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Spanish form 296: the annual IRNR summary

Which payments belong on the annual summary, why it will not reconcile with your form 216s, and the filing deadline.

On form 296?
Yes
On a form 216?
No
Decided by
art. 31.4.a), first paragraph, TRLIRNR
The four regimes of article 31.4 and where each one appears
Kind of incomeOn the 216On the 296
Taxable and not exemptYesYes
Exempt under article 14 or a treatyNoYes
Exempt under article 14.1.k) or l)YesYes
Spanish government debt (article 14.1.d)NoNo
  • Even with no withholding on this payment, the third paragraph of article 15.1 may still require a nil form 216 for it, subject to the six carve-outs in article 2.3 of the Order.
  • This is the case that makes the annual summary wider than the sum of the 216s: article 15.2 requires the nominal list to include anyone paid income «on which no withholding was practised».
1

The annual summary reports payments your form 216s never saw

Article 31.4.a) of the consolidated act exempts from withholding the income exempt under article 14 or under a treaty, and it does so with an express condition: «without prejudice to the obligation to file provided for in paragraph 5 of this article». Article 15.2 of the regulation closes it from the other side, requiring the nominal list to include «those paid income on which no withholding was practised under paragraph 4 of article 31». So form 296 is wider than the sum of the year’s four form 216s, by construction rather than by mistake, and anyone hunting a euro-for-euro reconciliation is hunting something the rule does not promise. What must match to the cent is the withholding, because that is the same «amounts withheld» in both forms.

2

There are four answers, not two, and they sit in three consecutive paragraphs

Article 31.4.a) has three paragraphs and each does something different. The first exempts the income from withholding and keeps the duty to report it: not on the 216, yes on the 296, which is the case of interest paid to a European Union resident under letter c) of article 14.1. The second restores withholding to letters k) and l), the dividends paid to European Union pension funds and to certain collective investment undertakings, which are exempt and withheld anyway: they go on both. The third says there is «no obligation to file a return in respect of the income referred to in article 14.1.d)», which is Spanish government debt: it goes on neither. With ordinary taxable income, which goes on both, that is four cells and three distinct answers.

3

The deadline changed in 2024, and the regulation did not notice

Article 11 of Order EHA/3290/2008 has two wordings. The original said, «in accordance with article 15.2 of the Regulation», that filing took place «in the first twenty natural days of January», with an exception reaching 31 January for anyone filing on computer-readable media and a bridging sentence treating electronic filing as such media: between the two, nobody could reach the twenty-day general rule. The wording in force since 1 February 2024, by article 2.3 of Order HAC/56/2024, says the window «shall run from 1 January to 31 January of the following year» and no longer refers to the regulation. Meanwhile article 15.2 of the regulation, whose latest version dates from 2014, still says twenty days. Two rules of one system that stopped agreeing, and the one that governs the form is the Order that approves it.

4

One Order, two forms, and only one carries its own shift clause

Article 4 of the Order, the one for form 216, ends by saying that «due dates falling on a Saturday or a non-working day shall be understood as moved to the next working day». Article 11, the one for form 296, in the same Order seven articles away, does not have it. The annual summary’s shift comes from article 30.5 of Act 39/2015, the general administrative rule. The practical answer is the same and the legal route is not, and it is checkable by reading a single norm: 31 January 2026 is a Saturday and the tax agency files the 2025 annual summary under «Up to 2 February».

5

The article’s second deadline is on no calendar

The second paragraph of the article in force requires the payee-record annexes called «Negotiable securities. Schedule of payments to taxpayers» and «Negotiable securities. Schedule of payment certificates» to be filed «during the natural month following the date of filing of form 210». It is a due date hanging off when another form was filed rather than off the calendar, so two entities with the same reporting year have two different dates and no published table can hold them. The month runs from date to date, with the end-of-month clamp of article 30.4 of Act 39/2015: file the form 210 on 31 January and the annex is due on 28 February, not 3 March.

6

What the consolidated text still prints and no longer exists

Article 9 of the Order, in today’s consolidated text, still describes paper filing for returns of up to fifteen payee records and «12 cm CD-R» media of up to 700 MB in ISO/IEC DIS 9660:1999 format. None of it survives: article 12 of Order HAP/2194/2013 removed the paper route for information returns, and it did so by a general repealing clause. A repeal by clause leaves no note in a consolidated text, because the consolidator can only annotate what a rule expressly amends, so the article reads whole and apparently in force. The complete rule is: the form’s own Order for what only it can say, and the general information-returns Order for the channel.

