Autónomo registration in Spain

Yes: with a NIE if you're an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen; everyone else also needs a self-employment work authorisation.

Nationality sets the route. EU, EEA and Swiss citizens only need a NIE. Everyone else — including British nationals who arrived after 2020 — needs a residence and self-employment work authorisation before registering. Without a NIE you cannot file modelo 036 or register with RETA.

036 only: the 037 was abolished by Order HAC/1526/2024 and hasn't existed since 3 February 2025.

Any website still offering you a choice between the 036 and the 037 is out of date. Every census filing for registration, amendment and deregistration is now made on modelo 036, online with a digital certificate, Cl@ve or an authorised representative such as us.

The 2026 minimum is €205.88/month across earnings brackets; on the flat rate, €80/month.

Since 2023 the quota depends on your forecast net earnings, across fifteen brackets set for 2026 by Order PJC/297/2026: from €205.88/month in the lowest bracket up to €1,606.88/month on the maximum base. The €80/month flat rate covers your first 12 months and can be extended for 12 more if your earnings stay below the minimum wage — but it must be claimed within the registration itself.

No: modelo 036 must be filed before the activity starts, and buying equipment or paying for your domain already counts as starting.

For census purposes the activity starts as soon as you supply or acquire goods or services, make collections or payments, or take on staff — not with your first invoice. If you want to reclaim the VAT on those early purchases, the 036 must go in first with the pre-start acquisitions box ticked. Working without RETA registration also generates back quotas and surcharges.

It's the code that identifies your activity to the tax office; as an individual you don't pay the IAE tax, but the code drives your withholdings and filings.

Article 82.1.c) of the consolidated Local Tax Act exempts all individuals from paying the tax itself, but declaring the correct code on the 036 is compulsory. A section-2 professional invoices with withholding and is often exempt from modelo 130; a section-1 business owner suffers no withholding and files the 130 from the first quarter. Getting it right from the start avoids corrective filings.

Not compulsory for the registration, but strongly recommended: without it you depend on third parties for every filing and notification.

The FNMT personal certificate lets you sign procedures and receive AEAT and Social Security notifications online. We help you obtain it as part of the registration. In the meantime, as authorised representatives we can file your forms for you.

Modelo 303 (VAT) and, unless exempt, modelo 130 (income tax) every quarter; annual summaries and the tax return.

From the 1st to the 20th of April, July and October, and from the 1st to the 30th of January for Q4, you file the 303 and, where applicable, the 130. January adds the annual VAT summary (390), and in spring comes the income tax return, compulsory for anyone registered with RETA at any point in the year. If you'd rather not deal with any of this, our monthly management does it for you.