Free template · Excel · Art. 34.9 ET (Spain)

Working time register Spain 2026: free Excel template and legal guide

Twelve monthly working time sheets per employee with date, clock-in and clock-out time, breaks, total hours and overtime calculated by formula, remarks and signatures of the worker and the company. Plus an annual summary and instructions with what article 34.9 of the Estatuto de los Trabajadores (Spain's Workers' Statute) requires. No sign-up, no macros. The template is in Spanish (the same file as the Spanish version of this page).

Download the template (.xlsx, 59 KB, in Spanish) See digital clock-in

Compatible with Excel 2016 or later, LibreOffice Calc and Google Sheets (import). One file per worker; standard formulas, no macros.

Digital clock-in from the phone with working time register and report for the Labour Inspectorate, the alternative to the Excel working time template

What the working time register template includes

Fifteen sheets: instructions, data, annual summary and one per month of 2026, with the dates and the weekday already loaded.

January to December

Monthly sheet per employee

One row per day: date, weekday, clock-in time, clock-out time, break start and end, total hours and overtime (formulas), remarks and signature columns for the worker and the company. Weekends in grey, overtime in amber and month totals at the foot.

Datos (data)

Single header

Company, CIF (company tax ID), workplace, worker, DNI (ID number), position and agreed daily working time (8:00 by default). Filled in once and shown in the header of every month; overtime is calculated against that working time.

Resumen mensual

Annual totals

For each month, days with a record, hours worked, overtime and daily average, with the 2026 total and a review column. Overtime is highlighted to watch the limit of 80 hours a year.

Instrucciones

Legal guide inside the file

What art. 34.9 ET and RD-ley 8/2019 require (daily record, four-year retention, available to the Inspectorate), the penalty for non-compliance, the notice about the Royal Decree on the digital register and what the template does not do.

How to use the working time template

Designed to be filled in by the employee every day and closed by administration every month.

1

One copy per worker

Save the file with the employee's name and fill in the Datos sheet: company, workplace, worker, DNI and agreed daily working time.

2

Clock-in and clock-out every day

In the month's sheet, clock-in and clock-out time in hh:mm format and, if there is a non-countable break, its start and end. Total and overtime calculate themselves, also for shifts that cross midnight.

3

Days without work

Leave weekends, public holidays, vacation and sick leave blank and note it in Observaciones (remarks). That way the summary counts only the days with a record.

4

Monthly close and signature

At the end of the month, the worker's signature and the company's signature and stamp at the foot of the sheet (or row by row). Print to PDF and archive for four years.

What article 34.9 of the Estatuto de los Trabajadores requires

The working time register was introduced by Real Decreto-ley 8/2019, de 8 de marzo (BOE of 12 March 2019), which added paragraph 9 to article 34 of the Estatuto de los Trabajadores, Spain's Workers' Statute. It has been mandatory since 12 May 2019.

ObligationWhat the rule saysHow the template covers it
Daily record“The company shall guarantee the daily record of working time”, with the specific start and end time of each worker's working day (art. 34.9 ET).One row per day with clock-in, clock-out and breaks; total by formula.
OrganisationBy collective agreement or company agreement or, failing that, by the employer's decision after consulting the workers' legal representatives.Document the agreement or consultation in Observaciones; the template serves as an annex.
4-year retentionRecords are kept for four years and remain available to workers, their legal representatives and the Inspección de Trabajo y Seguridad Social (Labour Inspectorate).Monthly signature and PDF archive; one file per worker and year.
ReliabilityThe Ministry of Labour guide (2019) accepts any medium, paper or IT, if it guarantees reliability and unalterability and the traceability of changes.Partial: Excel does not block changes. That is why each month is signed and the PDF is kept.
PenaltySerious infringement under art. 7.5 of the LISOS (Spain's act on social-order infringements and penalties): fine of 751 to 7,500 € depending on the degree.Having the register avoids the infringement; proving it has not been altered depends on the system.
Notice: Royal Decree on the digital working time register. The Spanish Government is processing a rule that will require the register to be kept by digital means, with daily and monthly totals, traceability of changes and remote access for the Inspectorate. The Council of Ministers agreed the urgent procedure on 30 September 2025 and the Council of State issued its opinion on 23 March 2026; as at 20 October 2026 it has not been published in the BOE. Once it enters into force, paper and spreadsheets will no longer be valid. Which clock-in methods already meet that standard, in clock-in methods: which to choose.

