Self-employed: maintaining the objective estimation regime in community of property agreements

The Directorate General of Taxes (DGT) has clarified the tax situation of self-employed professionals who decide to participate in communities of property (comunidades de bienes) intended for the leasing of real estate. The doubt lay in whether the nature of the returns obtained by the community of property could condition the taxation regime of the partner's own economic activity.

What the DGT has resolved

The ruling establishes that the application of the objective estimation method within a community of property is carried out independently of the particular circumstances of its members. In this sense, the criteria adopted by the community of property has no effect on the individual business activity of each member.

Therefore, the taxpayer can continue to apply the objective estimation method to determine the net income of their own economic activity. This possibility remains regardless of whether the returns generated by the community of property are classified as economic activities or as real estate capital income.

What it means for you

If you are a self-employed person who pays taxes under the objective estimation regime and you decide to join a community of property to rent premises or real estate, your personal tax regime will not be modified by this participation. The regulations of the Personal Income Tax (IRPF) Law and the IRPF Regulations allow for this separation of assets and activity regimes.

The key lies in the autonomy of each exploitation unit. The classification of the community's income does not automatically drag the classification of your individual professional activity, thus protecting the stability of your income calculation method.

What you should do

It is necessary to analyze the structure of the community of property and the nature of the income to be received to ensure that the community's accounting and the individual activity remain correctly segregated. Each particular situation must be analyzed to guarantee that the application of objective estimation complies with current legal requirements.