Spain — Corporate Income Tax (Impuesto sobre Sociedades)
Impuesto sobre Sociedades (IS) is Spain's corporate income tax, charged on the profits of Spanish-resident legal entities — SLs, SAs, cooperatives, investment funds, and similar. It is entirely separate from the IRPF that autónomos/sole traders pay on business income (covered in a separate document); this page covers only the company-level tax regime.
The rate a newly formed company actually pays depends heavily on its size and age — general, micro-enterprise, SME, and startup rates all differ, and several of them are on a multi-year transitional schedule that keeps changing through 2026. Getting the applicable rate wrong leads to under- or over-payment on the annual return.
Key Facts
General rate: 25% for tax periods beginning in 2024, 2025, and 2026 (LIS Art. 29).
Micro-enterprises (net turnover under €1 million): progressive scale — for periods beginning in 2026, the first €50,000 of taxable base is taxed at 19% and the remainder at 21% (these rates step down each year from 23%/23% in 2024, per the transitional schedule in LIS Disposición Transitoria 44ª).
Small/medium entities under LIS Art. 101 (broadly, turnover between €1 million and €10 million): 23% for periods beginning in 2026, down from 25% in 2024 under the same transitional schedule.
Newly created entities and "empresas emergentes" (qualifying startups): 15% for the first tax period with a positive taxable base and the following period.
Special regimes noted on the AEAT page: SOCIMI (listed real-estate investment vehicles) 0%; Canary Islands Special Zone (ZEC) entities 4%; credit entities and hydrocarbon-exploration companies 30%; investment funds/SICAVs 1%; pension funds 0%.
Unconfirmed: a 10% rate for non-profit entities under Ley 49/2002 and 12-20% reduced rates for protected cooperatives were reported by secondary sources but not independently confirmed on the AEAT page fetched this session.
Steps
1. Register for Impuesto sobre Sociedades — Done as part of the Modelo 036 census registration at the time of incorporation.
2. Keep statutory accounting records — Profit and loss under the Código de Comercio forms the starting point for the taxable base, adjusted per LIS rules.
3. Make advance payments during the year — Companies generally make installment/advance payments via Modelo 202 during the fiscal year. I did not fetch the dedicated AEAT Modelo 202 page this session, so specific rates/thresholds for this obligation are unconfirmed — verify directly with AEAT before relying on a figure.
4. File the annual self-assessment — Submit Modelo 200 exclusively through the AEAT Sede Electrónica.
Required Documents
Annual accounts
Modelo 200 (annual self-assessment)
Supporting accounting records
Common Mistakes
Confusing Impuesto sobre Sociedades with the autónomo's personal IRPF regime — they are different taxes with different rules.
Assuming the 15% new-company rate applies indefinitely; it only covers the first profitable period and the one immediately after.
Not accounting for the fact that the reduced micro/SME rates are transitional and are scheduled to change again in future years.