The income tax return campaignwhich begins next April 8, usually raises the same doubts among taxpayers every year, and one of the most frequent is whether it is more convenient to file the return jointly or individually when living as a couple.
Given this, the labor lawyer, Andrés Millán, has explained, through a video broadcast on his social media profile, in which cases each option may be more favorable from a tax point of view.
Joint income tax return with your partner or individual
As detailed by the jurist, the joint declaration can be especially beneficial in homes where only one salary comes in or one of the members of the couple has a very low income. In these cases, the Personal Income Tax (IRPF) regulations allow an additional reduction of 3,400 euros to be applied to the tax base of the family unit.
“It pays to do it jointly when there is basically only one salary at home, or one is very low and the other is high,” he explains, stressing that this reduction can make a difference when one of the members of the couple you do not generate enough income to take advantage of certain deductions in an individual declaration. Thus, when filing a joint return, these tax benefits can be applied to the sum of the household income.
However, the situation changes when both members of the couple earn similar salaries. In that case, it is usually more advantageous to file the declaration individually, as Millán recommends. “Each person applies their own personal minimum, which is 5,500 euros each,” an amount that reduces the tax base of the tax.
Furthermore, by filing separately you avoid adding the income of both, which can cause part of the income to be taxed in a higher income tax bracket. The Spanish tax system is progressive, which means that the tax percentage increases as income increases.
The lawyer remembers, in any case, that the convenience of one or another modality depends on the specific situation of each home, since factors such as the number of children, the regional deductions or certain personal circumstances may modify the final result of the declaration.