Spain's Mutuality Reform Lets Doctors Switch to Social Security, Triggers Massive Pensioner Tax Refunds

A new law approved in Spain lets self‑employed doctors continue choosing between alternative mutualities and the public RETA system. For the first time, doctors who are members of an alternative mutuality can voluntarily transfer their accumulated economic rights to the Social Security system, although the detailed regulations are still pending and will be issued within three months. Once the regulations are in place, beneficiaries will have a year to decide whether to make the transfer.

At the same time, the Spanish Tax Agency has opened a procedure to refund more than €4,000 to over five million retirees who overpaid income tax because contributions to old labor mutualities were taxed twice. The refunds apply to pensioners who contributed to mutualities before 1999 and will be processed through a specific electronic form, with deadlines extending into 2026. Both measures aim to align alternative mutualities with the public system and correct past tax overpayments.