Modelo 390: Spain's Annual VAT Summary (2026 Guide)

You close the fiscal year, file your fourth Modelo 303, and one more form appears: the 390. It causes confusion because it sounds like an extra return that makes you pay again. It doesn’t. The Modelo 390 carries no payment. It’s a summary.

Quick context if you’re new to the Spanish system: IVA is Spain’s value-added tax (VAT), and the AEAT is the Spanish Tax Agency. Businesses report VAT periodically through the Modelo 303. This guide explains what the 390 actually is, who has to file it, who is exempt, and the deadline for financial year 2025 — with no extra boxes or invented figures, only what the rules say.

What the Modelo 390 is and what it’s for

The Modelo 390 is Spain’s annual VAT summary return. It is informational and involves no payment. It consolidates the full set of transactions carried out over the calendar year.

That’s the key to understanding it. It is not a self-assessment. When you file a quarterly Modelo 303, you calculate how much VAT you charged, how much you paid, and settle the difference with the tax office. The 390 does not run that pay-or-refund calculation: it simply gathers into a single document the activity for the year that you already declared period by period.

Think of it as the annual photo: the 303 returns are the quarterly frames; the 390 is the developed picture of the whole set.

Who must file the Modelo 390

The obligation falls on taxpayers who file periodic VAT self-assessments — that is, the Modelo 303, whether monthly or quarterly. Except for those who are exempt, which we cover in the next section.

This applies to organizations of any size. It is not a formality reserved for freelancers: any VAT taxpayer settling through the 303 — from an individual professional to a company on monthly filing — falls within the scope of the 390 unless a specific exemption applies.

The practical rule is simple: if you filed Modelo 303 returns during the year, the 390 applies to you in principle. The exception is the exempt cases below.

Who is exempt from filing the 390

The rules exempt two specific groups from filing the Modelo 390:

Here’s the catch: the exemption for the second group comes with a condition. To qualify, you must report your turnover (volume of operations) in the Modelo 303 self-assessment for the last period of the year.

That’s why the year’s final 303 deserves extra care: it isn’t just another quarter, it’s the piece that switches your annual-summary exemption on — or off.

Modelo 390 filing deadline

The filing window is the first 30 calendar days of January following the financial year.

For financial year 2025 specifically, the window runs from 1 to 30 January 2026.

Because it lands at the start of the year, this deadline overlaps with the fourth-quarter Modelo 303. Keeping both together in your tax calendar avoids last-minute surprises.

How the quarterly 303 and the annual 390 relate

The Modelo 390 summarizes the periodic Modelo 303 self-assessments filed during the year. It introduces no new data: it consolidates what you already declared.

That’s why the real work on the 390 happens all year long, not in January. If your four 303 returns (or your twelve, if you file monthly) are correctly completed and reconciled against each other, the annual summary falls out on its own. If you carry mismatches or incomplete records, the 390 inherits them.

The logic is cumulative. If you want to review how the quarterly return that feeds the 390 is filled in, the step-by-step Modelo 303 guide breaks down the boxes that matter. And if you’re mid-quarter, the quarterly tax estimator helps you anticipate the result of each 303. Reconciling every 303 across the year is the best way to reach January without surprises.

How and where you file it

The Modelo 390 is filed electronically online, through the AEAT’s electronic portal (Sede electrónica). There is no paper filing.

The legal basis for the form is Order EHA/3111/2009 of 5 November (BOE-A-2009-18472), which approves the Modelo 390 annual VAT summary return. That order was amended by Order HAP/2373/2014 (BOE-A-2014-13180, article 2.1).

Because it’s an informational return, the process comes down to validating and submitting the consolidated information for the year electronically online, through the AEAT’s electronic portal (Sede electrónica).

VAT vs IGIC: why the Canary Islands don’t use the 390

The Modelo 390 corresponds to IVA, the indirect tax of Spain’s mainland (common) territory. The Canary Islands don’t apply IVA: the archipelago’s own indirect tax is IGIC (Impuesto General Indirecto Canario, the Canary Islands General Indirect Tax).

So a taxpayer taxed under IGIC does not file the Modelo 390. Their periodic return is the Modelo 420, the quarterly IGIC return filed with the Canary Islands tax authority. It’s the functional equivalent of the 303, but within the Canary tax framework.

If you operate in the Canary Islands, your path is different: to understand the underlying differences between the two taxes, see the comparison of IGIC versus IVA in the Canary Islands.

How Frihet helps you prepare the annual VAT summary

The 390 isn’t prepared in January. It’s prepared all year long, every time you issue an invoice or record an expense. If that data is captured cleanly and your 303 returns reconcile period by period, the annual summary arrives with no mismatches.

Frihet records each transaction with its output and input VAT, and keeps the quarterly calculation reconciled across the year. When you close the year, the information the 390 summarizes is already consolidated and consistent, with VeriFactu traceability on every invoice. Fewer manual cross-checks, less risk that the annual total won’t match the sum of your 303 returns.

The goal is simple: to make reaching the annual VAT summary a matter of copying numbers that are already right — not reconstructing a whole year against the clock.