Professionals may not deduct expenses incurred before the start of their activity

The determination of net income in Personal Income Tax (IRPF) requires that expenses be related to the economic activity. However, the temporal boundary between preparation and the effective start of the activity frequently generates doubts among self-employed professionals.

What the DGT has ruled

The Dirección General de Tributos (DGT) has specified the exact moment when the start of a professional activity is understood to have occurred. According to the administrative criteria, the start occurs from the moment the first deliveries, services, acquisitions of goods or services, collections, payments, or the hiring of personnel for the purpose of intervening in production or distribution are made.

Consequently, the administration establishes that expenses whose accrual occurred prior to this temporal milestone are not deductible. The inquiry focuses on the 2026 tax year, given that the consultation was not formulated before the end of the 2025 tax year period.

What this means for you

If you are a professional preparing to launch your activity, you must take special care with the chronology of your invoices and expenses. Current regulations, based on Law 35/2006 on IRPF, require a strict temporal and causal link.

This implies that any expense incurred during the pre-operative phase that is not directly related to the first production or distribution operations, or to the hiring of personnel necessary for such functions, will be excluded from the tax base for reducing net income. It is not enough to have the intention to undertake; it is necessary to prove that the expense occurs within the framework of the activity already started.

What you should do

To avoid contingencies with the Tax Agency, it is fundamental to carry out rigorous monitoring of the accrual dates of expenses against the start date of the professional activity. It is recommended to:

• Precisely identify the moment of the first acquisition of goods or services intended for production or distribution.
• Clearly differentiate preparation expenses from those that are part of the operational start.
• Maintain documentation proving that the first economic operations coincide with the period of expense deductibility.