Modelo 200: Spain's Corporate Income Tax Return for Your Company (2025 filing, due 27 July 2026)
The Modelo 200 is Spain's annual corporate income tax return. 2025 filing deadline: 27 July 2026. Who must file, 2025 tax rates, what's new, and the key boxes.
TL;DR: The Modelo 200 is Spain's annual corporate income tax (Impuesto sobre Sociedades) return. For the 2025 tax year, companies whose accounting year matches the calendar year file it between 1 and 27 July 2026 (25 July falls on a Saturday), with direct debit available until 22 July. Every legal entity subject to the tax must file — even with no activity or a loss. The 2025 year brings lower rates for micro-enterprises (21% on the first €50,000 of tax base, 22% on the rest) and small entities (24%), an improved capitalization reserve (a 20% reduction, up to 30% if headcount grows), and the new CNAE-2025 activity classification.
Key takeaways
- 2025 filing deadline (companies on the calendar year): 1 to 27 July 2026, because 25 July is a Saturday; direct debit until 22 July (art. 124 of the Corporate Income Tax Law).
- Every legal entity subject to Spanish corporate income tax must file, including dormant companies and those reporting a loss. Only certain exempt entities are excused.
- 2025 rates: general 25%; micro-enterprises (turnover < €1M) 21% on the first €50,000 of tax base and 22% on the rest; small entities (turnover < €10M) 24%; newly created companies 15%.
- Improved capitalization reserve (Law 7/2024): you reduce your tax base by 20% of the increase in equity (up to 23%, 26.5% or 30% if average headcount grows), held for 3 years, capped at 20% of the tax base (25% if turnover is under €1M).
- Formal change: your company's main activity is now reported under CNAE-2025 (Royal Decree 10/2025), replacing CNAE-2009.
- The Modelo 200 is the annual return; the corporate tax prepayment (Modelo 202) is a separate form paid in April, October and December — not July.
Contents
Once a year, your company accounts to the Spanish tax office for everything it earned — or lost — over the financial year. That settlement is the Modelo 200, the corporate income tax return (Impuesto sobre Sociedades). It is not a quick quarterly errand: it is the company’s annual tax close, and it comes straight out of your statutory accounts.
This guide gives you what you need for the 2025 tax year: the exact deadline (with its calendar trap), who has to file, the changes that actually affect this year’s return, and how you get from your accounting profit to the tax due — all checked against the rules that govern it. It is written for founders and directors of a Spanish company who run their business in English, including foreign-owned SLs.
The deadline, no ambiguity
For entities whose tax period matches the calendar year (the vast majority of Spanish SLs), the 2025 Modelo 200 is filed:
| Item | Date |
|---|---|
| Filing window opens | 1 July 2026 |
| Filing deadline | 27 July 2026 (Monday) |
| Direct-debit payment | until 22 July 2026 |
The statutory deadline is 25 calendar days after the six months following year-end (art. 124 of the Corporate Income Tax Law). For a close on 31 December 2025, those six months end on 30 June 2026 and the 25 days run to 25 July. Because the 25th is a Saturday, the deadline shifts to Monday 27 July 2026.
If your company runs a non-calendar year (it does not close on 31 December), ignore these dates: your deadline is counted from your actual close — six months plus 25 days.
What the Modelo 200 is and who must file
The Modelo 200 is the annual self-assessment of corporate income tax. It starts from the company’s accounting result, applies the adjustments the tax rules require, and works out what is owed on the year’s profit.
The rule on who files is broad, and it pays not to misread it: every corporate income taxpayer must file — that is, every legal entity resident in Spain (except civil-law partnerships without a commercial purpose) and some entities without their own legal personality that the law brings into the tax.
Filing at a loss is not a pointless chore: it is how you record the negative tax base you can later offset against future profits. Skip it and you throw that tax asset away.
What you need before you start
The Modelo 200 is not filled in “by hand” from estimates: it is pulled from your books. Before you sit down to file, the accounting year has to be closed:
- 2025 statutory accounts drawn up and approved by the general meeting. The return reproduces the balance sheet and the profit-and-loss account.
