If you are registered as self-employed in Spain and, use a room in your home as an office, you may be entitled to claim certain costs as an expense on your tax returns.
How much can I claim?
As a general rule for claiming home office expenses, you would need to calculate the proportion of your home in which you use to carry out your business activities. Note that the Tax Office only allows you to claim up to a certain proportion of your home expenditure as a business expense.
As with all business expenses, you must keep a record of any bills and have documental proof to support the claim if investigated by the Spanish Tax Office.
Rental Expenditure
You can deduct part of your rental expenditure that relates to your business activity. For example, if your home office takes up 20% of the total surface area of the property, then the proportion of your rent which is deductible is 20%.
Also, to benefit from this deduction, your rental contract should contain a clause that mentions the part of the apartment that will be used for your business. Given that standard private rental contracts contain a clause that prohibits the business use of the property, it might be difficult to negotiate this part with your landlord, however it may be worth a try !
Can I claim part of my mortgage interest as an expense?
You can deduct part of your mortgage interest payments that relates to your business activity. For example, if your home office takes up 15% of the total surface area of the property, then the proportion of your mortgage interest which is deductible is 15%.
Utility bills
You can deduct 30% of your utility expenditure that relates to your business activity at home. Utilities that can be included are dependant on whether or not they are used for business purposes, This could include your water, gas, and electricity bills.
Calculating the percentage you can claim for utilities
If you have established that 20% (of the total surface area) of your home is used for business purposes, then the deductible proportion of your bill is calculated as:
0.3 x 0.2 = 0.06
This means that only 6% of your utility bill is deductible as an autónomo expense.
Something worth considering…
One potential problem with claiming these deductions for using your home office is that in any inspection, the Tax Office could ask to see a separate rental contract in the name of your business for the part of the property that is to be used by your business.
Rental Contracts and IVA
Standard rental contracts in Spain usually state that the property is not to be used for business purposes and therefore IVA is not charged. However, if the rental contract needs to be adjusted to include business use, the rent may need to be split into two so that the property owner charges IVA on the part of the property used for business.
Our Services
We offer a full range of tax services for the self-employed in Spain, including autónomo registration and quarterly returns. Click here for more details or contact us if you have any questions.