce the dates, roughly April to June. If you started working through the 2026 extraordinary regularisation, that is your first Renta. For you, 2022 to 2025 only matter if you already worked registered before, for example as an asylum seeker with the «autoriza a trabajar» note: first Renta after the regularisation.
What you can do
Check with the calculator. The free calculator of how much the tax office may refund you first asks when you arrived in Spain, whether you had income from outside Spain and which years you filed. Then, if you are the mother of a child who was under 3 between 2022 and 2025: the date of birth, whether you were working registered or on unemployment benefit at the birth, nursery costs and advances already received. Finally, whether you have a large family, are a parent separated or unmarried with 2 children, or support someone with a disability.
- What it counts: only the maternity deduction, €100 a month per child under 3 plus nursery up to €1,000 a year. It also counts the €1,200 a year family deductions: large family, single parent with 2 children and disability. Both from 2022 to 2025, with each year's rules.
- What it does not count: withholding from unemployment benefit or a salary, pensions, self-employed expenses, forgotten deductions, regional deductions or the rest of your return. The cases below cover those.
- What you get: an approximate figure per year, whether to correct or file and until when, and at the end the guide that fits your case. If you tick income from abroad or «Not sure», it warns you to review your case before filing, because you may end up owing tax. The exact amount is known when you file.
Before you file: check your whole year. A correction or a late return carries all your income for that year, not just what you want to claim.
- Income from outside Spain. UK rents, interest, an ISA, a private pension, a FOP in Ukraine or remote work also go in the return, and the result may turn into tax to pay. If you had income like this or you are not sure, review your case before filing.
- Tax residence. Each year counts separately: in general you are resident if you spend more than 183 days of the year in Spain. If you arrived in 2022 after early July, you were most likely not resident that year and have no deductions for it: tax residence and the 183 days.
- Advances already received. What you received each month through Modelo 140 or 143 is subtracted from that year's deduction.
Find your case.
- UK government pension taxed in Spain. These are usually civil service, armed forces, police, fire service, local government and state school teacher pensions. Pensions for service to the British State are taxed only in the UK if you do not have Spanish nationality (art. 18.2 of the 2013 treaty). In Spain they are exempt, although they count towards the rate on the rest of your income. If a tax adviser declared one as taxable, the Renta for 2022 to 2025 can be corrected. The State Pension is taxed only in Spain, and Royal Mail pensions and, in principle, NHS pensions do not count as government pensions. UK tax deducted from a private pension is reclaimed from HMRC: by our calculation, the 2022/23 UK tax year can be claimed until 05.04.2027. Free page: UK pension tax in Spain; guide «UK pensions in your Spanish tax return: fixing 2022 to 2025».
- Forgotten deductions. If you paid IRPF from 2022 to 2025, a return can be corrected for what was left out: parents over 65 living with you, a disability you did not include, donations or trade union fees. These only lower the tax: if your tax that year was 0, they give no money. Free page: forgotten deductions 2022-2025; guide «Forgotten deductions from 2022 to 2025».
- Low income or not required to file. In general, with a single payer in Spain and less than €22,000 a year you were not required to file. If tax was withheld and you did not file, the extra stayed with the tax office, and it only comes back if you file that Renta. With several payers, if the second and later ones add up to more than €1,500, the limit was €14,000 for 2022, €15,000 for 2023 and €15,876 for 2024 and 2025. That lower limit also applies to a salary or pension from a payer abroad that is not required to withhold in Spain, for example a UK State Pension or private pension: the British payer does not withhold IRPF. An exempt UK government pension does not count towards the limit. Above it you were required to file, and the result may be tax to pay. Free page: who must file the Renta; guide «Not required to file, but tax was withheld». If you were required to file and did not: Renta not filed and guide «Renta for past years: how to file it late».
- Large family, single parent with 2 children or disability. It is up to €1,200 a year for each case and up to €2,400 for a special large family. These are paid even if your tax is 0, if you work registered with Social Security or receive unemployment benefit or a public pension. A married woman whose husband lives in Ukraine does not get the single-parent one, although with a large family certificate she may get that other one. Free pages: large family deduction and disability deduction; guide «Family deductions of €1,200 from 2022 to 2025» and a Modelo 143 guide for the monthly advance.
- A child who was under 3 between 2022 and 2025. The maternity deduction is €100 a month per child, plus up to €1,000 a year for nursery, and it is paid even if your tax is 0. Since 2023 it also goes to a mother who was on unemployment benefit at the birth, or who registered afterwards and reached 30 days of contributions. In 2022 only mothers working and registered had it, month by month. Since 2023, months in which a parent received the child supplement of the minimum living income for that child do not count. Free page: maternity deduction; guide «Maternity 2022 to 2025». Until your child turns 3, the Modelo 140 guide explains how to get €100 a month in advance.
- Self-employed (autónomo). If you did not subtract business expenses from 2022 to 2025, such as the RETA contribution, the gestoría or 30% of home utilities, that return can be corrected. This works for direct assessment, not for modules. Free page: unclaimed expenses; guide «Self-employed: recovering the expenses you did not deduct».
- Unemployment benefit or a contract shorter than a year. If IRPF was withheld from your benefit and you did not file that year, the extra stayed with the tax office. Receiving unemployment benefit did not by itself make filing compulsory: the AEAT did not apply that duty for the 2024 Renta. On a contract shorter than a year the employer withholds at least 2%, even if you earn less than the no-withholding limit. Free pages: unemployment benefit and the Renta and what is deducted from your payslip; guides «Unemployment benefit: getting back the IRPF withheld» and «Contract shorter than a year».
- Ukrainian pension. An ordinary pension from the Pension Fund of Ukraine is taxed in Spain, so if it was not declared, the correction usually means tax to pay. A refund is possible if a pension for service to the State (military, police or civil service) was declared as taxable and you do not have Spanish nationality. Free page: Ukrainian pension tax in Spain; guide «Ukrainian pension in your Renta».
Official source: General Tax Law, arts. 66, 67 and 198, BOE · IRPF law, arts. 81 and 81 bis, BOE · Spain-UK treaty of 2013, BOE · AEAT, Renta of past years.
Informational only, not tax advice: the exact amount is known when you file the return or the correction. Check the official source and a professional for your specific case.