Registering as an autónomo in Spain when you are not Spanish
Two administrations, and the order matters: first Hacienda, with the census declaration — before starting the activity, under article 9.4 of Real Decreto 1065/2007 — and then the Seguridad Social. Before both, knowing whether your permit lets you work on a self-employed basis.
First things first: Cairos is in Spanish
You can read this page in several languages, but the application you are going to work in is in Spanish only: the menus, the invoices, the tax forms and the help screens. There is no English version and there is still no date for one. Support answers in Spanish too. If you have just arrived in Spain and do not read Spanish comfortably, tell us before you decide: we would rather you knew now than found out on your first day. Our plans and their limits are on pricing.
If you settle in the Basque Country or Navarre, this changes
Álava, Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa and Navarre have their own foral tax regime: you do not file with the state Tax Agency but with their Hacienda Foral, which has its own forms, its own deadlines and its own rates. This page describes the common regime, which is the one that applies in the rest of Spain. And there is one difference worth knowing before any other: in Álava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa the invoicing obligation is not VeriFactu, it is TicketBAI, and it is already in force. In Navarre there is no equivalent system approved today. If you are going to settle there, start with that page and talk to an accountant based in that territory.
First of all: are you allowed to work on a self-employed basis?
This is the question that decides whether the rest of the page is any use to you, and it is not a tax question.
- Citizens of the European Union, the European Economic Area and Switzerland. They have the right to establish themselves in Spain on a self-employed basis. The usual formality is registration as an EU citizen, which produces a certificate carrying the NIE.
- Every other nationality. You need a visa or an authorisation that expressly allows self-employed work. Not every permit does: there are authorisations that only cover employed work, and registering as an autónomo on one of those is a problem.
The case of someone arriving on the international remote-work visa under Ley 28/2022 has rules of its own and we deal with it separately, in working remotely from Spain.
Careful with this order
Registering with Hacienda and the Seguridad Social does not regularise your immigration status. They are different administrations and different files. Settle first whether you are allowed to work on a self-employed basis, and only then come to the tax side.
The census declaration: form 036, and before you start
It is your registration with Hacienda. With it you enter the Census of Business People, Professionals and Withholding Agents, which is the list of everyone carrying out an economic activity in Spain.
The deadline leaves no room for interpretation. Article 9.4 of Real Decreto 1065/2007 says the registration declaration is filed «con anterioridad al inicio de las correspondientes actividades» — before the corresponding activities begin. And the same paragraph defines when an activity is deemed to have begun, which is the part people get wrong: from the moment supplies, services or acquisitions of goods or services are made, payments are made or received, or staff are taken on, with a view to taking part in the production or distribution of goods or services.
Read that again, because it is broader than it looks: buying the laptop for the business already counts as starting. You do not have to have issued the first invoice.
What you decide on that form
| What you choose | Why it matters | Where you meet it later on |
|---|---|---|
| Your IAE heading | It decides whether you are profesional or empresarial, and that decides whether your invoices carry IRPF withholding and whether you file the instalment payment. | On every invoice and on form 130 |
| Your VAT regime | General, recargo de equivalencia, the cash basis regime or other special regimes. Changing it later has its own deadlines. | On each quarter's form 303 |
| Your IRPF regime | Estimación directa normal, estimación directa simplificada or estimación objetiva. It sets how your profit is worked out. | On your record books and on your annual return |
| Registration on the ROI | If you are going to sell or buy inside the European Union. Article 9.3.g) of RD 1065/2007 lets you request it on the census declaration itself. | On form 349 and on your invoices without VAT |
| Your registered tax address | It determines which administration you belong to. And if you live in the Canary Islands, Ceuta or Melilla, you do not pay VAT but IGIC or IPSI. | On everything, and on Canary Islands IGIC where that applies |
There is also form 037, a short version for the simplest cases. The detail of every box is on the form 036 page.
If you are going to invoice inside the European Union, apply for the ROI now
Registration on the Register of Intra-Community Operators is not automatic and the Tax Agency can refuse it. Article 25.1 of Real Decreto 1065/2007 also warns that if it does not decide within three months, the application may be treated as refused. Starting the process the day your first German client arrives is too late.
Registering with the Seguridad Social
The second formality is registering with the Special Scheme for Self-Employed Workers (RETA). It comes after registering with Hacienda because it asks for the details of the activity you have just declared.
