The minimum wage for 2026 is set at 1,221 euros gross per month in fourteen payments. A tax advisor warns that the IRPF consumes a large part of each increase.
With the update for 2026, the Minimum Interprofessional Wage stands at 1,221 euros gross per month in fourteen payments, which amounts to 17,094 euros gross per year. The information, reported by La Razón, includes warnings from tax advisor José Ramón López Martínez regarding what workers actually earn after taxes.
The increase is 3.1% compared to the previous year and is retroactive from 1 January 2026, according to Royal Decree 126/2026, published in the BOE. If the two extra payments are prorated over twelve months, the amount rises to 1,424.50 euros gross per month.
The second vice president and Minister of Labour, Yolanda Díaz, has begun preparations for a new increase in 2027 and has asked the commission of experts for their proposal by the end of October or early November. The percentage has not yet been specified, but she argues that the increase should at least match inflation. The initiative is based on a CPI of 4.9% in September and the goal of setting the minimum wage at 60% of the average salary.
López Martínez, known on social media as “Your Tax Blog,” claims that the net increase will be much lower than the announced percentage suggests:
“you will actually receive hardly even half of that increase, because this salary increase will be paid in taxes”
As an example, he takes the case of a young person, without family burdens, who earns the current minimum wage. According to the advisor, that person would have 523.08 euros of IRPF withholding from their paychecks. With a 7% increase, their annual salary would rise to 18,284 euros, about 1,300 euros more per year.
The problem lies in the marginal rate. According to the expert, the worker would move from paying an IRPF of 3% to one of 5% on everything they earn, which nearly doubles the rate they were subject to. Therefore, he recommends that the new minimum wage be accompanied by a tax exemption that adjusts the exempt minimums. If they are not adjusted, he warns, the worker will lose a large part of the increase and will end up practically the same.
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