Payslips explained (Nómina)

Overview

Your nómina (payslip) is a legal document your employer must give you every pay period. Understanding its sections helps you check you're being paid and taxed correctly, and you'll need copies for things like mortgage applications and visa renewals.

Requirements

• Employers must issue a payslip for every pay period, in a standard format
• You're entitled to keep a copy of every payslip you receive

Step-by-step process

• Check the 'devengos' (earnings) section — your gross base salary plus any bonuses, overtime or allowances
• Check the 'deducciones' (deductions) section — social security contributions (your share, roughly 6.4% of gross pay) and income tax withholding (IRPF), which varies by income and personal circumstances
• Confirm the 'líquido a percibir' (net pay) figure matches what actually lands in your bank account
• Check your registered professional category and contribution group are correct, since they affect both your pay scale and future benefits

Required documents

• Your monthly nómina from your employer

Common mistakes

• Not keeping old payslips — you'll need them for mortgage applications, visa/residency renewals, and checking your Social Security contribution history
• Not noticing a mismatch between your contracted salary and what actually appears on the payslip

Practical tips

• Payslips are usually issued monthly, with two 'extra' payments (pagas extra) in summer and December unless your convenio spreads them across all 12 months
• If a figure looks wrong, ask HR/payroll directly for an explanation before assuming it's an error — some deductions are easy to misread at first

How Tuchati can help

If a line on your payslip doesn't make sense, Tuchati can help you understand what it means and whether it looks correct.