The Treasury knocks on the door of each taxpayer like every year. At the beginning of February we already saw the 2019 dates to present the Declaration corresponding to the previous fiscal year, that is, 2018. In the case of the self-employed, the filing date coincides with that of the other taxpayers. It will be from April 1 when all the self-employed attached to the RETA will be able to request a prior appointment with the Treasury. One day later, on April 2, the official deadline for submitting the draft of the Income is opened online (online or through the application). If we choose to do it in person, we will have to wait until May 14. In any case, we will show the steps to follow to make the 2018 Income Statement if we are self-employed .
News of Income 2018 in 2019
Before proceeding to explain everything necessary to make the 2018 Income Declaration in the self-employed regime, we must mention the new features introduced by the AEAT in 2019 compared to the 2018 financial year.
As we saw in this other article, the two new features of the 2018 Income that affect the self-employed are related to maternity and paternity. If we have received a withdrawal of this type during 2018 and personal income tax withholdings were applied, the Treasury must refund the amount withheld . The latest regulation launched by the Government estimates that maternity and paternity leave are exempt from withholding.
The second novelty is related to the enrollment of children under 3 years of age in authorized nurseries. If during 2018 we have enrolled any of our children under 3 years of age in a duly registered nursery, we can enjoy a refund up to a maximum amount of 1,000 euros .
Tips and recommendations for making the 2018 Income Statement
Drafting the Declaration if it is our first time can become a headache. Given that the deadline for submitting the draft electronically begins one month before the face-to-face presentations, it is advisable to start preparing it as soon as possible .
We must bear in mind that as freelancers we will have to present a series of documents and models that will depend on the volume of our economic activity. That is why the process can become much more complex than a general Declaration of employed workers.
It should be added that in the event that we have minor children or are married, it is likely that we will have to file a joint Income Statement . It may also be the case that we have to submit two returns, one joint and one individual. In any case, it is best to ask a specialized manager or the Public Treasury office to resolve any doubts.
What do we need to do the 2018 Income Statement if we are self-employed?
If we are going to make the Income Declaration for the first time, it is likely that we do not have a method of access to the Electronic Office of the Tax Agency . Currently the AEAT has four different methods to carry out the draft of the Income electronically:
- Electronic DNI
- Digital certificate
- Password Password PIN
- Official application of the AEAT
The last method can be very useful if the volume of our economic activity has been low or we are employed. However, the best way to draft the 2018 Income Statement is to go to the Treasury website . We can do it through the first three methods. Since the first two depend on other organizations, it is best to use the Password Key PIN.
In this other article we show how to request the PIN code to enter the Treasury website. In the event that we have made declarations in previous years, we will only have to enter the information from box 440 from the previous year , that is, from the 2017 Declaration.
Once we have correctly accessed the Treasury website, we will have to gather all the quarterly returns for 2018. These include the VAT and personal income tax returns, as well as those corresponding to the Transfer of property assets (sale of vehicles and other goods subject to income). Along with these, our personal account book with all the invoices generated by our business and, of course, all the worker contracts and the rent of the premises or office.
Steps to make the 2018 Income Statement in 2019
With everything ready and once we have gathered all the documents required by the Treasury, we will have to follow a series of steps to make sure we do not make any mistakes.
Step 1: verify the information of the payers
Once we are on the Treasury website, the first thing that will be shown to us will be the data related to the Payers, that is, all the companies or freelancers to whom we have issued an invoice during the year 2018 .
It may also be the case that information on companies that have made payments as an employee is included only and exclusively if we have worked at some point in 2018 for a company as a worker without being self-employed.
To process all this information correctly, we will have to proceed as follows:
- Payments from companies as an employee (without being self-employed) : select the option to Transfer to the Work section
- Payments from companies and other self-employed as self-employed : select the Do not transfer option
We must bear in mind that payments from other freelancers and companies must be justified in their corresponding section, so it is very important that we do not transfer their payments to the Work section .
Step 2: check personal and family data
The next thing we will have to do once we have verified the information of the payers is to check the personal and family information .
Some of the most important data are the data of our person, the NIF and of course, the Autonomous Community where we have carried out the professional activity. In this section we will also have to indicate if our declaration is to be made jointly, individually or both at the same time . Once again we emphasize that the best way to clarify it will be to turn to a specialized manager or a Treasury agent.
