How to read your Spanish payslip (nómina): every part explained

Your nómina is your payslip: the document your employer gives you each month to record what it pays you. Spain has an official payslip template, published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE), and this guide walks through it line by line: who you are and who your employer is, what you earn, what is deducted and why, and what reaches your bank account. With the 2026 percentages and the official source for each one.

What a payslip is and what you are entitled to

The Workers' Statute (Estatuto de los Trabajadores) requires salary to be paid «puntual y documentalmente» (on time and with documentation), and the documentation is given «mediante la entrega al trabajador de un recibo individual y justificativo del pago» (by handing the worker an individual receipt justifying the payment) (article 29.1 of the Workers' Statute).

• There is an official template: the annex to the Order of 27 December 1994, as worded by Order ESS/2098/2014. A collective agreement or, failing that, an agreement between the company and the workers' representatives can set a different one, as long as it separates «con la debida claridad» (with due clarity) what you earn and what is deducted.
• Your employer can change the design or add information, but cannot remove any of its items or change their names (article 1.1 of the Order).
• It covers calendar months (article 1.2 of the Order). If your employer pays you for shorter periods, those payments are advances on account of the final settlement, which goes on the monthly payslip. And «periódicas y regulares» (periodic and regular) pay cannot be paid for periods longer than one month (article 29.1 of the Statute).

The header: your employer and you

At the top there are two boxes. The employer's box shows its name, address, CIF (tax ID) and CCC (código de cuenta de cotización, the account number the company uses to pay Social Security contributions). Yours shows your name, NIF (tax ID), Social Security affiliation number, professional group and contribution group. Below them, the period being paid («del … al …», from … to …) and the total number of days.

If you are a foreign national:

• As a foreign national, your NIF is proven with «el documento oficial en que se asigne el número personal de identificación de extranjero» (the official document assigning the personal foreigner identification number), that is, your NIE (article 18.2 of Royal Decree 1065/2007). If you don't have one yet, see how to get your NIE.
• Check that the NIF and the Social Security affiliation number shown are yours.

What you earn: the «devengos»

The first block of the payslip is «I. Devengos» (earnings): everything you earn, before anything is deducted. It has two parts.

1. Salary payments (percepciones salariales)

• Base salary (salario base) and salary supplements (complementos salariales). Supplements depend on «las condiciones personales del trabajador, al trabajo realizado o a la situación y resultados de la empresa» (the worker's personal circumstances, the work done, or the company's situation and results), and the pay structure is set by the collective agreement or, if there is none, your contract (article 26.3 of the Statute).
• Overtime (horas extraordinarias) and, if you work part-time, complementary hours (horas complementarias).
• Extraordinary bonuses (gratificaciones extraordinarias, the «pagas extra»). You are entitled to two a year, one at Christmas, and the collective agreement can provide that they are spread over the twelve monthly payments (article 31 of the Statute).
• Salary in kind (salario en especie): what you receive as goods or services instead of money. It can never exceed 30 % of your salary payments or reduce the cash amount of the national minimum wage (article 26.1 of the Statute).

2. Non-salary payments (percepciones no salariales)

Allowances or reimbursements (what you are paid back for expenses your work causes you), Social Security benefits, and compensation for transfers, suspensions or dismissals. None of this is salary: article 26.2 of the Statute expressly excludes it.

All of it together is line A. Total devengado (total earned): your gross pay for the month.

What is deducted: the «deducciones»

The second block is «II. Deducciones» (deductions). The first is your share of Social Security contributions. These are the 2026 percentages paid by the worker, under Order PJC/297/2026:

• Watch the unemployment rate: some fixed-term contracts pay the permanent-contract rate. The Order includes in the 1.55 % substitution contracts, relief contracts, training contracts, and contracts with people who have a disability of at least 33 %.
• With a permanent contract, your share adds up to 6.50 % (4.70 + 1.55 + 0.10 + 0.15) when the base is the same for every item. It isn't always: the base for unemployment and vocational training is the one for workplace accidents and occupational diseases, which has its own limits (articles 33.1 and 2 of the Order). For example, with a base of €2,000 for every item: €94.00 for common contingencies, €31.00 for unemployment, €2.00 for vocational training and €3.00 for MEI, €130.00 in total. This is an example with round figures, not a real payslip.
• Overtime is charged separately, as an additional contribution: your share is 4.70 % for ordinary overtime and 2.00 % for overtime due to force majeure (article 5 of the Order).
• If you earn more than €5,101.20 a month (the maximum contribution base in 2026, article 2 of the Order), you will also see the additional solidarity contribution on the amount above that limit; your share ranges from 0.19 % to 0.24 % depending on the bracket (article 17).

