Módulos 2027 for autónomos: 5% reduction and a 31 December deadline to opt out

The BOE of 5 November 2026 publishes Orden HAC/1161/2026 of 4 November, which sets out for 2027 the estimación objetiva method of IRPF (Spanish personal income tax), known as módulos, and the special simplified VAT regime. It enters into force on 6 November 2026, with effect for 2027.

The order keeps the same signs, indices and modules and the same application rules as in 2026, for both income tax and VAT. In addition, anyone taxed under módulos may reduce their 2027 net módulos income by 5%, and this reduction already applies to the year's quarterly payments on account.

The order comes earlier than last year's: the 2026 order was Orden HAC/1425/2025 of 9 December. That leaves more time to decide whether to stay on módulos in 2027.

It affects self-employed individuals, comunidades de bienes (joint ownership businesses) and other pass-through entities carrying on any of the activities listed in the order, including one and two-fork restaurants, cafés and bars, taxis, road haulage, removals, vehicle repair workshops, hairdressers, beauty salons, driving schools, food retail and farming, livestock and forestry. The order is a state rule: the Basque Country and Navarre have their own foral (regional) tax rules.

Anyone who exceeded the order's limits in 2026 is excluded from módulos in 2027. For farming, livestock and forestry, the cap is 250,000 euros of annual income. For other activities, the order does not give a figure: it refers to whatever article 31 of the IRPF Act and article 122 of the VAT Act provide for 2027.

As a general rule, those articles set 150,000 euros of income (for income tax, with no more than 75,000 euros invoiced to other businesses or professionals) and 150,000 euros of purchases, excluding fixed assets. Successive laws have raised those figures to 250,000, 125,000 and 250,000 euros for specific years, so it is worth checking which limit applies for 2027 before deciding. The order also sets caps on staff or vehicles for each activity.

Articles 5 and 6 of the order allow from 6 November to 31 December 2026 to opt out of income tax módulos or simplified VAT for 2027, or to revoke an earlier opt-out. The opt-out or revocation is filed with the Agencia Tributaria (the Spanish tax agency) on the census declaration, modelo 036.

You are also treated as opting out if you file, on time, the first-quarter 2027 payment on account under direct assessment, or the first-quarter 2027 VAT return under the general regime. For a new business, the first payment on account or VAT return filed on time under the general regime counts.

The income tax and VAT regulations place this window in December; with the order published in November, it opens earlier this year.

Anyone who opts out moves to the simplified direct assessment method and is bound for at least three years. After that, the opt-out renews automatically each year unless it is revoked on time, under article 33 of the IRPF Regulation.

The two opt-outs go together: opting out of income tax módulos means leaving the simplified VAT regime and the special farming, livestock and fishing VAT scheme for all activities, and opting out of simplified VAT means leaving módulos for all activities. If the method's limits are exceeded in 2026, the opt-out for 2027 is treated as not filed.

Anyone who opted out at least three years ago and wants to return to módulos in 2027 must revoke the opt-out in this same window and meet the method's limits in 2026.

For the 2026 tax return, farmers and livestock breeders on módulos can deduct from their preliminary net income 35% of the price of farm diesel and 15% of the price of fertilisers, provided they are 2026 purchases backed by invoices that meet the Spanish invoicing regulation. The general reduction of 2026 net módulos income is also raised to 10% for these activities.

For 2027, the order sets specific net income indices, replacing the general ones in annex I, for table grapes (0.32), flowers and ornamental plants (0.32) and tobacco (0.26). For simplified VAT in 2027, it sets specific rates for poultry rearing, keeping and fattening (0.06625) and beekeeping (0.070), livestock activities hit by sector crises.