Lucía Ferrer has been self-employed in Palma for six years with an online ceramics shop. On 15 October 2026 she starts work as sales director at a company and closes the shop the same day. She still has stock worth 2,800 €, a kiln she bought three years ago and an order waiting to be paid. She thinks that deregistering from Social Security is enough for everything to end. It is not: deregistration has two counters, two different deadlines and a list of returns that are still filed after the closure.
Two separate deregistrations
Just like registration, deregistration is notified to Social Security and to Hacienda (the Spanish tax office) separately. Each has its own rule and its own deadline.
| Procedure | Rule | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Deregistration from the RETA | Art. 32.3 of the affiliation regulations (RD 84/1996) | Six calendar days following cessation |
| Deregistration from the tax register on Modelo 036 | Art. 11.2 of the tax management regulations (RD 1065/2007) | One month from cessation |
The RETA is the Social Security scheme for the self-employed. The Social Security deadline has been six calendar days since 1 August 2026, following the amendment of article 32.3 by Royal Decree 643/2026; before that it was three days. If you have read a different figure on a page dated before then, that is why.
From when you stop contributing
Article 46.4 of the affiliation regulations distinguishes according to the number of deregistrations in the year. Up to three deregistrations in each calendar year take effect from the day the activity ceased, provided they were applied for on time. From the fourth onwards, the effect is moved to the last day of the month of cessation.
If deregistration is not applied for, or is applied for late, the registration stays in place for the purposes of the obligation to contribute on the terms of article 35.2 of the same regulations, but without counting as registration for benefits. In other words, you pay without being covered. That is why late deregistration is one of the most thankless situations: the Tesorería (the Social Security treasury) keeps charging contributions and the protection no longer exists.
Lucía's dates, step by step
- Cessation of the activity: 15 October 2026.
- Deregistration from the RETA: by 21 October, the six calendar days following.
- If it is her first deregistration of the year and she applies on time, it takes effect from 15 October.
- Registration in the General Scheme for her new job, handled by the company.
- Deregistration from the tax register on the 036: by 15 November.
- Last Modelo 303 and last Modelo 130: those for the fourth quarter, in January 2027.
- Annual VAT summary, Modelo 390, for 2026: in January 2027.
- Income tax return for 2026, which will include earnings from the activity up to October and the salary from 15 October.
Article 11.2 of the tax management regulations says so expressly: deregistration from the tax register does not exempt you from filing outstanding returns and meeting outstanding tax obligations, and you do not need to register again to do so. Any information returns that apply, such as a Modelo 347 if there were transactions requiring it, follow their ordinary calendar.
The stock and the assets that remain
Closing does not make what the activity owns disappear. For VAT, if Lucía keeps the ceramic pieces and the kiln for private use, moving an asset from business assets to personal assets is treated as a supply of goods, what is called self-supply. If she deducted the VAT on those assets at the time, she will have to charge it on the last 303 on the appropriate value. The alternative is to sell the stock before ceasing, or to do so during the wind-down, with an invoice, and declare those sales.
For IRPF (Spanish personal income tax), article 28.3 of the Act provides that the taxpayer's withdrawal of assets from the business is not a capital gain or loss event if the assets remain in their estate. But withdrawal has valuation rules and time limits if the asset is later sold, and it is advisable to document the date and the book value at deregistration.
Deregistering does not extinguish the obligations for the years in which you were registered. Hacienda can check those years for as long as they are not time-barred, and the Tesorería will regularise the contributions for the last year with the earnings that Hacienda reports, even though the activity is already closed. Keep the books, invoices and receipts for that whole period.
The regularisation of the last year's contribution
In 2027, when Hacienda reports Lucía's 2026 earnings to the Tesorería, the contributions for her months of registration will be regularised. If in the last few months she invoiced more than she had forecast, she will receive a claim for the difference; if the opposite happens, a refund. The mechanics are explained in how much the contribution is. Lucía should not be surprised to receive letters from the Tesorería when she has already been working as an employee for a year.
And if there was a tarifa plana?
If Lucía had been enjoying the reduced contribution for starting an activity, the tarifa plana, the deregistration would have ended it, because article 38 ter.4 of the Self-Employed Workers' Statute Act provides that the right is lost if you deregister during any of its periods. And if she registered again in the future, she would have to show three years without registration to have it again. The details are in the tarifa plana.
Partial deregistrations and in-between cases
Not every deregistration is total. Someone who has several activities and gives up just one does not file a deregistration from the tax register, but an amendment to the 036 that removes that activity and its heading. Nor do they need to deregister from the RETA if they carry on another self-employed activity, although they must notify the change of details.
And someone who carries on with their activity but also starts working as an employee does not have to deregister: they move into pluriactividad, with two registrations under two schemes. That is the case explained in self-employed with a salary. Lucía must therefore decide whether she wants to close the online shop or keep it as a secondary activity, because the procedure depends on that decision.
What to close before the date
- Collect or document the outstanding invoices, which are still income of the activity.
- Sell, give away or withdraw the stock with its VAT treatment.
- Cancel the direct debit for the contribution after confirming deregistration from the RETA.
- Keep the receipts for both deregistrations.
- Note the calendar of returns outstanding for the last quarter and for the year.
You can tell us the date of cessation and what remains to be settled in the self-employed registration form. Although its name is about registering, it also works for organising a closure.
If the deregistration comes from a change of residence or a move abroad, the tax consequences go beyond the closure in the tax register and should be reviewed separately. For the usual cases, at Salama Tax we prepare the deregistration from the tax register, the last quarter and the annual return for the year of closure, and note the dates on which the regularisation of the contribution and any checks may arrive.