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How To Register As A Freelancer

Many of our clients are teachers, and of those, quite a large proportion work on a freelance basis. This is because some institutes do not want to get involved in the administration of tax and social security payments, or because the person has income from several sources, and so it makes more sense to be officially self-employed, or 'autonomo' in Spanish.

Registering as an autonomo can be a bit daunting. If you manage to find a reliable gestor (a quasi-lawyer/accountant), he/she can do all of the registration work for you. Alternatively, you can do it yourself. The easiest way to do it is to use a place called the VUE (Ventanilla Unica Empresarial - one-window thingie for setting up businesses). These exist in most major Spanish cities, and they are basically a collection of officials from the various Government Departments and Ministries that are involved in business registrations, tax registrations, social security, etc. You might have to spend two or three hours there filling in forms, but the staff are helpful, and will make sure that you do every bit of official stuff that is needed.

Autonomo registration is fairly straightforward. Basically, what you are doing is declaring yourself as an autonomous worker in whatever field(s). Then you fill in forms that tell the tax authorities (personal income tax and VAT) where you live. And the same for Social Security.

As an autonomo, you are required to make a monthly contribution for Social Security - currently it's about €235-255. In return for this you get ~~almost nothing~~ access to Government Health services, sick pay, and eventually a meagre pension.

When you submit an invoice to a Spanish client, they have to retain 18% of the amount as tax (you may be able to reclaim some of this against allowable expenses). You also have to add 16% to the total for IVA (VAT).

You have to submit a tax return every three months, and I strongly recommend that you use a gestor for this.

Your fiscal identity number and your IVA number will be the same as your NIE. Once you have filled in all the forms, you'll get your Social Security number through the post, and the tax office will send you a few sheets of barcoded stickers that have to be used on any correspondence with them.

Madrid's VUE is located at Calle Ribera del Loira, 56-58. The nearest Metro is Campo de las Naciones. The phone number is 915 383 799. Unlike the NIE office, you will usually get your appointment within a week.

Tags: Autonomo, freelance, bureaucracy, VUE

27/06/2008 | 6623 page views

Getting Your NIE

The vast majority of our customers come from outside Spain. They come to Madrid to work or study, and they all need to get an NIE (Numero de Identificación de Extranjero - Foreigner's Identity Number). This is the magic ticket that allows you to run up huge debts with banks and credit cards (although you can open a 'foreigner's' bank account without an NIE, but don't expect the bank to lend you any money), buy a car, pay tax, get a Social Security number, etc.

There are basically two ways to get your NIE. The first is to pay a gestor - a quasi-lawyer/accountant/gofer - to do it for you, and the second is to phone for an appointment. There used to be a third way, which was to queue outside the office from about 5am, but I believe that option has been stopped now.

To get your NIE you can phone for an appointment on these three numbers. They are usually engaged and there's no queueing system, so find out how the redial function on your phone works. The operators don't seem to speak English, so practice the Spanish phrases you might need!
913226919
913226835
913226876

The waiting time for the appointment varies according to how busy they are, but don't be surprised if you have to wait a couple of months.
This is the address of the office (unless you are Bulgarian or Romanian):
Plaza del Campillo del Mundo Nuevo nº 3
28005 - Madrid.
The nearest Metro is probably Puerta de Toledo.

There is a small fee (about €6.70) for the NIE - despite the fact that the EU has declared it illegal. You must pay this into their account before you can enter the building for your appointment; the heavily armed guards on the door will want to see your receipt for the payment before they will let you in. I advise you to visit the oficina some days before your appointment, get a payment form at the door, and pay at your leisure. The banks around the oficina will only accept payment until 10 or 11 in the morning, and possibly only when there's a q in the month, so save yourself a bit of stress and do it ahead of time.

Once you get to your appointment, you might have to wait a few minutes inside the oficina, but when you actually get to see the nice lady it takes less than ten minutes to squeeze your details into the computer, and your NIE is issued immediately. The NIE used to be a little plastic card, but now, for EU citizens at least, it's just a green A4 certificate.

Documentation requirements are the subject of urban myth, but as a minimum you need your passport and a copy, and the completed application form (which you can download from here). As with any government dealings anywhere, you would be well advised to take the original and a photocopy of any official document you've acquired since you were ten years old, plus about two hundred passport photos, but actually, as far as we know (and this information is offered without any guarantee or claim to accuracy, veracity or reality whatsoever, and anything that goes wrong is your fault), they only want the form and the passport.

Tags: NIE, Bureaucracy

15/06/2008 | 6616 page views

Jun 2008

How To Register As A Freelancer

Getting Your NIE