Form 130 for self-employed online sellers: how it is calculated

If you are self-employed in Spain, sell online and are taxed under the direct assessment method (estimación directa), you file Form 130 every quarter. It is an advance on your income tax (IRPF): during the year you pay part of what you earn, and in the annual income tax return the final sum is done and what you paid in advance is taken off.

The formula is simple once you see that everything is cumulative from the start of the year. Here it is, with two sample quarters.

1. What Form 130 is

The IRPF Regulation requires anyone with a business activity to pay an amount each quarter «en concepto de pago a cuenta del Impuesto sobre la Renta de las Personas Físicas» (as a payment on account of personal income tax, article 109.1). Under direct assessment, that payment on account is made with Form 130.

It is not the final tax. It is an advance. What you pay with Form 130 during the year is deducted in your annual income tax return.

2. The formula: 20% of the running total

Under direct assessment, standard or simplified, each quarter you pay, according to article 110.1.a) of the IRPF Regulation, «el 20 por ciento del rendimiento neto correspondiente al período de tiempo transcurrido desde el primer día del año hasta el último día del trimestre» (20% of the net profit from the first day of the year to the last day of the quarter). The Spanish Tax Agency (AEAT) uses the same wording on its page about the amount of these payments.

Step by step:

1. Cumulative net profit: income from the start of the year to the end of the quarter, minus deductible expenses for the same period.
2. 20% of that profit.
3. Minus the payments for earlier quarters of the same year: the regulation says «se deducirán los pagos fraccionados que, en relación con estas actividades, habría correspondido ingresar en los trimestres anteriores del mismo año» (the payments due for the earlier quarters of the same year are deducted).
4. Minus withholdings made on your income, only in the cases the regulation allows (section 3).

Because the calculation is cumulative, each quarter reflects everything that has happened in the year so far. If one quarter is weaker, the next one's calculation takes it into account, because it looks at the whole year.

3. Withholdings: almost always zero if you sell products

Article 110.3.a) only allows the year's withholdings and payments on account to be deducted for professional activities, renting out urban property as a business, and image rights. Selling products is not on that list. If your store only sells products, this line will normally be zero. If you also have a professional activity with withholdings, check it with your accountant (gestor).

There is one more deduction worth knowing: if your net business income for the previous year was €12,000 or less, the AEAT describes «una minoración de 25, 50, 75 o 100 €» (a reduction of €25, €50, €75 or €100) depending on the band (article 110.3.c).

4. Two sample quarters

These figures are an example. An online store under direct assessment that only sells products (no withholdings) and had more than €12,000 of net profit the year before (no reduction). All amounts are without VAT (IVA).

First quarter

Item	Amount
Cumulative income (January to March)	€9,000.00
Cumulative deductible expenses	− €5,400.00
Cumulative net profit	€3,600.00
20% of the profit	€720.00
Payments for earlier quarters	− €0.00
Withholdings	− €0.00
To pay for the first quarter	€720.00

Second quarter

In the second quarter you don't just look at April, May and June: you add up everything since January.

Item	Amount
Cumulative income (January to June)	€20,000.00
Cumulative deductible expenses	− €12,100.00
Cumulative net profit	€7,900.00
20% of the profit	€1,580.00
Payments for earlier quarters	− €720.00
Withholdings	− €0.00
To pay for the second quarter	€860.00

Across the two quarters you have paid €1,580.00 in advance, exactly 20% of the €7,900.00 you have earned in the half-year. That is how the running total works: each quarter brings the previous one up to date.

If in a quarter the calculation gives nothing to pay (for example because you made a loss), you still file Form 130. The regulation says that when there is nothing to pay «los contribuyentes presentarán una declaración negativa» (taxpayers file a nil return, article 111.1).

5. Hard-to-document expenses

If you are under the simplified direct assessment method, the IRPF Regulation lets you deduct, together with provisions, an allowance for hard-to-document expenses (gastos de difícil justificación): 5% of net profit, «sin que la cuantía resultante pueda superar 2.000 euros anuales» (capped at €2,000 a year, article 30, rule 2.ª). The same article sets out one case in which it does not apply.

The example above does not include it. How to apply it in your quarterly payments is something to check with your accountant.

6. Deadlines

According to article 111.1 of the IRPF Regulation:

• First, second and third quarters: April, July and October: up to the 20th.
• Fourth quarter: January: up to the 30th.

Summary

1. Add up income and expenses from the start of the year to the end of the quarter.
2. Work out 20% of the cumulative net profit.
3. Take off the amounts for earlier quarters of the same year.
4. Take off withholdings only if your activity is one of the cases in the regulation; when selling products, hardly ever.
5. File Form 130 even if it comes to zero, as a nil return.

To know how much to set aside each month, you first need to know what you really keep from each sale. Start with the free calculator or try Plentia free for 14 days, no card needed.

Sources

• BOE · Real Decreto 439/2007, IRPF Regulation (articles 30, 109, 110 and 111) · checked on 26/09/2026
• Agencia Tributaria · Importe de los pagos fraccionados (amount of the quarterly payments, in Spanish) · checked on 26/09/2026