Subsequently, the draft will require our information corresponding to the habitual residence, as well as the reference of the cadastre that corresponds to it. On the Government website dedicated to the cadastre we can see all the information on the cadastre of our home. In the event that we have changed our address at some point in 2018, we will also have to add the information related to this .
Finally, we will have to fill in the information regarding children under 25 years of age or with disabilities who live in the family unit if the case arises.
Step 3: mark, if required, the tax and representative assignments
It's your turn to mark the famous Church box. Along with this, we can also check boxes for science and charitable organizations .
As for the information related to the representative, we will not need to fill in the data of the same only if we make the sole declaration . It may be the case that we have to declare the income of relatives in our charge. We will have to consult our manager or the Treasury to verify it.
Finally, we will mark box 107 only if the return is a complementary Income Statement .
Step 4: check the information on income from work and movable capital
In this part of the draft you must find all the information related to the payments and income that we have received as employees without being self-employed . If we have moved all the payments from Step 1 successfully, it should appear automatically.
With regard to the returns obtained by the movable capital, these refer to the interests that we have received in our bank account for operations related to the sale of shares . As in the section on income from work, these must be filled in automatically if they are declared during the 2018 financial year.
Step 5: fill in the data relating to Real Estate other than the habitual residence, if any
In the event that we have real estate beyond our family unit, we will have to complete the data regarding flats and other real estate such as land and rented houses.
Here we will have to separate between properties assigned to economic activities, that is, those that are exploited in order to carry out the economic activity, and between properties that are not affected. For each of these properties, Hacienda establishes two different sections where we can fill in all the required information.
Step 6: complete the information related to the direct estimate for the self-employed
We come to the most important section of all if we do not belong to any group with a special regime, such as activities related to agriculture and livestock. The data required in this section includes invoices, deductible expenses, profits and losses and all kinds of information related to our economic activity .
Generally, the majority of the self-employed belong to a single category of economic activity (for example, artists, mechanics, electricians ...) corresponding to the IAE (Tax on Economic Activities). In the event that we belong to two different categories and we are registered in two different epigraphs, we will have to fill in each category individually . Later we will explain how to add a second or third economic activity once we have filled in the first one.
Regarding the information required by the Treasury, below we will see point by point the documentation necessary to complete all the data.
Type of economic activity
In this section we will have to indicate the code or password related to the type of economic activity that we carry out. This code can be found in the Self-Employed Registration documentation ; specifically in the Professional Category section.
Depending on the type of activity, we will have to choose the type of modality (simplified or normal estimation) and if the collection and payment criteria is applied. We will have to contact our advisor to verify what assignments our professional activity entails.
Finally, we will have to mark the Declarant box to indicate to the Treasury that the activity is personal, that is, that it is not being carried out by a person outside of us (a family member or another declarant that we have included in the Declaration).
Income from economic activity
As the name of the heading indicates, we will have to enter the sum of all income received and invoiced during the 2018 financial year without personal income tax or VAT . The best thing for this is to have our account book at hand so that we do not leave any invoice on the way.
Personal income tax return
In the same section of Income by economic activity we will have to enter the withholding of the income received during 2018 at the moment of pressing the Edit button .
Here we will have to differentiate between the withholdings suffered in our economic activity (obtained by adding the personal income tax from all the 2018 invoices) and the withholdings subject to the lease of urban assets for the exploitation of the economic activity.
The boxes to fill in in this section are the following:
- Box 0560 : the sum of all withholdings for urban leases for the exploitation of the activity
- Box 0561 : the sum of all withholdings (IRPF) generated by the activity (except leases)
- Box 0566 : the sum of all IRPF payments to the Treasury during 2018 in monthly or quarterly returns (generally through model 130)
- Rest of boxes : Personal income tax related to activities that are not included in the previous boxes
Deductible expenses in the 2018 Income Statement in 2019
We come to deductible expenses. As every year, the Treasury establishes a series of expenses that can be deducted only and exclusively if they are derived from our professional activity . That is why we cannot include personal deductions (purchase of a personal vehicle, televisions for the home ...).
We leave you below with the list of deductible expenses published by the Treasury:
- Operating consumption : all expenses related to the material necessary for the development of the activity, such as computers, printers, screens, gasoline ...
- Social Security in charge of the company : all expenses related to payments to Social Security (self-employed contributions, withholdings on the employee's payroll ...)
