If you're self-employed in Spain, you've been filing tax forms all year. Modelo 303 for VAT, every quarter. Modelo 130 for income tax, every quarter. You filed, you paid, you moved on.

January is different.

This month, you file the Modelo 390: your annual VAT summary. It's not new information. It's the same numbers you already reported, added up across all four quarters.

Here's the thing: it has to match. Exactly.

If your four quarterly 303 filings told one story, and your 390 tells a slightly different one, you have a problem you didn't know you had.

This isn't about whether you filed. It's about whether your financial year makes sense when Hacienda — the Spanish tax authority — reads it all at once.

Think of it like this: Each quarter, you handed in a chapter. In January, someone reads the whole book. Do the characters stay consistent? Do the numbers track from one chapter to the next?

Small errors compound. A VAT rate was applied differently in Q2. An EU invoice was categorized one way in July, another way in October. A deduction your gestor — tax advisor — made in Q1 that didn't carry through.

None of these triggered alerts when you filed quarterly. But the 390 is the consistency check.

January 25: Modelo 303 and 130 (Q4 VAT + income tax) if you use direct debit.

January 30: Modelo 303 and 130 (Q4 VAT + income tax) standard payment deadline. Also, the deadline for Modelo 390, your annual VAT summary that must match your four quarterly 303s. If you invoiced EU clients, your Modelo 349 (EU operations report) is due the same day.

January 31: Modelo 190, your annual withholding summary, but only if you paid contractors during the year.

Deadlines confirmed January 2026 via AEAT.

Miss these, and surcharges start at 5% and climb to 20%, plus interest. But the bigger risk isn't late filing. It's filing something that doesn't match what you already submitted.

Not the person who forgot to file. That's obvious, and they probably know it.

This is about the person who filed every quarter, assumes they're sorted, but:

You can be compliant every quarter and still have a problem in January.

Your gestor has been writing your financial story all year. They filed your quarterlies. They made decisions about categories, deductions, and VAT treatment.

January is when you find out what story they told.

If you haven't spoken to your gestor since October, now is the time. Not to file — they'll handle that. But to ask: "Is there anything I should know before the 390 goes in? Do my quarters add up?"

A good gestor will have already checked. An overwhelmed one might not have until you ask.

If you have a gestor: Send them a message this week. Ask: "Are we ready for the 390? Do my quarters match?" You're not questioning their competence. You're prompting a final review.

If you've been doing this yourself: Pull up your four 303 filings from 2025. Add the totals. Compare to what you're about to submit on the 390. If anything looks off, this is the week to find a professional. The AEAT — Agencia Tributaria — website (sede.agenciatributaria.gob.es) has your filing history under Mis Expedientes — My Records.

If you're not sure whether any of this applies to you: If you're registered as autónomo — self-employed — in Spain, it does. If you've been invoicing through an SL, the forms are different, but the principle is the same.

When you call your gestor this week:

"¿El 390 cuadra con los 303?" — Does the 390 match the 303s?

That's the question that matters.

January isn't about deadlines. It's the annual consistency check, when Hacienda reads your whole financial year at once and asks: Does this story hold together? You filed quarterly. You paid what you owed. But if the pieces don't add up to a coherent whole, you find out in January. A five-minute conversation with your gestor this week is worth more than a five-month conversation with Hacienda later.

I know, I know, this week has already had a lot about gestores, but getting things wrong with them extracts a high price. I would rather be pedantic than leave you in the dark.

See you on the paseo — A. and the WaypointSur team with their 390s submitted, fingers crossed.