It is applied for before starting the activity, and can be requested up to sixty calendar days in advance. When you register you declare a forecast of your net income for the year, and that forecast sets the base you contribute on.
The cuota is paid from the first month, whether you invoice or not
This is the uncomfortable part and it is worth saying without decoration. The cuota de autónomos does not wait for you to have income: it accrues from the month you register. And registering late saves you nothing, because the cuotas for the months you were already working end up being claimed with a surcharge.
A useful detail for anyone who has just arrived: article 76.5 of Ley 14/2013 provides that a passport is sufficient evidence to register with the Seguridad Social during the first six months of residence or stay under the international mobility categories that section governs, and in cases where the foreign national does not yet have a NIE. The NIE is applied for afterwards all the same.
About the amounts: you will not find a single figure here. The table of bands is approved year by year, and the reduced start-up cuota — the so-called tarifa plana — has changed amount and duration several times. The figures in force are on the Seguridad Social site. It is the same decision we took on the page for autónomos: an old table on a website does more harm than none at all.
What comes next: your obligations in the first year
Once you are registered, your obligations are the same as a Spanish autónomo's. There is no separate regime for being foreign. This is the calendar in its most common form, for someone on estimación directa and the general VAT regime:
| When | What | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Every quarter | Form 303 | The output VAT on your invoices minus the input VAT on your expenses. |
| Every quarter | Form 130 | The IRPF instalment payment. There is an exception for professionals with at least 70% of their income carrying withholding. |
| Every quarter or every month | Form 349 | Only if you trade with the European Union. How often is set by article 81 of the VAT Regulations. |
| Every quarter | Form 111 | Only if you are the one withholding from someone: a professional who invoices you, or an employee. |
| January | Form 390 | The annual VAT summary. |
| January to March | Form 720 | Only if you are tax resident and hold assets outside Spain above €50,000 in any one of its blocks. |
| April to June | The annual income tax return | If you are tax resident. If you are not, the Income Tax for Non-Residents. |
The full calendar, with the exact days of each deadline, is on the tax calendar.
And one that really is particular to your situation: if you are tax resident in Spain and you keep accounts, securities or property in your country of origin, look at form 720 before the deadline passes you by. It is one of the obligations people find out about latest.
Which part of this Cairos does
Being honest up front: the application is in Spanish and there is no English version. That said, this is what it solves.
- Compliant invoices from the very first one, with their own series, sequential numbering and VeriFactu's chained record. Included on the free plan too.
- Expenses with their document attached and their input VAT, which is where half the 303 comes from.
- The 303, the 130, the 349 and the 111, worked out box by box from what you already have inside. They come in from the Autónomo plan upwards, which is €10 a month.
- Intra-Community VAT number checked in VIES from the client's record, with the date and reference of the check saved.
And what it does not do: file the forms. Cairos works them out and shows you where every box comes from, but filing is done on the Tax Agency's E-Office and that is done by you or your accountant. There is no multi-currency either: today you invoice in euros, and that feature is listed as on the way and only on the bespoke plan.
Once you are registered, your first invoice can already go out compliant
Free plan, no card, with VeriFactu included. And if one day it does not suit you, your data leaves with you.
Questions about registering
What is our field and what is not
Tax and invoicing are our field: taxes, forms, VAT and compliant invoices. Visas, residence permits and consular formalities are not. We explain them here because your tax position makes no sense without them, but we are not immigration lawyers and this does not replace one. For an actual case — a refusal, a renewal, an arraigo application — find a specialist firm.
How this page is kept up to date
Every figure on this page comes from the consolidated text on the BOE or from the Tax Agency's E-Office, with the legislation cited beside it. What changes every year — the cuota de autónomos, the fees, the bands — is deliberately not reproduced here: an out-of-date figure on a website is worse than no figure at all. Last reviewed: 27 August 2026. If you spot something out of date, write to us at hola@cairos.es.
This is information, not tax or legal advice. Whether or not your residence permit allows self-employed work, ask an immigration lawyer before registering.
Registering is paperwork. What comes after is every month
Cairos keeps your invoices and your expenses and leaves the quarter worked out for you. In Spanish, which is how the application comes.
No minimum term · VeriFactu included, free plan too · Support in Spanish