Working from your flat in Spain: the 30% rule on bills, and what it does not cover

Nick · 2026-10-21 · Updated 2026-10-21 · Figures as per the rules in force on 2026-10-21

As an autónomo in Spain, you can deduct utility bills — water, gas, electricity, phone, and internet — from your home as a business expense in IRPF, using the formula in LIRPF art. 30.2.5ª b): bill amount × (office m² / total m²) × 30%. If your office takes up 20% of your flat and the electricity bill is 80 €, you can deduct 4.80 € of that bill. The rule has applied since 1 January 2018. IVA (Spanish VAT) on home utilities has no equivalent provision and is generally not recoverable.

What the 30% rule actually says

If you are registered as an autónomo in Spain and work from home, LIRPF art. 30.2.5ª b) lets you deduct part of your utility bills as a business expense. The rule is more specific — and less generous — than "30% of utilities."

The deductible amount is:

bill × (office m² / total m²) × 30%

Two multiplications, not one. First, you apply your office's share of the total floor area. Then you apply the statutory 30% factor. If your office is 15 m² in a 75 m² flat (20% of the space), and your monthly electricity bill is 90 €, the deductible amount is:

90 € × 20% × 30% = 5.40 €

Not 18 € (20% of the bill) and not 27 € (30% of the bill). The law introduced this formula on 1 January 2018, through art. 11 of Ley 6/2017 de Reformas Urgentes del Trabajo Autónomo, to give autónomos a simple and auditable way to claim home-office utility costs without requiring them to prove the exact watt-hours used for work.

Which bills qualify — and which do not

The law lists five categories of utilities explicitly in the text:

Building fees and home insurance may still be deductible as ordinary business expenses under the general rule of LIRPF art. 28, but that requires a different legal basis and is subject to more scrutiny. The five utilities listed above follow the art. 30.2.5ª b) formula directly.

Declaring the home-office use

The rule only applies if you have declared part of your home as the location of your economic activity. In Spain, this is done through Modelo 036 or Modelo 037 (the AEAT census registration forms), where you list your fiscal address as the place where the activity is carried out.

In the same form you also state how much of the home is used for the activity (area or percentage). If you are inspected, you also need to be able to show two things:

1. How much floor space you use for the activity (floor plan or description with m²).
2. That the space is primarily used for work — not shared simultaneously with personal life during working hours.

IVA on home utilities: no equivalent provision

Spain's IRPF deduction and its IVA (VAT) system operate independently. The formula in LIRPF art. 30.2.5ª b) is a specific income-tax provision; there is no equivalent article in the Ley del IVA.

Under LIVA art. 95.Uno, input VAT is only deductible on goods and services used exclusively for the business. Art. 95.Dos.2.º specifies that goods or services used simultaneously for business and personal purposes are considered non-exclusively business-used. Domestic utilities — heating the whole flat, supplying water to every tap — fall squarely into that category.

For meals at restaurants, LIVA art. 96.Uno.6.º creates an explicit exception: if a meal expense qualifies under the IRPF rule, its VAT is also recoverable. No such exception exists for home utilities. The IRPF 30% formula is a tax convenience; the VAT system does not mirror it.

AYFI applies the LIRPF art. 30.2.5ª b) formula to calculate the IRPF deduction on home utilities. For the VAT on those same bills, it flags them for manual review, because deductibility depends on each person's specific circumstances.

Rent is different — no 30% haircut

Home utilities carry the 30% factor because the law presumes the electricity, water, and broadband serve both work and private life simultaneously. Rent — the cost of occupying the space — is treated differently.

Under LIRPF art. 28 and 29, the proportion of rent corresponding to the dedicated area is directly deductible, with no additional 30% reduction:

If your office covers 20% of the flat and monthly rent is 1,100 €, then 220 € per month — 2,640 € per year — is deductible under IRPF. The utilities deduction comes on top of that.

