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The short answer
- Utilities (water, gas, electricity, phone, internet): deductible at 30% of the share of your home's floor area that you use for work. That is a fixed rule in the income tax law, unless you can prove a higher or lower share.
- Rent, or the costs of owning the home: only the part of the home that is really used for the business, and only if that part can be used separately from the rest. There is no separate percentage in the law for rent, so this is where a gestor earns their fee.
- 100% is not the rule for a home. You live there too. The law treats the whole flat as a mixed-use asset and only lets you deduct the working part.
Utilities: the 30% rule
The income tax law (Ley 35/2006, art. 30.2.5ª.b) says that when you use part of your vivienda habitual (the home you live in) for the activity, the supplies of that home are deductible "en el porcentaje resultante de aplicar el 30 por ciento a la proporción existente entre los metros cuadrados de la vivienda destinados a la actividad respecto a su superficie total, salvo que se pruebe un porcentaje superior o inferior". The same rule names the supplies: water, gas, electricity, phone and internet.
Read it as two steps. First, work out what share of the floor area is the office. Then take 30% of that share. The 30% is there because you also use the electricity and internet for your private life.
Example (invented numbers, only to show the arithmetic). A flat of 80 m² with a 10 m² room used only for work. The office share is 10 ÷ 80 = 12.5%. The deductible share of utilities is 12.5% × 30% = 3.75%. If the electricity bill is EUR 100, you deduct EUR 3.75. If internet is EUR 50, you deduct EUR 1.88. Over a year, the whole utilities deduction is small. That is normal.
The law lets you prove a different percentage, higher or lower. In practice that needs real evidence (for example, separate metering or a dedicated line), and it is the sort of claim to agree with a gestor before you make it.
Rent or ownership costs: the part that is really used
The Agencia Tributaria's income tax manual says that when a property is partly your home and partly where you work, the costs of owning the home (it lists depreciation, IBI property tax and community fees) are deductible "en proporción a la parte de la vivienda afectada al desarrollo de la actividad" and to your ownership share. For utilities it sends you to the 30% rule above.
Two conditions come from the income tax regulation (Reglamento del IRPF, art. 22):
- Only the part you really use for the activity counts, and only a part that can be used "de un aprovechamiento separado e independiente del resto". A dedicated room fits. A corner of the living room is much harder to defend.
- An asset used at the same time for the business and for private needs is not treated as business property, unless the private use is accessory and clearly irrelevant.
The manual does not discuss rent by name. For a tenant, the practical approach is the same test: a separate, genuinely used room, with a share worked out from floor area. We did not find an official page that sets a percentage for rent, so treat any figure you are quoted as something to confirm. Ask a gestor how they apply it to your lease, and keep the share consistent from year to year.
Example (invented numbers). Same 80 m² flat and 10 m² office, rent of EUR 1,000 a month. If your gestor accepts the room as separately usable, the working share is 12.5%, so EUR 125 a month of rent. There is no extra 30% on rent in the text we read.
Why not 100%?
Because the tax rules are written around use. A business asset must be used for the business. The regulation says an asset used at once for work and private life is not business property. A home is the clearest case of mixed use, so the law splits it: rent and ownership costs by the working floor area, and utilities by that area times 30%. Deducting all of your rent and bills is the type of position that tends to fail if Hacienda checks.
What paperwork Hacienda accepts
- A proper invoice, in your name. The invoicing regulation (Real Decreto 1619/2012, art. 6) requires a full invoice to show the full name of both the issuer and the recipient. Utility bills issued to a different person are hard to connect to your activity. Ask the supplier for the bill in your name, with your NIF, if you are the one who pays it.
- It has to be recorded. Income tax for business activities is calculated under the corporate tax rules, and the regulation treats an asset missing from your business records as not affected, unless you prove otherwise. Your gestor enters the expense in your books (libro registro).
- Evidence of the working space. Keep the floor plan or the figure for the total area (from the lease or the deed), the size of the office room, and the lease itself. Photos of the room help.
- Payment trail. Paying by bank transfer or direct debit is sensible evidence that you paid. We did not find a rule in the income tax statutes we read that makes it a legal condition for utilities and rent, so treat it as good practice and let your gestor confirm.
You may hear that a plain invoice is "no longer enough" this year. We found no official change to the income tax rule in 2026. The rule above has been in force since 1 January 2018, according to the BOE's consolidated text. What does exist is the longstanding need for the expense to be real, recorded and linked to you.
IVA (Modelo 303): ask before you claim
The VAT law (Ley 37/1992, art. 95) does not allow deducting IVA on goods and services used at the same time for the business and for private needs. Whether, and how much, IVA on home utilities can be reclaimed has been argued, and the position of the tax authority's rulings may have moved. We could not confirm the current position from the rulings themselves, so we are not giving a percentage. Agree your gestor's approach before you put home IVA in a quarterly return (see autónomo tax deadlines).
Registering the activity and the home
Your activity is registered through the census declaration, Modelo 036. We did not find an official rule that makes telling AEAT about the working part of your home a condition for the deduction. Your gestor may still record the premises in the census, and what you declare there should match what you deduct. New to autónomo status? Start with becoming an autónomo after the digital nomad visa, and see your first year as a tax resident. If you rent, keep the lease and your padrón in order too (renting guide).
Sources
- BOE: Ley 35/2006 del IRPF, art. 28 and art. 30.2.5ª.b (home supplies)
- BOE: Reglamento del IRPF (RD 439/2007), art. 22 (assets affected to an activity)
- BOE: Reglamento de facturación (RD 1619/2012), art. 6 (invoice content)
- BOE: Ley 37/1992 del IVA, arts. 95 and 97
- AEAT: Manual práctico de Renta, criteria for affecting assets to an activity
Who can do this for you
The floor-area share, the lease and the books are the three places this goes wrong. A gestor or accountant sets the share once, records it correctly and keeps it consistent.
- Accountants: the tax position and how your home expenses are treated
- Gestors: the monthly bookkeeping and quarterly filings
This page is general information, not tax advice. It was checked against the sources above on the date shown. Deduction of home expenses depends on your layout, your lease and your regime: confirm your own position with a gestor or accountant.