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V1933-21 21 June 2021 · SG de Impuestos sobre la Renta de las Personas Físicas Criterion in force
IRPF · imputación temporal

Back pay due to official appointment is imputed to the tax year of the appointment and allows for the 30% reduction

An official requests clarification regarding the temporal imputation of salary back pay following a judicial ruling, the repayment of benefits to the SEPE, the change of joint taxation option, and the refund of withholdings from paternity benefits. The DGT determines that back pay is imputed to the year of the administrative appointment and that it is possible to apply the reduction for irregularity.

The question raised

Upon the payment of back pay in 2020, the inquiry concerns its temporal imputation in the IRPF. It also questions the impact of the repayment of unemployment benefits to the SEPE, the possibility of changing the taxation option (from joint to individual) in the IRPF-2016, and the refund of withholdings from paternity benefits.

The DGT's ruling

Income from employment arising from back pay due to an administrative appointment is imputed to the tax period in which said appointment occurred. As it is a period of generation exceeding two years, the 30% reduction provided for in Article 18.2 of the IRPF Law applies. The repayment of benefits to the SEPE affects the tax years in which they were included as income, not the year of the repayment. It is not possible to change the joint taxation option once the regulatory declaration period has ended. Withholdings on exempt income (such as paternity benefits) are recovered through the rectification of the tax return.

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