Registering as self-employed (autónomo) in Spain is weirdly easy: one form with Social Security, one with the tax agency, and you're invoicing. The hard part shows up a few weeks later, when you realise a big chunk of what lands in your account isn't actually yours.
The most useful mental model: every euro you get paid splits into three piles. VAT, which belongs to the tax office and you're just holding it. The income tax you're paying in advance. And what's left, which is the only money you can actually spend. Get that into your head and you're already ahead of a lot of people.
Your monthly contribution depends on what you earn
Since 2023, the cuota de autónomos is based on real income: there are 15 brackets depending on your monthly net earnings (income minus expenses). For 2026 the 2025 brackets were kept, ranging from about €200 a month at the bottom (net earnings under €670) to about €590 at the top.
When you register, you pick a bracket based on what you think you'll earn. The following year Social Security cross-checks with the tax office and settles up: if you paid too little, you pay the difference; too much, you get a refund. So picking the lowest bracket "just in case" only kicks the can down the road.
The good part is the flat rate (tarifa plana): €80 a month for the first 12 months if you haven't been self-employed in the last two years (three if you used it before). It can be extended for another 12 months if your net earnings stay below the minimum wage.
VAT: money that passes through but isn't yours
Invoice €1,000 plus 21% VAT and your client pays €1,210. Those €210 are declared every quarter on form 303 (by 20 April, July and October, and 30 January), minus the VAT you paid on your own business purchases. Once a year there's the summary, form 390.
My most practical tip: open a separate account and move the VAT out of every payment the moment it arrives. Future you, on the 20th, will be grateful. If you have clients in other EU countries things work quite differently; I covered that in the post on intra-EU VAT. For quick VAT maths there's the VAT calculator.
Income tax: withholding or form 130
Two routes here:
- If you're a professional invoicing companies, they withhold 15% from each invoice (7% in your first year and the two after) and pay it to the tax office for you. If at least 70% of your income has withholding, you don't need to file form 130.
- Otherwise, every quarter you file form 130: 20% of your year-to-date net earnings, minus what you've already paid in earlier quarters and any withholding.
Both are advance payments. Your real tax bill is worked out in the annual return with progressive rates, and if you earn decently it's easy to end up owing more. The Spanish tax return calculator helps you see it coming.
Deductible expenses (and the ones people make up)
An expense is deductible if it's linked to your business, has an invoice in your name and is recorded in your books. The classics that do count:
- The social security contribution itself, your accountant, software and work equipment.
- Training related to what you do.
- Private health insurance: up to €500 a year for you and each covered family member (€1,500 with a disability).
- Working from home: utilities (power, water, internet) at 30% of the share of the home used for the business. With 20% of the flat used for work and a €100 power bill, you deduct €6. Yes, six.
- Restaurant meals paid by card: up to €26.67 a day in Spain and €48.08 abroad, as long as you're in a town other than where you live and usually work.
- Under the simplified direct assessment regime, 5% of net earnings as "hard-to-justify expenses", capped at €2,000 a year.
What doesn't fly: groceries, everyday clothes, or the car you also take to the cinema. The car's VAT is usually accepted at 50%, but for income tax only if it's used exclusively for the business (with exceptions like sales reps or transport).
One quarter, with numbers
Say you invoice €9,000 (before VAT) in a quarter to private clients (no withholding), have €1,000 of expenses plus VAT, and pay €400 a month in social security:
- You collect €10,890 (9,000 + 1,890 VAT).
- Form 303: 1,890 − 210 input VAT = €1,680.
- Net earnings: 9,000 − 1,000 − 1,200 contributions = €7,800. Form 130: 20% = €1,560.
- After expenses (€1,210), contributions (€1,200) and taxes, you keep about €5,240.
Out of €9,000 invoiced, a bit over half is yours, and the annual return may still adjust it. That's why it pays to run the numbers before jumping in; the business viability calculator is built for exactly that.
One last thing, more opinion than rule: once you've got foreign clients, employees or serious turnover, an accountant (gestoría) stops being a luxury. Getting a quarterly form wrong costs a lot more than a good accountant's monthly fee.