Wage Garnishment in Spain: The Embargo de Nomina Scale (2026)
When a court or a tax authority garnishes a Spanish salary, it does not take a flat percentage. Art. 607 LEC sets a protected floor and then an escalating scale, so someone earning close to minimum wage keeps almost everything while someone earning several times the minimum loses most of the amount above it. This page walks through the scale, the current numbers, and how the two combine.
Information last verified on 23 July 2026. This page provides general legal information about Spanish law and does not constitute legal advice in an individual case.
The protected floor
Art. 607.1 LEC states the baseline plainly: a salary, wage, pension or equivalent income that does not exceed the salario minimo interprofesional is inembargable, meaning it cannot be seized at all, for any debt enforced through this route. Whatever a debtor earns up to that figure stays untouched before the scale below even starts to apply.
For 2026, that figure is set by Real Decreto 126/2026, de 18 de febrero, at 40,70 euros a day or 1.221 euros a month, in force from 20 February 2026 with effects retroactive to 1 January 2026. The same decree sets an annual comparison floor of 17.094 euros. Because the SMI is reviewed roughly every year, the exact euro figures behind the scale change with it; the mechanism itself, the bands and percentages, stays fixed in the statute.
The scale above the floor
Once income exceeds the SMI, art. 607.2 LEC applies an escalating scale to each additional slice, measured in multiples of the SMI:
- First band, up to twice the SMI: 30 percent
- Second band, up to three times the SMI: 50 percent
- Third band, up to four times the SMI: 60 percent
- Fourth band, up to five times the SMI: 75 percent
- Fifth band, everything above five times the SMI: 90 percent
Each band only applies to the slice of income that falls within it. Reaching a higher band does not push the whole salary into that percentage; only the portion of income inside each band is garnished at that band's rate, while the portion below stays protected or taxed at the lower rate that applied to it.
A worked example at the 2026 SMI
Using the 2026 SMI of 1.221 euros a month, take a worker earning 1.800 euros net a month. The first 1.221 euros is fully protected. The remaining 579 euros falls entirely inside the first band, since twice the SMI is 2.442 euros and 1.800 euros does not reach it. At 30 percent, the garnishable amount is 579 x 0,30 = 173,70 euros a month, leaving the worker with 1.626,30 euros.
A higher earner crossing further bands would see each additional slice, above 2.442 euros, above 3.663 euros, above 4.884 euros, and above 6.105 euros (the successive multiples of 1.221), garnished at the next percentage up the scale, 50, then 60, then 75, then 90 percent for anything beyond that.
The family-burden reduction, and its limits
Art. 607.4 LEC lets the Letrado de la Administracion de Justicia apply a reduction of between 10 and 15 percentage points to the percentages set in the first, second, third and fourth bands only (the 30, 50, 60 and 75 percent bands), in consideration of the debtor's family burdens. Two things about this reduction matter and are commonly misunderstood:
- It is discretionary, not automatic. The Letrado "podra aplicar" the reduction, meaning it is a decision made in the individual case, not a rule that lowers the scale for every debtor with dependents by default.
- It does not reach the top band. The fifth band, the 90 percent rate on income above 5 times the SMI, is not included among the bands the reduction can touch.
Multiple incomes and other rules in the same article
If the debtor receives more than one salary, pension or equivalent payment, art. 607.3 LEC requires them to be accumulated, so the inembargable floor is deducted only once across the total, not once per payment. The same accumulation applies to a married couple's combined income when their economic regime is not one of separate property, a fact the debtor has to prove to the Letrado. Art. 607.5 LEC also clarifies that garnishment is calculated on the net figure after mandatory public deductions, tax and Social Security contributions, not on the gross amount. And art. 607.6 LEC extends the same scale to income from self-employed and professional activity, not just employment.
Where this fits in a wider claim
Wage garnishment under this scale is typically one step inside a court enforcement (ejecucion) that follows a debt claim, whether that claim reached judgment through a monitorio or another procedure. It is not itself a way to start a claim; it is how an already-recognised debt gets collected once other voluntary steps have failed. For the escalation that leads up to this point, see how to reclaim a debt in Spain.
This page is general legal information about Spanish law and does not constitute legal advice in an individual case. The controlling texts are the current versions in the BOE.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much of my salary can be garnished in Spain?
It depends on how much you earn above the salario minimo interprofesional. The first slice up to the SMI cannot be touched at all. Above that, an escalating scale of 30, 50, 60, 75 and finally 90 percent applies to each additional slice, measured in multiples of the SMI (art. 607 LEC).
Is my full salary protected if I earn minimum wage?
Yes. Art. 607.1 LEC makes income up to the salario minimo interprofesional inembargable, meaning it cannot be seized for ordinary debts enforced through this route (family-support debts are the exception: for alimentos the court sets the amount directly, outside this floor and scale). For 2026 that floor is 1.221 euros a month under Real Decreto 126/2026.
Do I automatically get a reduction if I have children?
Not automatically. Art. 607.4 LEC allows the Letrado de la Administracion de Justicia to reduce the first four bands of the scale by 10 to 15 percentage points for family burdens, but it is discretionary and decided case by case, and it does not apply to the top 90 percent band.
Can two salaries or a pension and a salary be garnished separately?
No, they are added together. Art. 607.3 LEC requires multiple income sources belonging to the same debtor to be accumulated so the inembargable floor is applied only once to the total, and the same rule can extend to a spouse's income when the couple is not under a separate-property regime.
Does the garnishment scale apply to self-employed income?
Yes. Art. 607.6 LEC extends the same protected floor and escalating scale to income from self-employed and professional activity, not only to employees on payroll.