- Wages and salaries : all expenses related to the remuneration of workers. Allowances, travel and extraordinary payments are also included
- Other personnel expenses : all expenses related to training courses, insurance, and expenses derived from contracted personnel that have not been included in the previous heading
- Repairs and conservation : all expenses related to the conservation and repair of the material and the facilities where the activity takes place
- Independent professional services : all expenses derived from hiring professional services such as lawyers, notaries, electricians ...
- Other external services : all costs related to transport, research, development, advertising, water, Internet and electricity costs, bank charges ...
- Input VAT : all expenses that could not be deducted in the quarterly VAT returns
- Tax deductible taxes : all expenses related to deductible taxes, such as the IBI of the property where the activity takes place
Other deductible expenses:
- Leases and royalties
- Financial expenses
- Amortization
- Losses due to bad debts
- Incentives for patronage
- Other tax deductible services
Step 7: register another economic activity (only if we are registered in two or more activities in the IAE section)
Once we have filled in all the information related to the direct estimate for freelancers, the draft will automatically calculate the performance obtained by the activity. It will be from now on when we will be able to register a new economic activity with the respective code of the IAE epigraph
To do this, we will go to the top of the draft and click on the High Activity button . The process to follow from now on will be the same as that followed in the previous steps.
It should be added that the expenses related to registration and the monthly self-employed fee will have to be excluded from this new activity as they are already included in the first activity.
Step 8: fill in the data related to performance by economic activities with objective estimation if required
In the event that our professional activity is subject to special regimes (agriculture, livestock, fishing ...), and therefore, to objective estimates, the process to follow will be similar to the one we have just seen in previous sections.
In summary, we will have to indicate the type of economic activity, income and finally, expenses . The system will automatically calculate the returns.
Step 9: indicate capital gains and losses
We start with the part of the Declaration that is not exclusive to the self-employed. If you have filed previous declarations as employees, the process to follow is exactly the same.
In the headings corresponding to capital gains and losses we will have to indicate the gains and losses related to our personal assets . Investments in companies, sale of properties (cars, flats ...), rental of housing, prizes and competitions ... If we have any kind of doubt with a specific concept, it is best to contact the Treasury or a manager.
Step 10: let the draft automatically calculate rent and deductions
Arrived at the section on Income and Deduction Calculations, it is most likely that the draft has automatically calculated the minimum bases , as well as the minimum values of income and the minimum values of the contribution.
If not, we will have to verify that the data corresponding to step 2 are correctly completed.
Step 11: declare the reductions that affect the 2018 Income Statement
In the section on reductions we will have to include the amount of all possible deductions in the headings for reductions that affect the 2018 Income Statement.
Among the possible reductions, the Treasury considers some of the following:
- Donations
- Economic aid to NGOs
- Quotas to labor unions
- Maternity or paternity leave
- Adoption of children
- Aid from the Autonomous Community
For other concepts, we recommend contacting a tax agent to resolve all doubts.
Step 12: add additional data if any
We finally come to the final part of the draft. In Additional data we will have to add the data that have not been contemplated in previous sections .
An example of this are the income earmarked for the maintenance of children by court decisions or any type of exempt income.
Step 13: calculate the tax and the result of the Declaration
At page 51, we can find a summary with all the data entered. Before sending the declaration and validating it, we will have to verify that all the information entered is correct .
On the same page 51 we will also be shown the performance obtained by our work or economic activity as a self-employed person. Along with this, the reductions and the tax calculated by the corresponding system.
Step 14: add the payment or collection information and send the Declaration to the Treasury
After having verified that the data is correct and the tax calculation corresponds to the estimate, we can click on the Validate button .
Once we have clicked on the button, there may be two cases: that the system has detected an error or missing data or that we are shown an important notice.
In the first case, the web will indicate the type of error and the "affected" box to verify it manually. When we have filled it in, we will click on the Validate button again to see if the error persists.
In the event that we are shown any notice of important information, we can follow the steps in the article that we have just linked to proceed in the best way.
If we have not received any warning or error when clicking on the Validate button, we are in luck. Now the system should show us the result of the Declaration, which can be To return or To pay. In the first case, we will have to check that the IBAN number of our bank account is correct. If the Declaration leaves us to pay, we will have to select the payment method that the web provides us.
Now, we can click on the button File a declaration in the upper right corner of the web. Before proceeding, we recommend that you verify the Declaration again in the Summary of declarations button to check all the amounts entered in each section.