Worked example

A freelance developer works from a 75 m² flat in Valencia. His home office — a dedicated room — is 15 m² (20% of the total). Monthly utility bills:

IRPF deduction on utilities (LIRPF art. 30.2.5ª b)): 2,640 € × 20% × 30% = 158.40 € per year

His rent is 1,050 € per month (12,600 € per year). IRPF deduction on rent: 12,600 € × 20% = 2,520 € per year

Combined annual deduction: 2,678.40 €. At a 30% marginal rate: 803.52 € IRPF saving.

The utility deduction is real but modest — each 100 € of monthly bills yields 6 € of deductible expense at a 20% office share. The rent deduction is the larger component.

How this compares to UK and US home-office rules

If you have worked from home under HMRC or IRS rules, the Spanish system has two surprises: the statutory 30% multiplier and the absence of an exclusive-use requirement.

UK (HMRC): Self-employed people in the UK can either use HMRC's flat rate simplified expenses (£10 per month if you work from home 25–50 hours per month; £18 for 51–100 hours; £26 for over 100 hours) or claim actual proportional costs. With the actual-cost method, the proportion is calculated by dividing the rooms or floor space used for business by the total — but without any additional 30% haircut. A UK freelancer claiming actual costs on a 20% home-office floor area would deduct 20% of utility bills, not 6%. The UK also has no card-payment rule for home bills (that requirement exists for meal expenses in Spain, not for utilities).

US (IRS): The IRS requires "regular and exclusive use" of the space for business — the family cannot use the office for anything personal. This is stricter than Spain's standard. The IRS simplified method allows $5 per square foot up to 300 sq ft, for a maximum deduction of $1,500 per year regardless of actual bills. Alternatively, Form 8829 lets you deduct actual proportional costs, but again without a 30% haircut.

In Spain, the requirement is not exclusive use but rather that the area is "dedicated primarily" to the activity. The 30% multiplier compensates for this less strict standard: you do not need to prove exclusivity, but you also cannot deduct the full proportional share of utilities. This is a deliberate policy choice in Ley 6/2017: a simple presumption that 30% of the affected share reflects the genuine business component of domestic utilities.

This section describes HMRC and IRS rules as a contrast for readers familiar with those systems. Your obligations in Spain depend on your registration as an autónomo with AEAT and your Spanish tax residency status.

Frequently asked questions

Does the 30% apply to the whole bill or just my share of the flat?

Neither alone. The formula is: bill × (office m² / total m²) × 30%. The office proportion comes first; then the 30% factor is applied on top. A 20% office in a 100 m² flat means 6% of each utility bill is deductible (20% × 30%), not 20% and not 30%.

Do I need a dedicated room with a door, or does a desk in the living room count?

A dedicated room is not required by law. LIRPF art. 30.2.5ª b) refers to 'square metres of the home dedicated to the activity.' What matters is that the space is primarily and habitually used for work — not shared simultaneously with personal use. A home office corner is defensible; a kitchen table used occasionally is not.

Can I also recover IVA (Spanish VAT) on these bills?

Generally no. LIVA art. 95.Uno bars deduction of input VAT on goods and services not used exclusively for the business. Unlike restaurant meals — where art. 96.Uno.6° creates a specific VAT exception when the expense is IRPF-deductible — home utilities have no such exception. The IRPF formula is a statutory convenience; the VAT system does not mirror it.

Is rent also deductible on the same 30% formula?

No. Rent for the affected portion of the home is deductible under LIRPF art. 28 and 29 at 100% of the m² proportion — there is no additional 30% haircut. If your office is 20% of the flat, 20% of the rent is deductible. The 30% factor applies only to utilities under LIRPF art. 30.2.5ª b).

Sources

• LIRPF art. 30 — Rules for determining net income under direct assessment
• LIVA art. 95 — Limitations on the right to deduct based on asset destination
• LIVA art. 96 — Exclusions and restrictions on the right to deduct
• Ley 6/2017, art. 11 — Urgent Reforms for the Self-Employed (introduced the 30% rule)