Marta Llorente is a self-employed psychologist in Valladolid. Since March she has been paying an income tax instalment plan with 18,000 € still to fall due. In September 2026 she receives an assessment for the 2023 tax year of 31,000 € and, in the same week, she has to file her Modelo 130 for the third quarter, which comes to 4,500 €. She has read that no guarantee is needed up to 50,000 €, and her plan is to file two applications: one for the assessment, which does not reach that limit, and another for the 130. She thinks that way each one stays below it.
When the Agencia Tributaria, the Spanish tax agency, adds it up, it will reach a very different figure: 53,500 €.
Where the limit comes from
Article 82.1 of the Ley General Tributaria (the General Tax Law) allows the authorities to require a guarantee in order to defer: a bank guarantee, a surety insurance certificate and, if those cannot be obtained, a mortgage, a pledge or others. Section 2.a) of the same article allows that guarantee to be waived "when the tax debts are of an amount lower than that set in the tax legislation".
That amount is currently set by Order HFP/311/2023 of 28 March, in force since 15 April 2023. Its article 2 provides that no guarantees will be required when the amount of the debts "taken together does not exceed 50,000 euros", both in the voluntary period and in the enforcement period. It replaced the previous order, which set the limit at 30,000 €.
What is added together, according to the order itself
The key lies in the second paragraph of that article 2. To see whether the limit is exceeded, three blocks of debt are accumulated at the time the application is filed:
| Block | What it includes | In Marta's case |
|---|---|---|
| What is being applied for now | The debts included in the application itself | 31,000 € from the assessment |
| Applied for and not decided | Other deferral applications by the same debtor still being processed | 4,500 € from the 130, if she applies separately |
| Already deferred and outstanding | Instalments still to fall due under plans already granted, unless they are guaranteed | 18,000 € from the March instalment plan |
| Total | 53,500 € |
That is why splitting does not work. If Marta files the application for the 130 first, the second one carries the first with it as "applied for and not decided". If she files the one for the assessment first, the one for the 130 carries the earlier one with it. The order makes no difference: the system adds up everything outstanding with the Agency at the moment each application comes in.
The order adds that the debts accumulated are those recorded in the collection body's databases, and also those notified to it by other State bodies. It is not just a matter of what the taxpayer says they owe.
Many people leave out the instalment plan they are already paying, because they experience it as a closed matter. For the order it is not: every instalment still to fall due counts, unless that debt is guaranteed. Marta has paid on time since March, and even so her 18,000 € outstanding is what takes her over the limit.
How to stay below it, with figures
The limit is measured at the time of the application, so whatever is paid before applying does not count. Marta has three reasonable ways to rearrange her situation.
Option 1: pay the 130 and defer only the assessment.
- She pays the 4,500 € on Modelo 130 when she files it, within the deadline.
- She applies to defer the 31,000 € of the assessment.
- Accumulated at that moment: 31,000 + 18,000 = 49,000 €.
- It stays below 50,000 €, without a guarantee.
Option 2: if she cannot pay the whole 130, it is enough to bring the total below the threshold. With 53,500 € of debt to be accumulated, she needs it to fall by slightly more than 3,500 €. By paying, for example, 3,600 € of the 130 and deferring the remaining 900 € together with the assessment, the accumulated amount is 49,900 €. It is a narrow margin, because any debt the Agency has on record and she has not counted would take her over the limit.
Option 3: cancel the old deferral. The Agency's website allows early payment and cancellation of a deferral that has been granted. If Marta had enough savings, paying off the March instalment plan would take her 18,000 € out of the calculation and save her the interest on the remaining instalments. If she can only bring forward part of it, it is worth checking on the website how that payment is allocated before assuming that it reduces the accumulated amount.
Before choosing, it is worth looking up on the website every debt outstanding with the Agency. People often discover a small penalty or an old assessment they had forgotten about, and it throws the calculation out.
If you go over the limit
Going over 50,000 € does not prevent deferral, but it changes the procedure. The application is no longer decided automatically and you have to choose between three paths, all regulated in the Reglamento General de Recaudación (the General Collection Regulations).
- Providing a bank guarantee or surety insurance. This is the preferred guarantee. Under article 48.2, in the voluntary period it must cover the debt, the late-payment interest on the deferral and 25 % of the sum of both. It has an additional advantage: when the whole debt is guaranteed in this way, the interest charged is the statutory interest rate and not late-payment interest, under article 65.4 of the law.
- Offering another guarantee (a mortgage, a pledge, a personal surety) if it is shown that a bank guarantee cannot be obtained. Article 46.4 requires a statement of the steps taken with banks and an independent valuation of the asset.
- Asking for a waiver, in full or in part, for lack of sufficient assets. Article 46.5 requires, among other things, proof that a bank guarantee cannot be obtained and a viability plan. The Agency will investigate whether there are assets, and if it finds any it will require them to be offered.
An example of what the first option involves: if Marta deferred the 53,500 € over twelve months with a bank guarantee, and the interest for the period came to about 1,100 € (an assumed figure, because it depends on the rate and the schedule), the guarantee would have to cover (53,500 + 1,100) × 1.25 = 68,250 €. The bank will charge fees on that amount for as long as it remains in force, which, moreover, under article 48.5, must run for at least six months beyond the last due date.
The guarantee is formalised within the two months following the grant. If it is not formalised, article 48.7 starts the enforcement period with its surcharge. That is why it is not advisable to apply for a deferral with a bank guarantee without having spoken to the bank first.
A limit set by the Agency, not by every administration
Order HFP/311/2023 applies to debts owed to the State tax authorities and managed by the Agencia Tributaria and other State bodies. It does not apply to town councils or to the autonomous communities (Spain's regional governments), which set their own limits for the IBI (the annual municipal property tax), the plusvalía municipal (the municipal tax on the increase in land value) or the inheritance tax they manage. A debt with the regional government does not count towards the Agency's threshold, but it does not benefit from it either. We deal with this in deferring the tax on an inheritance.
Nor are customs debts governed by the Union Customs Code included, or debts subject to the special regime of the insolvency law, which the order itself excludes in its article 1.
If you would like us to check how much your accumulated debt adds up to before you apply for anything, you can send us the list of debts from the Agency's website and your current deferrals through the deferral form. We will tell you whether you are below the limit and what to pay first to get there, without being able to guarantee the outcome of the application.
The waiver is not a gift without conditions
Even if the deferral is granted without a guarantee, article 50.2 of the Regulations imposes an obligation that usually goes unnoticed: for the whole of the deferral you have to notify the Agency of any change in your finances or assets that would make it possible to guarantee the debt. If Marta inherited a flat or sold a shareholding while she is paying, the Agency could ask her to provide a guarantee. And article 52.2 allows the Agency to set off, on its own initiative, any refunds due to her, which can bring due dates forward.
The number of months granted depends on other factors, which we deal with in how many months you can be given. The guide on how to apply for a deferral goes through the whole procedure on the website.
Counting what adds up towards the 50,000 € limit is part of the preliminary review we carry out at Salama Tax, together with a search for forgotten debts on the Agency's website.