Income tax withholding (IRPF)

After the contributions comes «Impuesto sobre la renta de las personas físicas» (personal income tax, IRPF). It is not a separate tax: it is a withholding, an advance on the year's IRPF that your employer deducts and pays to the tax authority on your behalf. The law requires anyone paying income subject to the tax, such as your salary, to «practicar retención e ingreso a cuenta, en concepto de pago a cuenta del Impuesto sobre la Renta de las Personas Físicas correspondiente al perceptor» (withhold and pay on account of the recipient's personal income tax) (article 99.2 of the IRPF Law).

• Your percentage is personal: your personal and family situation affects it (article 88.1 of the IRPF Regulation). That's why we don't give rates here.
• You report that situation to your employer using form 145 of the Spanish Tax Agency, which you hand to your employer, not to the tax authority; your employer keeps it signed. If you don't report it, your employer applies the withholding «sin tener en cuenta dichas circunstancias» (without taking those circumstances into account) (article 88.2 of the IRPF Regulation); and if failing to report a change means a lower rate than the correct one is applied to you, you may be held responsible (same article). It is reported before 1 January each year or when you start working, and you don't need to repeat it as long as nothing changes (article 88.3).
• For any question about your own case, the source is the Spanish Tax Agency (Agencia Tributaria).

Advances, payments in kind and other deductions

Finally, any advances already paid to you, the value of products received in kind and other deductions are subtracted. All of it together is line B. Total a deducir (total deductions).

What is the MEI deducted from your pay in 2026

The Intergenerational Equity Mechanism (Mecanismo de Equidad Intergeneracional, MEI) is a contribution created in 2023 to fund the Social Security Reserve Fund. The law defines it as a ring-fenced contribution «que no será computable a efectos de prestaciones» (which will not count towards benefits) (article 127 bis of the General Social Security Law): it does not increase your future pension.

• In 2026 it is 0.90 % of your contribution base for common contingencies: your employer pays 0.75 % and you pay 0.15 % (article 16 of Order PJC/297/2026).
• It rises every year until 2029, according to the scale in the forty-third transitional provision of the same law: in 2027 it will be 1 % (0.17 % paid by you), in 2028 1.10 % (0.18 %) and from 2029 1.2 % (0.2 %), until 2050.
• On your payslip: the official template, in its 2014 wording, predates the MEI and has no line with that name. Look for it among your contributions as «MEI» or «Mecanismo de Equidad Intergeneracional»; if you don't see it separately, ask your employer which line it is included in.

What reaches your account: the net pay

At the very bottom is the «líquido total a percibir» (total net pay), which is A minus B: total earned minus total deductions. This is what is paid into your account.

The bottom section: contribution bases

Below the net pay there is a table many people skip: how the contribution bases, the base subject to IRPF withholding and the employer's contribution are calculated.

• The common contingencies base adds your pay for the month and the proportional share of the extra payments (article 1 of Order PJC/297/2026). That's why you pay contributions on your extra payments every month, even if you receive them twice a year.
• That base has a minimum and a maximum depending on your contribution group (article 3 of the Order): if your pay falls below or above them, contributions are paid on the minimum or the maximum.
• The last column is the employer's contribution, much larger than yours: for common contingencies alone, 23.60 % against your 4.70 %.

Signing, getting paid and keeping your payslips

• If you are paid by bank transfer, you don't have to sign: the bank's payment receipt replaces the signature (article 2.2 of the 1994 Order).
• If you sign, you sign that you were paid, not that you agree (article 2.1).
• On time: salary is paid on the agreed date and at the agreed place or according to custom and practice. If it is late, the interest for late payment is 10 % of what you are owed (articles 29.1 and 29.3 of the Statute).
• Advances: you are entitled to receive, before payday, advances on account of work already done (article 29.1 of the Statute).
• Keep them: your employer keeps payslips for at least five years (article 3 of the Order). Keep your own copy too.

What to check every month

1. The period and the days: that they match what you worked.
2. Your NIE and your affiliation number, in the header.
3. The contribution group: that it matches your job.
4. The unemployment rate: 1.55 % if you are permanent (or on one of the fixed-term contracts that pay that rate), 1.60 % otherwise.
5. The extra payments: check whether your collective agreement spreads them over the twelve monthly payments or you receive them separately.
6. The IRPF withholding: if your situation changes (children, disability, dependent partner…), tell your employer using form 145.

Official sources

• Order of 27 December 1994 approving the individual payslip template (BOE-A-1995-912), articles 1 to 3 and annex.
• Workers' Statute (Royal Legislative Decree 2/2015), articles 26, 29 and 31.
• Order PJC/297/2026 of 30 March on contributions for 2026, articles 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 16, 17 and 33.
• General Social Security Law (Royal Legislative Decree 8/2015), article 127 bis and forty-third transitional provision.
• Law 35/2006 on IRPF, article 99; IRPF Regulation (Royal Decree 439/2007), article 88; Royal Decree 1065/2007, article 18.
• Spanish Tax Agency: form 145, reporting data to the payer.

Percentages in force since 1 January 2026. Texts checked against the consolidated BOE on 20 October 2026.