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Spanish form 140 and the maternity deduction

Whether you qualify for the 1,200 € per child, what nursery adds, and whether to draw it monthly.

Months of the year the child was under three and you met the requirements.
Deduction for the year
€1,200.00
Countable months
12
Ceiling per child
€1,200.00
By monthsat €100.00 each€1,200.00
The 30-day top-up€0.00
Total for the year€1,200.00
  • Since 2023 the deduction is no longer capped by what you contributed that year: that ceiling was removed.
Adjustments

If either parent drew the IMV child supplement, those months do not count.

Video: how to use the calculator

1

The contributions ceiling is gone, and most published guidance still applies it

Until 2022 article 81.3 said the deduction «shall be limited for each child to the total Social Security and mutual fund contributions accrued in each tax period». A mother working part time with low contributions collected far less than the 1,200 €, however fully she met the requirements. Article 64 of Law 31/2022 rewrote that paragraph entirely with effect from 1 January 2023, and the limit appears nowhere in the text in force. The same article removed the twin ceiling on the nursery top-up, which used to be capped by contributions and by spend and today is capped by spend alone. The tax agency puts a number on it in its own worked example: the taxpayer's annual contributions are 475 €, her deduction for the twins is 1,900 €, and the note explains that «contributions have not been taken into account ... because from 1 January 2023 this limitation disappears».

2

There are three ways to qualify and only one needs you to be working

The previous wording spoke of women «carrying on an employed or self-employed activity for which they are registered». The version in force lists three situations and none of them uses the word work. The first is drawing a contributory or means-tested unemployment benefit at the moment of the birth. The second is being registered at that moment with Social Security or a mutual fund. The third is registering at any later point with a minimum of 30 days of contributions, and it is the one that changes most lives, because it gives the deduction to a mother who was not working when her child was born and finds a job afterwards. The agency sums it up in case c) of its example: «removing the requirement that the woman carry on an employed or self-employed activity».

3

The 150 € almost nobody mentions

The second paragraph of article 81.3 says that where the entitlement arises from registering after the birth, «the deduction for the month in which the 30-day contribution period is completed shall be increased by 150 euros». It is a single payment and it lands precisely in the month those thirty days are reached. That is why the ceiling per child is not the same for everybody: the agency labels its cases with two different figures, 1,200 € in the general case and 1,350 € in this one. In its example, a mother hired in April who completes the 30 days on 20 May collects eight months at 100 € plus the 150 € for May, that is 950 € per child.

4

The IMV supplement blocks it, and either parent drawing it is enough

Article 81.3 makes the countable months conditional on the «child support supplement provided for in Law 19/2021» not being drawn during them «by either of the parents», that supplement being the one attached to the minimum living income. That «either» is worth reading slowly: the question is not whether you draw it, but whether neither you nor the other parent does. And what is lost is those months, not the whole year, so a supplement drawn from January to May leaves the remaining seven months intact.

5

A part-paid month earns no month, but it does raise the cap

The nursery top-up has two caps measured on different quantities, and they sit in two consecutive paragraphs of the same regulation. The months are «exclusively those in which the expenses paid are made for a complete month», under rule three of article 60.2, and a month contracted in full counts even where part of it is outside term time. The spend cap, by contrast, is the total annual amount paid to the centre «whether or not for complete months», under article 60.1. In the agency's example the 250 € for fifteen days of July earn no month and do count toward the ceiling. The top-up is the lower of the two, and the calculator says which one bound.

6

What the employer pays is deducted and what the other parent pays counts

The cap is the «non-subsidised» spend, so two things come off. One is the regional nursery grant, even where it is paid straight to the centre and you never see the money. The other is any amount either parent's employer paid as an exempt benefit in kind under letters b) or d) of article 42.3, which is the employer nursery voucher. In the opposite direction, article 60.1 requires counting «both the amount paid by the mother ... and that paid by the other parent», so an expense split in half counts in full. The agency builds its ceiling like this: 300 € of enrolment plus 3,000 € of six complete months plus 250 € for July, less 700 € of grant and less 560 € of benefit in kind, giving 2,290 €.

7

The form has no date, and filing it can pay you for the previous month

Article 5.1 of Order HAC/177/2020 says the application «shall be made from the moment when, the requirements being met ... the taxpayer opts for the advance payment arrangement». There is no month, no window and no deadline: it is the second of the twenty forms this site publishes with no expiry date, after form 576. And article 4.2 adds something that makes up for having been slow: the agency pays «from the month corresponding to the date the application is filed and, where applicable, from the previous month». What does carry a deadline is reporting a change, fifteen calendar days, though the list of what must be reported is shorter than it looks.

