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Spanish Autonomo Registration. Basics.
Who needs to register?
Individuals over 18 who in a regular, personal and direct way carry out a commercial activity without subjection to a work contract.
The registration as self employed (autonomo) involves submitting the necessary forms to the Tax Agency (037) and Social Security Agency (TA0512). For this you previously need to have a NIE number, a bank account and a valid electronic certificate ( also called digital signature).
Once you start to work as self-employed you acquire certain obligations. We are going to consider some of them for the common case.
SOCIAL SECURITY
- National Insurance Contribution. Minimum contribution: 278€/month. This is to be considered the standard as 80% of autonomos in Spain contribute this amount. (There are some reductions that may be applicable to new entrepreneurs.)
The minimum contribution varies depending on your age. You can also choose to contribute more for your pension and dole if you wish.
Related: How much is the autonomo’s contribution?
TAX AGENCY (HACIENDA)
- Quarterly Reports and Tax Payments.
Self employed individuals are obliged to report, and pay if applicable, to Hacienda their revenue and balance of their IVA account.
You will initially have to pay 20% of each quarter profit against your future Income Tax Bill.
You will also report the balance of your IVA account and clear any positive balance using tax form 303.
Additionally, if you rent premises, you have to withhold part of the rent from the owner (retenciones) to pay his tax. This payment, 19% of the rent, has to be settled quarterly too.
Related: Understand IVA, retentions & Income Tax.
ADMINISTRATIVE OBLIGATIONS
These obligations can vary depending on the tax assessment system you register under. In order to give you an idea we list here some of the most common.
- Issuing Invoice within 30 days after providing the service or delivering the item.
Related: What to include on an invoice
- Book-keeping.
Among the information you have to keep in your books are: list of issued invoices , stating the tax information of clients, along with type of IVA applied and tax, list of assets and depreciation plans, list of expense invoices with tax information of suppliers and type of IVA applied.
- Documents should be kept for 5 years.
In LimitConsuting.com we assist entrepreneurs with their accounting obligations, tax filing, and other administrative necessities. Our articles provide practical knowledge and answer lots of questions.
We include the registration as a autonomo for free in every accounting plan.
We teach you all you need to know to become an autonomo in Spain in our guide : Get started as autonomo in Spain.
