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Glossary · VAT

Filing period: how often you settle up

Almost everybody files four times a year. But there are cases that mean twelve, and you do not always see them coming.

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In one sentence

The interval each self-assessment is worked out and filed for: quarterly as a general rule, monthly in a defined set of cases.

VAT · Cairos glossary

Article 71.3 of the VAT Regulations sets the quarter as the rule and lists the cases where the period becomes monthly. The three most common:

  • Having a turnover in the previous year of more than €6,010,121.04 — what are called large companies.
  • Being on the Monthly Refund Register (REDEME), which also drags the Immediate Supply of Information along with it.
  • Applying the special regime for groups of entities.

The deadlines

  • Quarters 1, 2 and 3: 1 to 20 April, July and October.
  • Fourth quarter: 1 to 30 January. It does not fall due on the 20th, and it goes with form 390.
  • Monthly: until the 30th of the following month, with the weekend shifts.

And one rule that costs money: the deadline for setting up the direct debit ends five days before the filing one. In April, July and October, the 15th; in January, the 25th.

An example

A business invoicing 6.2 million euros in 2026 moves to a monthly period in 2027: from four self-assessments to twelve, with the monthly accounting close that forces. It is not an administrative change, it is a change of rhythm.

The mistake that comes up most

Running the fourth quarter right up to the 30th expecting to pay by direct debit. The filing deadline runs to 30 January, but the direct debit one closed on the 25th: file on the 28th and you can no longer set up the direct debit, so you have to pay that same day by account charge or with an NRC. It is not even an infringement, but it throws the month's cash out.

Where this carries on in Cairos: The full tax calendar.

Sources: The VAT Regulations, RD 1624/1992 · The AEAT's taxpayer calendar
Carry on here

Terms that go with this one

Almost no tax concept makes sense on its own. These three are the ones that most often turn up beside it.

VAT

VAT accrued (IVA devengado)

The VAT generated by the period's transactions, regardless of whether the client has paid or not.

 IRPF and withholdings

Instalment payment

The payment on account made during the year of a tax that is settled at the year-end.

 Accounting

Record book

The compulsory record, in date order, of the invoices issued and received, which underpins the self-assessments and the annual summaries.

This, handled without thinking about it

Cairos keeps the invoices, the record books and Hacienda's forms from the same data, so the theory on this page turns into boxes that are already filled in.

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Where to go next

VAT accrued (IVA devengado)→Instalment payment→Record book→The full tax calendar→The glossary's 45 terms→Every one of Hacienda's forms→
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