8

Drawing it monthly means squaring it afterwards

The advance is 100 € per child per month, «monthly and without proration», while the deduction is worked out in proportion to the months and can carry the 150 €. Those are two different arithmetics, so they stop matching easily, and article 60.5.3 requires the difference to be settled in the return and even reported if you are not obliged to file one. In exchange, paragraph 4 of that same article says no late-payment interest is charged for having drawn too much for a reason not attributable to you. And the nursery top-up is never advanced: article 81.4 offers the advance only for the amount in paragraph 1.

Worked example

Take the example the tax agency publishes. A mother was not registered when her twins were born in January, was hired in April and completed the 30 days of contributions on 20 May. Her contributions for the whole year come to 475 €. For each twin she is owed eight months, May to December, at 100 €, plus the 150 € for the month she reached the minimum period: 950 €, and 1,900 € for the two. Under the pre-2023 rule she would have collected 475 €, because that was the ceiling set by her contributions. She also has an older child born on 2 September 2021, and for him she adds May to August, four months plus the 150 €, giving 550 €: September no longer counts because on the last day of that month the child is three. If that older child was enrolled at an authorised centre from January to June for complete months plus fifteen days of July, with 300 € of enrolment, 500 € a month and 250 € for July, a regional grant of 700 € and 560 € paid by the other parent's employer, the top-up is 1,000 divided by 12 and multiplied by 6, that is 500 €, because its spend ceiling of 2,290 € does not bind.

Frequently asked questions

How much is the Spanish maternity deduction?
Up to 1,200 € a year for each child under three, that is 100 € a month, worked out in proportion to the months in which the requirements are met. Anyone who qualifies by registering after the birth also adds a one-off 150 €, so their maximum per child is 1,350 €.
Is it still capped by what I have contributed?
No. Article 81.3 used to limit the deduction to «the total Social Security and mutual fund contributions accrued in each tax period», and article 64 of Law 31/2022 removed that limit with effect from 1 January 2023. The tax agency confirms it in its worked example, where a taxpayer with 475 € of contributions deducts 1,900 €.
Do I have to be working to claim it?
Not since 2023. It is enough to draw a contributory or means-tested unemployment benefit at the moment of the birth, or to be registered at that moment, or to register at any later point and reach 30 days of contributions. The agency puts it this way: «removing the requirement that the woman carry on an employed or self-employed activity».
What is the extra 150 €?
A one-off increase for anyone entitled by having registered after the birth. The second paragraph of article 81.3 assigns it to the month in which the 30-day contribution period is completed. It is not paid in advance, because the monthly payment is a flat 100 €, so it shows up when you file your return.
How much can I deduct for nursery?
Up to 1,000 € more a year, prorated over the months in which both sets of requirements are met, with a second cap: the total non-subsidised amount actually paid to the centre. The lower of the two applies. Only months paid as complete months count.
Does the nursery voucher reduce it?
Yes. Both the regional nursery grant, even where it is paid straight to the centre, and any amount an employer paid as an exempt benefit in kind under letters b) or d) of article 42.3 come off the spend. What the other parent paid, by contrast, does count, because article 60.1 requires it to be included.
What if I draw the IMV child supplement?
You lose the months in which it is drawn, not the whole year. Article 81.3 requires that during those months the supplement is not drawn by «either of the parents», so the other parent drawing it is enough for those months not to count.
What is the deadline for form 140?
It has none. Article 5.1 of Order HAC/177/2020 says it is filed «from the moment» you opt for the advance payment, with no deadline and no window. Article 4.2 also lets the agency pay from the month of the application and, where applicable, from the month before.
Which changes do I have to report?
A move abroad or to the Basque Country or Navarre, giving up the advance payment, and a child dropping out because the dependant allowance is lost. The deadline is fifteen calendar days. The Order expressly says you do not have to report the child turning three, nor deregistration from Social Security, nor a death, «these being data the tax agency already holds».
Is it better to draw it monthly or wait for the return?
The final amount is the same; what changes is when you have it. The advance is 100 € a month with no proration, so if your entitlement does not cover the whole year, or the 150 € applies, the two figures will not match and the difference has to be settled in the return. Article 60.5.4 adds that no late-payment interest is charged for an excess not attributable to you.

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Author: Thorben Rasmus Idel · Reviewed by: Nahar Geva · Last reviewed: