Pilar lives in Cádiz and has a shop unit inherited from her mother, which she lets to a clothes shop for 900 € a month plus VAT. For years she has filed her four Modelo 303 returns (the quarterly VAT return) and, on the fourth-quarter one, she fills in a sheet of additional information that her adviser told her replaced the annual summary. She has never filed a 390, and she was right not to. In September 2025 she started running pottery workshops in a studio she set up in her garage at home, and invoiced 3,000 € up to December. In January 2026 her question was: do I still not have to file the 390?
The answer changed with the workshops. And the reason explains how the whole obligation works.
The general rule, and what switches it off
The 390 is filed by anyone who was obliged to file 303s during the year. It does not matter how much they invoiced or whether a quarter came out at zero: the obligation to file the annual summary follows the obligation to file the quarters. The order governing the Modelo does, however, provide for several situations in which it is not filed, and these are situations that either apply or do not, not options you choose. The main ones:
- Anyone taxed only under the simplified regime (régimen simplificado, the module system), only for letting urban property, or only for both, who completes the additional information on the fourth-quarter 303.
- Anyone who keeps their record books through the Suministro Inmediato de Información (SII, the immediate supply of invoice data system).
The word that decides it is «only». Pilar was exempt because her only activity with VAT was letting the shop unit. Since September 2025 she has another one, the workshops, which is neither letting nor taxed under modules. For the whole of the 2025 tax year, she is no longer exempt and has to file the 390.
Pilar's year in figures
Pottery workshops for adults are not regulated education, so they are not exempt: they carry VAT at 21 %, just like the shop rental.
- Shop rental: 900 × 12 = 10,800 € of base; VAT, 2,268 €.
- Workshops, September to December: 3,000 € of base; VAT, 630 €.
- Total output for the year: 13,800 € of base and 2,898 € of VAT.
- Deductible input VAT, mainly clay, glazes and fitting out the garage: 410 €.
- Result for the year: 2,898 − 410 = 2,488 €, already paid on the four 303s.
Pilar's 390 records those figures separated by activity, each with its code. It is the first time the annual summary shows that her activity is no longer only letting, and that information is precisely what the additional sheet on the 303 could not give.
A table to see where you stand
| Your situation during the year | 303? | 390? |
|---|---|---|
| Activity under the general VAT regime | Yes, quarterly | Yes |
| Only letting urban property with VAT | Yes | No, with additional information on Q4 |
| Only the simplified regime (modules) | Yes | No, with additional information on Q4 |
| Letting or modules plus another activity under the general regime | Yes | Yes |
| Books kept through the Suministro Inmediato de Información | Yes, monthly | No |
| Only exempt transactions, such as healthcare | Generally not | No |
| Retailer only under the equivalence surcharge (recargo de equivalencia) | Generally not | No |
| Activity in the Canary Islands, Ceuta or Melilla | No, VAT does not apply there | No |
The rows with «generally» hide nuances: a doctor who also gives lectures with VAT, or a retailer who buys from another EU country, may end up filing a 303 for those specific transactions, and with them comes the annual summary. If you are not sure which row you are in, describe your activities to us in the self-employed form and we will tell you which Modelos apply to you this year.
What she had to do before the first workshop
The annual summary is the end of the story, but it starts earlier. A new activity is notified in the census (the tax register) before it begins, on Modelo 036, which since February 2025 is the only census Modelo. In that notice you register the heading of the Impuesto sobre Actividades Económicas (the business activities tax) that corresponds to the workshops and state the VAT regime of the new activity. It is that census return that tells the Agencia Tributaria that Pilar is no longer only a landlord, and that makes it expect her 390 in January.
Pilar did it in August, with her adviser, and that is why her January question had an easy answer. Anyone who starts an activity without notifying it has a problem that comes before the 390: transactions outside the census, invoices that may not meet the requirements, and an annual summary that, when it is filed, will show an activity the Administration did not know about. If you are at that point, the first thing is to regularise the census; how to register properly is explained in registering as an autónomo, step by step.
What almost nobody tells you about the exemption
The exemption is lost for the whole year, not from the day the other activity starts. Pilar does not file a 390 «for September to December»: she files the 2025 one, with the rental for the whole year and the workshops for the last few months. And if in 2026 she gives up the workshops in March, she will also have to file the 2026 summary, because for part of the year she again had an activity that did not exempt her.
The second thing is that the additional information on the fourth-quarter 303 is no minor formality. For someone who is exempt, it does the same job of closing the year as the 390. Leaving it blank is, in practical terms, like not filing the annual summary, with the difference that almost nobody notices until the question from Hacienda (the Spanish tax authority) arrives.
Nor should you forget that the exemption does not depend on the amount. A single 60 € pottery workshop would have been enough for Pilar to lose the exemption that year: what counts is the type of activity, not its volume.
And one last point: having deregistered does not exempt you for the current year. Anyone who stops in June files the 390 for that year, with the quarters in which they were registered. Deregistering closes the future, but the year that has already gone by is summarised all the same.
The 2025 390 was due on 30 January 2026. If you find out after the deadline that it applied to you, there is no recargo (the surcharge for filing late) because there is no tax, but there is a possible fine, halved if you file before being asked. It is explained with a full case in what to do if you forgot to file the 390.
Checking it in two minutes
Ask yourself three questions about the year that is closing. Have you filed any 303? If the answer is no, there is no 390. Were all your transactions with VAT the letting of urban property or activities under modules? If yes, there is no 390, but there is additional information on the fourth quarter. Do you keep your books through the Suministro Inmediato de Información? If yes, there is not one either. In any other case, there is an annual summary from 1 to 30 January. The mechanics of the quarters that summary gathers are in the guide to Modelo 303 for the self-employed, and if your rental is a holiday let, in the 303 for holiday lets.