- Bookkeeping reconciled and squared — banks, customers, suppliers, inventory — because the accounting result is the starting point of the whole calculation.
- Your activity mapped to CNAE-2025 (see below): this year the activity code changes classification.
- The detail behind every adjustment: non-deductible expenses, depreciation, provisions, related-party transactions, unused tax credits, and carried-forward negative tax bases.
Keep the books current all year and you already have this. Rebuild them in July and the Modelo 200 becomes a last-minute marathon with plenty of room for error.
What’s new for 2025 that changes your return
2025 is not just another year: Law 7/2024 reworked the rates, improved the capitalization reserve, and introduced a new activity classification. These are the three changes you will actually notice on the return.
Lower rates for micro-enterprises and small entities
The reform opened a staggered rate cut for the smallest companies. These are the rates that apply to the 2025 year:
| Type of entity | 2025 rate | Where it’s headed |
|---|---|---|
| General | 25% | Unchanged |
| Micro-enterprise (turnover < €1M) | 21% on the first €50,000 + 22% on the rest | Falls to 19%/21% in 2026 (final 17%/20%) |
| Small entity (turnover < €10M) | 24% | One point a year: 23% (2026), 22% (2027), 21% (2028), 20% (2029) |
| Newly created company (with an economic activity) | 15% (first period with a positive base and the next) | Unchanged |
The threshold is measured by prior-year turnover. One warning: micro-enterprise and small entity are two distinct regimes with two distinct rates; picking the wrong one is the costliest mistake in this guide.
An improved capitalization reserve
The capitalization reserve rewards companies that plough their profit back into the business instead of distributing it. Law 7/2024 made it more generous from 2025:
- A general reduction of 20% of the increase in your equity (up from 15%).
- That percentage rises with headcount growth versus the prior year: 23% if the increase is between 2% and 5%, 26.5% between 5% and 10%, and 30% above 10%.
- The increase in equity and the reserve — which is non-distributable — must be held for 3 years (down from 5). If you use the headcount brackets, that staff increase must also be held for 3 years.
- Cap: the reduction cannot exceed 20% of the positive tax base, rising to 25% if your turnover is under €1 million.
Used well, this reserve lowers your corporate income tax bill on money that stays inside the company. It is year-end planning, not a last-minute box: it has to be booked as a reserve and tracked over the holding period.
Your activity is now reported under CNAE-2025
A formal but mandatory change: under Royal Decree 10/2025 of 14 January, the company’s main activity is reported using the new CNAE-2025 classification, which permanently replaces the CNAE-2009 used until now. Before filing, check the new code for your activity — it does not update itself.
From accounting result to tax due
The heart of the Modelo 200 is a chain of calculations. Understanding it heads off most errors:
- Accounting result (the profit or loss from your income statement).
- ± Off-book adjustments: add back the expenses your accounts record but the tax rules disallow (fines, corporate income tax itself, certain unsupported costs) and subtract items the tax rules treat differently. This gives the preliminary tax base.
- − Reductions and offsets: the capitalization reserve, and negative tax bases carried forward from earlier years. You reach the tax base.
- × Tax rate (whichever applies from the table above) → gross tax liability.
- − Credits, allowances, withholdings and prepayments already made (the year’s Modelo 202 payments). The result is the tax to pay or to refund.
Modelo 200, 202 and 232: how it fits into the company’s tax year
The Modelo 200 does not stand alone. Two other forms orbit it, and they are easy to confuse:
- Modelo 202 — the prepayment. An advance on corporate income tax, paid within the first 20 days of April, October and December. Note: not July. The general method applies 18% to the liability on your last filed Modelo 200; there is a method based on the current year’s tax base, mandatory if your turnover exceeds €6 million. Whatever you pay via the 202 is then deducted on the 200.
