What happens if my salary is paid into an attached account?

Question

José Manuel Alburquerque · Accepted Answer

They cannot take everything. If your salary or pension is regularly paid into the account, the law requires the same protected portion to be respected there as if your salary itself were attached. What counts as salary is what has been paid in as such in the month of the attachment or, if you have not yet been paid that month, in the previous month. The rest of the balance can be attached, although the “Tribunal Supremo”, Spain's Supreme Court, has also protected, in attachments for tax debts, the balance deriving from salaries or pensions from previous months. Which part is protected The “Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil”, Spain's Civil Procedure Act, applies the same scale to a salary paid into the account as to an attachment of earnings. The part that does not exceed the national minimum wage (“salario mínimo interprofesional”), 1.221 euros a month in 2026, is free from attachment. Of anything above that figure, only a percentage can be attached, starting at 30 %. If you are paid 1.500 euros net, for example, only 83,70 euros of that income can be attached. In a month in which you receive an extra month's salary, the protected portion may be larger. That protection applies to what reaches the account as salary or pension. Anything paid in for other reasons, such as rent you collect or the money from a sale, can be attached in full. Savings from previous months According to the letter of the law, the only amount protected is what has been paid in as salary in the month of the attachment or, if there is none that month, in the previous month. Whatever is left from previous months could be attached like any other savings. In July 2026, several Supreme Court judgments rejected that outcome in attachments for tax debts. They held that the balance deriving from the protected portion of earlier salaries or pensions is also exempt from attachment, unless income from other sources is paid into the account. These judgments come from the chamber that reviews attachments by public authorities, but their reasoning can also be relied on before the court. What to do if too much is withheld If the bank also withholds the protected portion, it is advisable to ask the court that ordered the attachment to return it straight away, providing these documents: Your payslips or a certificate from your employer showing your net salary and the account into which it is paid. If it is a pension, the pension certificate. The bank statements, showing that the money withheld comes from that income. The clearer it is that only the salary or pension goes into the account, the easier it will be to prove. If other income also goes into it, you will have to show which part of the balance comes from each source.