IRS: what you need to know before submitting your tax return
The 2025 IRS filing season starts this week and to avoid unpleasant surprises, it's essential to be well informed about deadlines, necessary documents and possible tax deductions.
What are the deadlines for submitting the IRS in 2025?
- From 1 April to 30 June 2025 - submission of the personal income tax return, regardless of income category.
- Until 31 July 2025 - deadline for the IRS refund, if you are entitled.
- Until 31 August 2025 - last day to pay the tax, if applicable.
Who has to file the IRS?
- All taxpayers who had income in 2024 should check whether they are obliged to file a tax return. In most cases, you will have to file your personal tax return. However, there are some exceptions: Those who only received income taxed exclusively at source and which does not need to be declared; Pensioners whose annual income is less than 8,500 euros; Those who only received income from dependent work or pensions of up to
8,500 euros, provided they did not withhold tax at source.
What are the steps to submitting the IRS?
- Gather the necessary documents: NIF, receipts for deductible expenses, proof of income and other relevant documents.
- Check tax deductions: Health, education, nursing home, rent and other expenses can reduce the amount you have to pay.
- Access the Finance Portal: Submission is done exclusively online, via your personal account.
- Confirm the automatic declaration (if applicable): If you are covered by the automatic IRS, you only need to check and validate the data.
- Simulate your IRS: Before submitting, run simulations to realise which scenario is most advantageous.
- Submit and save proof: After submitting, save the proof of submission for any future needs.
What deductions and tax benefits should I take into account?
- Health - 15% deduction of health expenses with VAT at 6%.
- Education - 30% of school expenses are deductible.
- Housing - Interest on home loans and rents can be deducted from the IRS, subject to certain limitations.
- Nursing homes - 25% of nursing home expenses are deductible.
- General family expenses - A fixed amount of 250 euros per taxpayer.
- PPR (Retirement Savings Plans) - Allow a deduction of up to 20 per cent of the amounts invested.
- If you have made donations to charitable organisations, you can also benefit from additional tax deductions.
Automatic IRS: Am I covered?
- Automatic IRS is available to taxpayers who only have income from dependent work or pensions, as long as they have no other situations that require manual submission. In this case, simply confirm the data and submit.
If you're applying for IRS Joven (IRS Youth) this year, you won't yet have access to IRS Automático, although it's expected that you'll be able to do so next year. If you are covered but notice errors in the pre-filled values, you should correct them manually before validating the submission.
How do you guarantee the best refund?
- Check that all invoices have been validated on e-Fatura.
- Choose the most advantageous tax regime: Separate or joint, depending on your family situation. It's worth doing several simulations to see which scenario is best and decide before submitting your tax return.
- Simulate different scenarios on the Finance Portal or use tools such as ComparaJá, which help you understand which option is best for you.
- Take advantage of tax benefits: If you have invested in PPRs, Retirement Certificates or health insurance, you may have additional deductions. Ask for all the supporting documents from the organisations you invested with so that you can declare the amounts correctly.
What happens if I don't submit my personal income tax return on time?
- If you don't submit your personal income tax return on time, you could be subject to fines ranging from 150 to 3,750 euros, depending on the delay and the seriousness of the offence; interest on the outstanding tax; loss of tax benefits, such as deductions and refunds.