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On 1 January 2023, the new contribution system for the self-employed based on real income will come into force, which also includes a change in the percentage of deductible expenses that are difficult to justify, without the need to have an invoice, which will increase from the current 5% to 7%, except for the self-employed in companies, for which it will increase to 3%.
Expenses that are difficult to justify
The tax regulations are aware that not all expenses incurred by professionals are easy for them to justify when it comes to being able to deduct them, because it must be demonstrated that there is a link between these expenses and the activity carried out.
For example, the cost of a breakfast to which the self-employed person has invited a client, or the cost of the car park paid to attend a professional meeting.
At present, the Tax Agency determines that this type of expense is quantified by applying 5% of the positive net income. In other words, the deductible expenses are subtracted from the income obtained by the professional registered with the RETA, and the net income figure is obtained. A 5% deduction for expenses that are difficult to justify is applied to this amount.
However, this is not possible for all self-employed workers, only for those who use the simplified direct estimation method to calculate the net income from their activity. Furthermore, the amount of deductible provisions and expenses that are difficult to justify cannot exceed 2,000 euros per year.
With the new regulations, this limit of 2,000 euros per year is maintained, but from 1 January 2023 the deduction applicable to expenses that are difficult to justify will be 7%. Another new feature is that, in most cases, it will not be necessary to have the invoices to justify the expenses to be deducted.
As before, it will not be possible to deduct expenses that contravene the law. For example, the deduction of penalties and donations, or the deduction of gambling losses.
Why is the reduction different for corporate self-employed?
The tax regime for the corporate self-employed is different from that of self-employed individuals, since the former have more opportunities to benefit from personal income tax relief for the mere fact of having set up a company.
This is why the new legislation establishes a lower deduction for them (3%) than for the rest of the self-employed. These issues that we have seen will directly affect the 2023 income tax return, so they will have to start to be applied in the 2024 income tax campaign.
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