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ESCAENPA

Paperwork: registering as self-employed and tax

When you charge for your work regularly, it’s an economic activity and the normal thing is to register. It’s not as complicated as it looks.

The steps

  1. Register with the tax office (form 036 or 037), choosing the code for your activity.
  2. Register as self-employed with Social Security (RETA). In the first year you pay the €80 a month flat rate; after that, depending on what you earn (roughly €200–600 a month).
  3. Invoice every job and keep the invoices for your expenses.
  4. Every quarter: file VAT (form 303) and, if required, an income tax advance payment (form 130). If almost all your clients are companies that withhold income tax, the 130 is sometimes not needed.

What you can deduct

Your business expenses (computer, software, phone, part of your internet) reduce what you pay tax on, as long as you have an invoice in your name.

Many people say “if you earn less than the minimum wage you don’t need to register”. It’s not a clear rule: what counts is whether you do it regularly. When you start charging regularly, ask a gestoría: it usually costs €30–80 a month and saves you a lot of work and mistakes.