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IRPFGlossary

Estimación directa: paying on what you really earn

Estimación directa is the regime most freelancers use to calculate their IRPF: you pay tax on your real profit, that is, your income minus your deductible expenses. It's the default system, as opposed to módulos.

Estimación directa is the regime most freelancers use to calculate their IRPF. It works the way you'd expect it should: you pay tax on your real profit, that is, your income minus your gastos deducibles.

It's the default system and the most common for service profiles. The alternative is módulos (estimación objetiva), where you pay according to fixed parameters of your activity rather than exactly what you earn; it only applies to certain sectors.

Are there two types of estimación directa?

Yes: the simplified version (the most common for freelancers, with lighter bookkeeping and a 5% of hard-to-justify expenses you can deduct, capped at €2,000 a year) and the normal one (for higher turnover). Most freelancers start in the simplified one.

How Cece sees it

Under estimación directa, each well-documented expense lowers your base and, with it, what you pay. It's not about spending for the sake of it — it's about not losing the expenses you already have by failing to keep them properly.

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between estimación directa and módulos?

Under estimación directa you pay on your real profit (income minus expenses). Under módulos (estimación objetiva) you pay according to fixed parameters of your activity, regardless of exactly what you earn, and it's only available for certain sectors.

The calm to enjoy your freelance work

Cece takes care of what weighs on your day-to-day (projects, payments, proposals, tax calculations) and surfaces the numbers that matter, so they stop weighing on you and you can get back to what counts.