Deregistering as an autónomo: deadlines with Hacienda and the Seguridad Social

Deregistering as an autónomo means notifying the administration that you are stopping your self-employed activity. It is not a single procedure: there are at least two independent deregistrations, the tax one with Hacienda (form 036) and the RETA deregistration with the Seguridad Social (the Spanish social security system), which is managed through the Import@ss portal.

Managora files both deregistrations for you, coordinating the dates so that no obligations are left open. You can see the price of the service on the procedure page.

You have six calendar days from the cessation for the RETA deregistration and one month for the tax deregistration with Hacienda. The RETA deadline was three days until 31 July 2026: it was extended by Real Decreto 643/2026 (the Royal Decree 643/2026), of 29 July, which reworded the second paragraph of article 32.3 of the General Regulation on company registration and affiliation (Real Decreto 84/1996), effective from 1 August 2026.

Seguridad Social (RETA): notify the deregistration via Import@ss within those 6 calendar days, or schedule it up to 60 days before the end of the activity. If you file it on time, the deregistration takes effect from the exact day of cessation and you only pay the proportional part of the month. After the 6 calendar days, the deregistration is late: it takes effect on the last day of the month of cessation, you pay the quota for the full month and the time you stay registered after the cessation does not count towards benefits; if you do not prove the actual cessation date, the quota continues until the last day of the month in which the Seguridad Social learns of it.

There is a nuance worth knowing: only the first 3 deregistrations notified on time within the same calendar year take effect from the actual day of cessation; from the fourth onwards, the deregistration takes effect on the last day of the month even if filed on time. In a definitive cessation of activity, which is the usual scenario, this will not affect you.

Hacienda: file the tax deregistration declaration using form 036, ticking box 150, within one month from the day following the cessation. Since 3 February 2025, form 037 no longer exists and everything is done with form 036. With the Agencia Tributaria, filing it late is an infringement of article 198 of the Ley General Tributaria (the General Tax Act), penalised with a fixed fine of €400 that is reduced to €200 if you file it before you are asked to. If you are taxed by a Hacienda Foral (the Basque Country or Navarre), its own foral rules apply: in Bizkaia, €800, or €400 without a prior request.

Practical recommendation: use the same cessation date for both deregistrations to avoid overlaps and quota discrepancies.

The change that really affects you this year is the deregistration deadline: from 1 August 2026 it is 6 calendar days from the cessation and not 3, due to Real Decreto 643/2026, of 29 July, published in the BOE on 30 July. If you once read that it was 3 days, that information is no longer valid.

There is no fundamental news regarding contributions: Real Decreto-ley 3/2026, of 3 February, maintains for 2026 the same bracket tables that applied in 2025, and Orden PJC/297/2026, of 30 March, sets the rates, with a total of 31.50%.

And the tax deregistration continues to be filed solely with form 036 since the abolition of form 037 on 3 February 2025.