Worked example

A Spanish company pays two German suppliers with no permanent establishment during 2025 and, on top of that, 60,000 euros of interest to an individual resident in France. The services carry 19% withholding and add up to 100,000 euros of income and 19,000 of withholding, which go onto the year’s four form 216s. The interest is exempt under letter c) of article 14.1, so nothing is withheld and it appears on no form 216. Form 296 carries both: the nominal list reports 160,000 euros of income and 19,000 of withholding, meaning 37.5% of the annual summary’s amount was never in an autoliquidation. The withholdings match, the amount does not, and there is nothing to correct. Had the same company also paid government-debt coupons to a non-resident, those would go on neither the 216 nor the 296.

Frequently asked questions

What is Spanish form 296?
The annual summary of withholdings and payments on account of Non-Resident Income Tax obtained without a permanent establishment. Paragraph 5 of article 31 of the consolidated act requires it, obliging the withholder to file «an annual summary of withholdings and payments on account with the content determined by regulation», and article 15.2 of the regulation fixes that content: a nominal list of the payees.
Must it reconcile with my form 216s?
On withholdings yes, to the cent, because both forms report the same magnitude. On amount no, and not through an error: article 15.2 requires the nominal list to include anyone paid income «on which no withholding was practised», and those payments were never on a quarterly return. Before hunting the mistake, check whether the difference is exactly the year’s exempt income.
Does exempt income belong on form 296?
Yes. Article 31.4.a) exempts from withholding the income exempt under article 14 or under a treaty «without prejudice to the obligation to file provided for in paragraph 5 of this article». No withholding does not remove the duty to report the payee. The only exception is in the third paragraph of the same provision.
Which income appears on no form at all?
Government-debt income obtained without a permanent establishment, which is letter d) of article 14.1. The third paragraph of article 31.4.a) says literally that there is «no obligation to file a return in respect of the income referred to in article 14.1.d)». It is the only income in the tax that goes on neither form 216 nor form 296.
Is there exempt income that is still withheld?
Yes, and it is letters k) and l) of article 14.1: dividends obtained by equivalent pension funds resident in the European Union and those obtained by collective investment undertakings under Directive 2009/65/EC. The second paragraph of article 31.4.a) says that there «shall be an obligation to withhold or make a payment on account» in respect of them, so they are exempt and withheld anyway, and therefore appear on both forms.
When is form 296 due?
Between 1 and 31 January of the following year, under article 11 of Order EHA/3290/2008 as worded since 1 February 2024. If 31 January falls on a Saturday or a non-working day the due date moves under article 30.5 of Act 39/2015: the 2025 annual summary fell due on 2 February 2026 and the 2026 one falls due on 1 February 2027, because 31 January 2027 is a Sunday.
Why does the regulation say twenty days and the Order thirty-one?
Because only one of the two was updated. Article 15.2 of the regulation sets twenty natural days of January as the general rule and reaches 31 by way of the computer-readable-media route; its latest version dates from 2014. Order HAC/56/2024 rewrote article 11 and untied it from the regulation, setting the 1-to-31 window with no format condition. The Order that approves the form governs, and the tax agency’s calendar confirms it.
And the negotiable-securities annexes?
They have their own deadline and it is not on the calendar, because it is not a date: the second paragraph of article 11 places them «during the natural month following the date of filing of form 210». It depends on when another form was filed, so two entities in the same reporting year have two different due dates.
Can it be filed on paper?
No, even though the consolidated text of the Order still describes it for returns of up to fifteen records. Article 12 of Order HAP/2194/2013 removed the paper route for information returns, and it did so by a general repealing clause, which leaves no note in a consolidated text. The same goes for the CD-R media article 9 still details.
What must I give the payee?
A certificate. Article 15.3 of the regulation requires a «certificate evidencing the withholdings practised, or the payments on account made, together with the remaining data concerning the taxpayer that must be included in the annual return» to be issued in the taxpayer’s favour. It is the document with which the non-resident evidences the Spanish withholding at home, and article 15.4 adds that the withholding must be communicated to them when the income is paid, stating the percentage applied.

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