If you’re newly self-employed in Spain, you’ll have to get your head around the rules and forms to fill out, but also all the new Spanish work vocabulary. Here are some key words you need to know as an ‘aútonomo/a’ in Spain.
If you’ve newly arrived in Spain, learning the lingo will already be one of the most important things on your mind, but if you’re self-employed there’s a lot of extra stress with new terms you need to familiarise yourself with. Here are some of most useful.
Alta de Autónomo – This simply means to register as self-employed. It involves carrying out a series of procedures, including registering with the Hacienda or Treasury, as well as with social security. To register, you will need to fill out form 036.
Darse alta en la RETA – Similar to the first, RETA stands for Régimen Especial de Trabajadores Autónomos, which means the Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers. This registration is part signing up to become self-employed.
READ ALSO: When exactly do I need to register as self-employed in Spain?
I.A.E – This stands for Impuesto de Actividades Económicas or Tax on Economic Activities. It’s mandatory for every company and business owner. You must register with the Tax Agency within ten business days from the beginning of the activity. The type of sector you will determine how it is calculated.
Actividad – This simply translates as ‘activity’ and refers to the type of business activity do for your work. Activities are generally split into three groups – professional activities, business activities and artistic activities. It is very important to determine the type of activity you will be doing, because the applicable VAT or withholding of Personal Income Tax on invoices will depend on it.
Base de cotización – This translates as contribution base and is like a hypothetical salary or income that acts as a reference amount from which to calculate your social security fee. As of 2023 there are 15 different tranches which will determine how much you pay.
READ ALSO: The social security fees Spain’s self-employed will pay in 2024
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Seguridad Social – This means social security and is the monthly fee you pay based on real earnings. It goes towards things such as health care, sick pay, maternity and paternity pay and your pension. It’s mandatory for all autónomos in Spain.
Tarifa plana – This refers to the social security plan for newly registered autónomos. It means that for the first year you will pay a flat fee of €80 no matter what you earn. This can be extended for a second year only if you earn under a certain amount during the first year.
Declaración trimestral – This translates a quarterly declaration. It basically refers to the taxes you have to declare every three months and the forms you have to complete, informing Hacienda of the money you’ve made and your expenses during the last three months. Confusingly, there are four trimesters in the year. This means that autónomos must present their taxes four times in the year, plus an extra fifth time each April to June for the yearly Declaración de Renta or income tax return.
Colaborador – A self-employed collaborator is a worker who works for someone else, for which they are taxed as an employee. To qualify for this you must be a relative of the main self-employed person up to the second degree and reside in the same address as the main self-employed person.
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TRADE – Economically dependent self-employed people. To be part of this category, a single client must account for 75 percent or more of your income.
Estatuto del Trabajador Autónomo – The Self-Employed Worker Statute. It includes the rights and duties of self-employed workers in Spain and helps make conditions equal to those of employed workers.
Factura – This is an invoice. You will need to know this word when invoicing clients and when you purchase something for your business and deduct it from your earnings. In this case you will be issued with an invoice. These facturas must be saved and presented each trimester.
Ingresos – Ingresos simply refers to your income. You will have to work this out every quarter by adding together all your invoices. You will either put this into a spreadsheet for your accountant or send your accountant your invoices and they will do it for you.
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Compras/Gastos – Compras translates as shopping and gastos as bills, essentially these are the purchases you make for your business and the expenses you have for it such as internet and phone bills, accountant fees and the cost of any raw materials.
Modelos – This is how Spain refers to its official forms. Spain has hundreds of modelos, one for every different type of administrative process. As an autónomo you or your accountant will have to fill out a lot of them. There a special modelos for registering as self-employed, another for earnings from inside the EU, one for your total earnings and another for the VAT you’ve paid that quarter. The list goes on and more and more modelos are introduced all the time.
Gestor – There isn’t a direct translation for gestor, but if you look it up in the dictionary and you’re likely to get several meanings: consultant, administrator, adviser, and accountant. If you’re self-employed you will likely hire one of these professionals to help you submit your quarterly tax returns as it can be quite complicated to do yourself and you’ll be fined for any mistakes you make.
Are there any important Spanish words to do with being self-employed in Spain that we missed out? Let us know in the comments section below.
