The Government has eliminated the obligation of recipients of unemployment benefits to file an income tax return, as stated in the Royal Decree-Law on economic measures approved yesterday by the Council of Ministers and published this Wednesday by the Official State Gazette (BOE), a measure, applicable for the fiscal year 2025, that rectifies the obligation that appeared in the 2024 unemployment benefit reform.
The Royal Decree-Law approved yesterday by the Government modifies the General Social Security Law with the justification that the presentation of the personal income tax return by these people “represents only a formal obligation.” The Executive argues that said obligation “exceeds the intention of the standardwhich was initially to provide an additional source of information to the entity managing unemployment benefits”.
In this sense, the Government points out that this new obligation to present the declaration included more than 2.5 million taxpayers as new ones obliged to declare personal income tax, of which 75% obtain unemployment income of less than 5,400 euros, so the extension of the obligation to submit a personal income tax return does not only imply a formal obligation, but also implies that many of these taxpayers have the obligation to self-assess and pay a tax amount to which they would not be obliged in accordance with strictly tax regulations.
As explained in the text, a similar obligation was incorporated for the non-contributory benefit of the minimum vital income (IMV), with the objective of aligning both regulations. However, the “substantial differences in both the applicable regulations and the purpose of each benefit” have led to this obligation being discouraged for unemployment benefit beneficiaries, “who also would mean an unnecessary increase in the administrative burden for the working person,” he points out.
Furthermore, the data necessary to verify the responsible declarations of the people who request unemployment benefits must be verified by the State Public Employment Service (SEPE) through consultations of the tax data of the beneficiaries.
Already in March, the Executive decided not to force recipients of unemployment benefits to present the personal income tax return corresponding to the year 2024, which had to be submitted this year, thus postponing this requirement until 2026.
Additionally, it points out that the establishment of this obligation may imply the loss of the right to apply the minimum per descendant, which is why it considers that “all of the above justifies the need to eliminate it immediately.”