Informative content; it does not replace the advice of your labour adviser or what your collective agreement says. Reviewed on 20 October 2026.

Honestly

Limits of the Excel working time register and when to move to software

For a business with three or four people in a single workplace and fixed hours, the template does the job. These are the signs that it no longer serves you.

You cannot prove it has not been touched

An Excel cell is changed without leaving a trace. If the Inspectorate or a court doubts its reliability, the burden of proof falls on the company.

It gets filled in on Friday for the whole week

A record reconstructed from memory is not a daily record. If the employee does not clock in at the time, the template captures an estimate, not the working day.

People work remotely, on site or on the road

Sales reps, technicians and remote workers do not have the Excel in front of them. Clock-in has to be on the phone, with geolocation only where justified.

More than ten people or several sites

Ten files a month are 120 sheets a year that someone has to collect, review and archive. From there, the administration time exceeds the cost of a licence.

The Inspectorate asks for a specific period

“The register of this site for the last twelve months” should be a one-click report, not a morning stitching together PDFs from twelve employees.

The mandatory digital register is coming

When the Royal Decree is published, the draft gives twenty days to adapt. Choosing the system calmly now is cheaper than doing it in a hurry.

The same logic, without Excel

Dokuflex's time tracking and digital clock-in software does what this template does and what the template cannot: the employee clocks in from the web or the app with breaks, the record is time-stamped and traceable, and the official report for the Inspectorate is generated by site and period with one click. Free up to 10 employees, no card required. Vacation and leave live in the same place, with the leave and absence management software and its online vacation planner; if you prefer to stay in a spreadsheet, use the Excel vacation template 2027.

Start for free See time tracking

Frequently asked questions about the working time register

Is the working time register mandatory in Spain?

Yes. Since 12 May 2019 every company must guarantee a daily record of each worker's working time, with the specific start and end times (article 34.9 of the Estatuto de los Trabajadores, Spain's Workers' Statute, introduced by Real Decreto-ley 8/2019). It applies to all companies and all employees, full-time or part-time; only self-employed workers without employees are excluded.

How long must the working time register be kept?

Four years. Article 34.9 of the Workers' Statute requires the records to be kept for that period and to remain available to workers, their legal representatives and the Inspección de Trabajo y Seguridad Social (Labour and Social Security Inspectorate). With the template, save each signed month as a PDF in addition to the Excel file.

Is an Excel template valid as a working time register?

Today yes, with conditions. The law does not impose a medium and the 2019 guide of the Spanish Ministry of Labour accepts paper or IT means provided the record is reliable and unalterable and keeps the traceability of changes. An Excel file does not prevent a cell from being edited without a trace, which is why this template includes monthly signatures and recommends archiving the PDF. Once the Royal Decree on the digital register is published, paper and spreadsheets will no longer be valid.

What data must the working time register contain?

At a minimum, the start and end time of each day's working time for each person. The Ministry's guide recommends also recording non-countable breaks (lunch, rest breaks) so that effective working time is clear, and the draft digital register adds daily and monthly totals. The template records clock-in, clock-out, break, total, overtime, remarks and signatures.

What is the penalty for not keeping a working time register?

It is a serious infringement in labour relations (article 7.5 of the LISOS, Spain's act on social-order infringements and penalties), with a fine of 751 to 7,500 euros depending on the degree, per company or workplace inspected. On top of that, claims for unrecorded overtime may be added, because without a register the Inspectorate and the courts presume the working hours the employee alleges. How to prepare for a visit, in inspection-proof clock-in (in Spanish).

When will the digital working time register be mandatory?

There is no date yet. The Royal Decree that will require the register to be kept by digital means, with remote access for the Inspectorate, is still being processed: the Council of Ministers agreed the urgent procedure on 30 September 2025 and the Council of State issued its opinion on 23 March 2026, but as at 20 October 2026 it has not been published in the BOE. The draft provides for entry into force twenty days after publication, so it pays to have the time tracking and digital clock-in software chosen beforehand.