The employee must complete, when he/she starts working and if his/her personal or family situation changes, form 145, his/her personal and family data in order to correctly make the withholding in his/her paycheck. It is advisable to complete this form at the beginning of each year.
The company must calculate the IRPF withholding that it will apply to its employees, according to the expected remuneration and their family situation.
Each time an employee starts working for your company, you must ask him/her to fill in form 145, indicating his/her personal and family data. This information will be used by your company to calculate the withholding tax to be deducted from the employee’s paycheck.
In addition, you should inform your employees that if in the future any of the circumstances that were initially reported to your change, they must also inform you by means of form 145.
If an employee has already given you this form in the past (for example, when he/she signed the employment contract), it is not essential that he/she gives it to you again each year, except if his/her personal circumstances change. However, so that your company always has the most up-to-date information, it is best to ask your employees to provide you with the completed form at the beginning of each year.
Given that many workers forget to make this communication, it is convenient that in January, you offer them the possibility of filling out a form 145 to report those changes that occurred in the previous year and that they have not yet communicated. Although this offer is not mandatory -they are the ones who must report the changes-, everyone will benefit:
- If the changes mean a lower withholding rate, their workers will receive a higher net every month. And if they mean an increase, they will avoid the penalties that the tax authorities can impose on them for not communicating the changes to the company.
- On the other hand, your company will avoid having your employees inform you of the changes that took place in the previous year at another time (for example, in the middle of the year), which would force you to recalculate the withholding rate established in January.
The applicable withholding rate is influenced, for example, by the number of children of the employee, if a degree of disability has been recognized, or if the employee has been obliged by court order to pay a compensatory pension to his or her spouse or annuities for child support.
Always calculate the withholding according to the data provided by your employees (even if you know they are incorrect) and keep the signed form 145. This way, in case of verification, your company will be able to prove that it has acted correctly.
The payer must keep at the disposal of the tax authorities, together with the communications submitted by the payees, the documents that have been provided with the same, such as
Failure to communicate to the payer the personal and family circumstances, as well as the making of payments that influence the determination of the withholding rate, will determine that the payer will apply the corresponding withholding rate without considering such circumstances.
If the employee does not want to disclose his personal situation (neither at the time of being hired, nor later) and does not file form 145, his company will have to calculate his withholding rate as if he were single and without family or any other type of charges (i.e., as if he were not entitled to any incentive in the IRPF).
The inclusion of false, incomplete, or inaccurate data in this communication, as well as the lack of communication of variations in the same that, had they been known by the payer, would have determined a higher withholding, constitutes a tax infraction punishable with a fine of 35 to 150 percent of the amounts that would have been withheld for this reason.
The time at which the employee must communicate the change in his or her personal or family circumstances will be different depending on the case. Thus, the worker must inform you within 10 days of the change in his or her circumstances if the following two requirements are met at the same time:
- When the change involves an increase in the applicable withholding rate.
- When for such change the Law has foreseen that it is possible to regularize the withholding rate in the middle of the year.
You can contact this professional office for any doubt or clarification you may have in this regard.
For further information, please contact Labor consulting
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