The new check of 200 euros will be taxed in personal income tax

It is said that the devil is in the details. The Government has just given the green light to a new package focused on alleviating the impact of inflation on the pocket of families, which includes a multitude of different measures. Among them, a new check of 200 euros for households with the least income: income below 27,000 euros and assets below 75,000, excluding the habitual residence. But some taxpayers will have to pay taxes on this transfer. Ministerial sources confirm that the aid, with which the Executive expects to reach 4.2 million households and alleviate their pockets, is taxed as capital gains in income tax (IRPF).

The collection of the check must be included in the income statement that is presented in 2024, relative to the 2023 financial year, since the aid may begin to be requested from next February 15 until March 31. This transfer will compute in the general income tax base, and not in the savings rate, since it does not come from a previous transmission. Ministerial sources clarify that, although the aid is taxed from the first euro, if the taxpayer is not obliged to declare there will be no effective taxation on it. They also add that the majority of recipients will benefit from the reduction in personal income tax for incomes of less than 21,000 euros approved in the 2023 Budget, which represents an average annual saving of 400 euros.

The personal income tax law establishes that, up to 15,000 euros of income, no withholdings are applied. In addition, it exempts those taxpayers with gross salaries of less than 22,000 euros per year from filing the declaration —15,000 if they have two payers.

On the other hand, the threshold set to be entitled to the check is per household, and not per taxpayer. This means that, when calculating the level of income and wealth, the income and assets owned by all residents in the home are taken into account —as of December 31, 2022—, as long as they are from the same nucleus familiar. The decree that approves the aid makes it clear that the income of other people with whom the house is eventually shared is not counted in that maximum of 27,000 euros of income and 72,000 of assets. Only those of the spouse or common-law partner, children and descendants and ascendants up to the second degree will be added. In this way, the recipients of the check who live alone and earn between 22,000 (or 15,000) and 27,000 euros will be taxed for it in the income statement, while it will be necessary to analyze it on a case-by-case basis in the case of families of two or more members. low income.

few exemptions

Luis del Amo, general secretary of the Registry of Fiscal Advisors of the General Council of Economists (REAF-CGE), stresses that it is a general rule that public aid and subsidies are taxed in personal income tax, unless the law specifies otherwise. And that happens in a few cases. For example, with scholarships, the minimum vital income and the benefits of local communities and entities to serve groups at risk of social exclusion. In addition, the prosecutor warns that the receipt of the check could force the filing of the income statement, even if the level of income received is below the thresholds set in the personal income tax law.

“These limits apply only to certain types of income,” he points out. In general, the standard requires that it be full income from work; If income of a different nature, such as capital gains, is added to these, the threshold is considerably reduced, to a total of 1,000 euros. The decree that approves the check, on the other hand, provides that only salaried or self-employed workers who were registered with Social Security or another mutual society during 2022, and unemployed beneficiaries of an unemployment benefit during the same year, can request it. “For this reason, in most cases the obligation to declare could arise,” interprets Del Amo.