No honest Spanish salary calculator can answer without asking where you live, because Spanish income tax is TWO scales added together: a state scale that is the same everywhere, and an autonomous scale each of the seventeen communities sets for itself. The Agencia Tributaria publishes the state one, and on a general taxable base of €40,000 it produces €5,250.75. The autonomous half is of comparable size and is the reason the same salary takes home different amounts in Madrid and in Catalonia.
The state scale, exactly as published
The Agencia Tributaria's manual gives the state scale, applied regardless of where you live: 9.50% on the first €12,450, 12% to €20,200, 15% to €35,200, 18.50% to €60,000, 22.50% to €300,000 and 24.50% above. On a general taxable base of €25,000 that is €2,832.75; on €40,000, €5,250.75; on €60,000, €8,950.75. Those are the state half only. The resulting figure is then reduced by applying the same scale to the personal and family minimum, which is the Spanish equivalent of a personal allowance and works as a credit rather than as an exemption.
The autonomous half, and why it is the whole point
Each autonomous community sets its own scale on the same taxable base, and the Agencia Tributaria publishes them side by side. They are broadly similar in size to the state scale, so the total is roughly double the figures above, but the differences between communities are real money at every income level and they change with each regional budget. This is why a calculator that gives you one national answer is giving you an answer for nowhere, and why the first question on the tax agency's own simulator is your region.
What comes off before the tax
Employee social security contributions are deducted from the gross before the taxable base is worked out, covering common contingencies, unemployment and training, and they are charged up to a maximum contribution base that is set annually. They are the Spanish equivalent of National Insurance and they reduce the income tax base as well as your pay, which the UK's does not. The Seguridad Social publishes the rates and the bases; because they are set annually and vary by contract type, this page does not reproduce them.
Fourteen payments, not twelve
Many Spanish contracts pay in fourteen instalments: twelve monthly payments plus extra payments in summer and at Christmas, the pagas extra. A quoted monthly salary may therefore be a fourteenth of the annual figure rather than a twelfth, and an annual figure divided by twelve will overstate the monthly pay by about 17%. Ask which convention the offer uses. Some contracts prorate the extras across twelve months instead, which produces the same annual total and a very different-looking payslip.
Moving between the UK and Spain
Residence decides which country taxes the salary, and Spain's 183-day rule plus its centre-of-economic-interests test catch people who think they have left the UK when they have not. The UK and Spain have a double taxation agreement so the same income is not taxed twice, but it does not let you pick the lower bill. The Spanish tax year is the calendar year against the UK's 6 April to 5 April. And the Beckham regime, a special expatriate arrangement, changes the answer entirely for those who qualify, which is worth establishing before a move rather than after.
Questions people ask about spain salary calculator
Why does a Spanish tax calculator ask for my region?
Because income tax is a state scale plus an autonomous scale each community sets for itself. A single national answer is an answer for nowhere.
What is the Spanish state scale?
9.50% on the first €12,450, 12% to €20,200, 15% to €35,200, 18.50% to €60,000, 22.50% to €300,000 and 24.50% above, applied to the general taxable base whatever your region.
How much is the state half on €40,000?
€5,250.75 on a €40,000 general taxable base, before the personal and family minimum is applied as a credit. The autonomous half is of comparable size and depends on where you live.
Is a Spanish salary paid over twelve months?
Often fourteen: twelve monthly payments plus two extra ones. A quoted monthly figure may be a fourteenth of the year, so ask which convention the contract uses.