Could Hacienda owe you money in Spain? How to find out and claim it back

You filed your return months ago, the refund still hasn’t landed and the status page just says it’s still being processed.

Spain’s tax agency has paid out €9.361 billion in income tax refunds, yet roughly one in five requests were still waiting when the campaign closed. Hacienda has until the end of December to pay, and after that it owes interest.

Hacienda has until the end of December to pay

Hacienda has six months from the end of the filing period to pay an income tax (renta) refund, and with this year’s campaign having closed on Tuesday June 30, that deadline falls at the end of December. After that it has to pay late-payment interest, which stands at 4.0625 per cent a year. OCU, the consumer watchdog, says it’s added automatically, so you don’t need to ask for it.

Most refunds have already landed. By Hacienda’s own figures, €9.361 billion had gone to 12.9 million taxpayers by the time the campaign closed, although that covered only 79.1 per cent of refund requests. So roughly one in five were still waiting. 

How to check where your refund is

Log in to the Agencia Tributaria website with Cl@ve (the government’s digital ID system), an electronic certificate or an electronic DNI. Then open the consultation page for your 2025 return and click the status link. 

If it says the return is being processed, Hacienda is usually checking that your details match its own records, which tends to clear within a few weeks. A separate review of your return can hold things up too.

All of this applies to people who file Spain’s resident income tax (IRPF). Non-residents file under separate rules.

A zero refund can mean an old debt got there first

Your refund can be cut to nothing if you owe money to Hacienda or another public body, including traffic fines, council fees and Social Security payments. However, there usually isn’t a specific warning, so check your electronic mailbox on the Hacienda website as well as the status page. 

If you spot a zero, you can ask the Agencia Tributaria for a breakdown of what was taken. And if you think the debt is wrong, or had already expired (known as prescribed), you can challenge it.

Paid too much? You’ve got four years to claim it back

Separate from refunds, you can also ask for money back if you paid Hacienda twice, paid more than a bill or your own tax return showed, or settled a debt after the time limit on it had run out. These are known as ingresos indebidos (undue payments). The time limit is four years, counted from the day after you paid or, for a return paid on time, from the day after the filing deadline ended.

You can apply online through the Agencia Tributaria website under “Devolución de ingresos indebidos”, explaining why, naming the return involved and attaching proof of payment. Hacienda then pays interest from the day you paid, without you asking.

It has six months to decide, and if it says nothing, that counts as a refusal. If it says no, you’ve got one month to appeal. If the mistake was on your own return, a rectifying declaration may be the better route, so it’s worth asking a tax advisor first.

Only check through Hacienda’s own website or app

Hacienda sent nearly 160,000 preventive letters over this year’s campaign, so a message from the agency isn’t unusual. However, genuine notices should only be checked through its website or app, never through links in unexpected emails or texts.

So if your refund hasn’t arrived, log in this week to see what your return says, and keep the end of December in your diary.