First things first: apply inside the voluntary period
An application made during the voluntary payment period stops the debt entering the enforcement stage while it is being decided. Made afterwards, the debt already carries its surcharge and the deferral does not remove it.
| When you apply | What happens |
|---|---|
| Inside the voluntary payment period | The enforcement period does not start. Only late payment interest accrues |
| Already in the enforcement period, before the demand is served | An enforcement surcharge of 5 %, which is no longer removable |
| After the demand has been served | A reduced surcharge of 10 %, or 20 % if that period is allowed to run out |
On a debt of 8,000 €, applying on the last day of the period or on the first day of the next is a difference of 400 €. It is the most expensive mistake here and the easiest to avoid, and the reason we keep a diary of voluntary payment dates for every client rather than of filing dates alone.
How far you get without a guarantee
Below the statutory threshold in force — currently 50,000 € of accumulated debt — the application is processed without security: no bank guarantee and no charge over property. What counts is the total owed at that moment, not each debt separately, so splitting one application into several does not bring you under the line.
Above the threshold you must offer security — a bank guarantee, a surety insurance certificate, a mortgage or a pledge — or justify that you cannot provide one, which opens a different and considerably slower route.
- A small debt and a short schedule: automated processing, decided in a matter of days.
- A large debt or a long schedule: assessed case by case, with more documentation and more time.
- Late payment interest runs throughout, with or without security. A deferral is not free; it is predictable, which is a different thing.
The debts that cannot be deferred
Article 65.2 excludes several categories, and this is the part that sinks the most applications:
- Withholdings and payments on account: forms 111, 115 and 123. That money is not yours — you withheld it from somebody else — and the law only allows it to be deferred in narrowly defined cases.
- Instalment payments of corporate income tax.
- Debts arising from the enforcement of final decisions that wholly or partly rejected a claim and had been suspended in the meantime.
- Debts of a jointly liable person in certain cases, and those of an insolvent debtor classified as claims against the estate.
Applying to defer a debt that cannot be deferred does not stop collection: the application is ruled inadmissible and treated as never made, so the debt carries on and enters enforcement. It is worth checking before applying rather than after.
How we put an application together
A deferral is granted or refused on the schedule you propose, not on how politely you ask. We build it like this:
- An inventory of what you owe and of the dates, so we know whether you are under the threshold and which stage each debt is at.
- A realistic schedule. A proposal you cannot meet is worse than not applying: missing one instalment brings forward the rest and the whole debt enters enforcement at once.
- Direct debit of the instalments, which is compulsory where processing is automated and removes the risk of forgetting one.
- Filing and follow-up, with the acknowledgement in your file and a reminder before each instalment falls due.
And where the debt comes from years that were never filed, the order is different: first the surcharge for filing late is calculated, then the returns are filed, and only then is a deferral applied for on whatever results. That sequence is set out on filing late.
Your case, in two minutes
Your tax debt: your map of obligations
The form for this service asks only what matters here. At the end you have your map of obligations, the deadlines running against you and a fixed price.
What your tax debt costs
| Work | Price |
|---|---|
| Application for deferral or instalments without security | 175 € |
| Application with security, or above the threshold | Fixed quote |
| Appeal against a refusal | from 405 € |
Taxes included. If you are already a client on one of our recurring lines, the first application each year is part of your fee.
A schedule that gets approved
Most refusals we see are not refusals of principle. They are refusals of an unrealistic calendar: six instalments proposed on a debt the applicant plainly cannot clear in six months, or twenty-four proposed on an amount small enough that the administration expects it sooner. A proposal is credible when the instalment is a plausible fraction of what you actually earn, and when the debts still to come in the same year have been counted in.
That last point catches self-employed people in particular. Deferring the first quarter while three more quarters and an annual income tax bill are still ahead produces an arrangement that collapses in September. We count the whole year before proposing anything, which sometimes means asking for fewer instalments than you wanted and sometimes considerably more.
What a deferral does not do
- It does not remove the return. The filing and the payment are separate obligations: you file on time and then ask for time to pay. Not filing because you cannot pay is the expensive version of the same problem.
- It does not stop a refund being offset. If the administration owes you money on another tax, it can apply it against the deferred debt.
- It does not undo a surcharge already incurred, and it does not suspend a penalty that is being challenged. Suspension of a penalty is a different application with different requirements.
- It does not survive a second default. A history of broken arrangements is the ground most often given when a later application is turned down.
Questions we are asked about your tax debt
Can they refuse it? Yes. The usual grounds are a schedule that bears no relation to your capacity to pay, a history of missed instalments on earlier arrangements, or applying in respect of a debt that cannot be deferred. A refusal opens a short period in which to pay, so it is worth having the alternative planned before applying.
Does a deferral remove the interest? No. Late payment interest accrues throughout, at the rate in force in each year. What it avoids is the enforcement surcharge, which is considerably more expensive.
Can I defer my income tax? Yes. Spanish income tax can be deferred, and it also has its own interest-free split into two instalments, 60 % in June and 40 % in November, which is compatible with applying afterwards to defer the rest.
What happens if I miss an instalment? You are put on notice, and if that is not answered the arrangement is treated as breached: every remaining instalment falls due and the debt enters enforcement with its surcharge. Which is the argument for a cautious schedule from the start.
Does a deferral show up anywhere? It is not a credit blacklist, but a deferred debt prevents you obtaining an unqualified certificate of being up to date with your tax obligations until it is secured or paid. If you need that certificate for a grant or a tender, say so before anything is applied for.