- Modelo 232 — related-party transactions. An informational return (no payment) for transactions with related parties and tax havens above certain thresholds. It is filed in the month following the tenth month after year-end: for a calendar year, in November.
And here is the link to the quarter: many companies with activity or employees also file quarterly VAT and withholding returns. 20 July is the deadline for the second-quarter Modelo 303 (VAT) and Modelo 111 (withholdings), among others — a different appointment from the Modelo 200. If that is your situation, the step-by-step guide to the Modelo 303 VAT return covers the mechanics of the quarterly filing.
The mistakes that cost the most in July
- Assuming a dormant company doesn’t file. It does. Not filing means penalties, not savings.
- Not filing at a loss. You forfeit the right to carry forward and offset the negative tax base.
- Applying the wrong rate. Mixing up micro-enterprise (< €1M) with small entity (< €10M), or defaulting to the 25% general rate when a lower one applied.
- Forgetting the 202 prepayments. Fail to deduct them on the 200 and you pay twice.
- Debiting late. 22 July is the cut-off for direct debit, not the 27th.
- Rebuilding the books in July. The Modelo 200 comes from your accounts; no accounts, no return.
Debit, file and keep the receipt
The last-day mechanics, in order: confirm the accounts are approved and the books reconciled, generate the return from your ledgers, check base and rate, choose between direct debit (until the 22nd) and paying with an NRC (until the 27th), file through the electronic office, and keep the confirmation. That receipt is your proof of filing on time.
With Frihet, the Modelo 200 does not start in July — it starts on 1 January. Because your company’s books are kept current all year, when the campaign arrives the numbers are already squared, not being hunted down:
The goal is simple: make the Modelo 200 the outcome of an orderly year, not the accounting sprint of one July weekend.
If you are still choosing your legal form, the Ltd. vs self-employed turning-point calculator shows when a company starts to pay off. To decide what to do with the profit before the tax lands, see what to do with your company’s profits and how much of a business cash reserve to keep. And with an eye on 2027, the Verifactu guide for foreign businesses in Spain covers what is coming for company invoicing.
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FAQ
When is the 2025 Modelo 200 due?
For companies whose tax period matches the calendar year, between 1 and 27 July 2026. The statutory deadline is 25 calendar days after the six months following year-end (art. 124 of the Corporate Income Tax Law): for a 31 December close that lands on 25 July, but because it is a Saturday it moves to Monday 27 July. If you pay by direct debit, the deadline is brought forward to 22 July. Companies with a non-calendar year have a different date, counted from their actual close.
Do I have to file the Modelo 200 if my company had no activity?
Yes. As a rule, every entity subject to Spanish corporate income tax must file even if it had no turnover and carried out no transactions (art. 124.1 of the Corporate Income Tax Law). A dormant company still files its Modelo 200. Only certain fully exempt entities, and partially exempt ones that meet very specific income thresholds, are excused.
What if the company made a loss?
You still file. A negative tax base does not exempt you from filing — on the contrary, it is how you record the loss so you can offset it against future profits. Skip the return and you lose the tax asset that those carried-forward losses represent.
What rate does my company pay for 2025?
The general rate is 25%. If your prior-year turnover was under €1 million (a micro-enterprise), you pay 21% on the first €50,000 of taxable base and 22% on the rest. If you are a small entity (turnover under €10 million), the rate is 24%. Newly created companies carrying out an economic activity pay 15% in the first period with a positive base and the following one.
What's the difference between the Modelo 200 and the Modelo 202?
The Modelo 200 is the annual return that settles the whole year and is filed in July. The Modelo 202 is the prepayment: an advance on the tax, paid within the first 20 days of April, October and December. The 202 is not paid in July. What many companies do file in July are their quarterly VAT and withholding returns (303, 111), due on the 20th.
Can I set up direct debit on the last day of the deadline?
No. Direct debit for the 2025 Modelo 200 can only be requested until 22 July 2026, five days before the general deadline (27 July). From the 23rd to the 27th you can still file, but you pay directly yourself with an NRC payment reference.
