In the campaign of Income 2025-2026taxpayers with two or more payers whose gross income does not exceed 15,876 euros per year will not be required to submit the Income Tax return. Those who, earning up to 22,000 euros, have collected from the second and other payers an amount that does not collectively exceed 1,500 euros per year will also have no obligation.
This is stated in article 96 of the Personal Income Tax Law 35/2006 which establishes that “it will be 15,876 euros for taxpayers who receive full earnings from work in the following cases,” and point a.1 says that “if the sum of the amounts received from the second and remaining payers, in order of amount, does not collectively exceed the amount of 1,500 euros per year.”
Now, there is a nuance that should be clarified before accepting the exemption. The threshold of 1,500 euros does not apply individually to each additional payer, but to the total sum of what is received from the second, third and other payers together.
If you had a second employer who paid 900 euros and a third who paid 700, the combined figure is 1,600 euros. That exceeds the limit, and the obligation threshold would no longer be 22,000 euros but 15,876 euros. The calculation must be made on the total of all secondary sources, not on each one in isolation.
When the limit is still 22,000 euros, even if there are two payers
If the income from the second payer and the rest of the additional payers does not collectively exceed 1,500 euros per year, the obligation threshold remains at 22,000 euros, exactly the same as if there had only been one payer. This is established in article 96.3 of the Personal Income Tax Law.
The reason is that, when the second payer pays a very small amount, the difference between the withholdings applied by both companies and what would actually have to be paid is minimal. The Treasury considers that this imbalance does not justify the obligation to declare. On the other hand, if the second payer exceeds 1,500 euros, the risk of under-withholding increases and the rule already requires submitting the draft.
A concrete example. A worker who earns 19,000 euros in his main company and earns 900 euros in a second one for a few months is not obliged to file an income tax return. The second payer does not reach the threshold of 1,500 euros and the general limit of 22,000 euros is the one that applies, as long as they do not have other income that would change the situation.
Who is usually in this situation?
This scenario is repeated more frequently than it seems. The most common profiles of taxpayers with two payers who are not required to declare are the following.
- Workers who changed jobs at the end of the year and only earned a few months in the second company. If what was received in that second stage was less than 1,500 euros, the high limit is maintained.
- Salaried workers who received unemployment benefits for a short period. The State Public Employment Service acts as the second payer when paying unemployment benefits. If the amount collected from SEPE did not exceed 1,500 euros, that fact alone does not require a declaration.
- Workers with an additional low-paid part-time contract, such as one-off collaborations, weekend contracts or short-season jobs.
- Employees who received a small incentive paid by a company other than the usual one, such as a payment for objectives managed by an entity different from the group.
Not being obligated does not mean that declaring is a bad idea
The fact that the law does not impose the obligation does not mean that submitting the declaration is always a procedure to avoid. In certain cases it may be beneficial to do it even if it is not necessary.
Taxpayers with total income between 15,876 and 22,000 euros may be entitled to the deduction for work income linked to the increase in the Minimum Interprofessional Salary (SMI). This deduction only materializes if the declaration is filed. Whoever does not present it simply does not recover the extra withheld, even if he had the right to do so.
It is also worth considering whether there are active regional deductions, deductible expenses for renting a primary residence, or if the company applied a higher withholding rate than the corresponding one for not correctly updating the worker’s data throughout the year.
The electronic headquarters of the Tax Agency allows you to consult the draft declaration without having to present it. Any taxpayer can access the Renta WEB service, check if the result is returned and then decide if they are interested in submitting it, even without being obliged to do so.