How to Register as Self-Employed in Spain in 2026: Step by Step

Before you start: decisions worth making first

Registration takes an afternoon, but three decisions come first. The first is your actual start date: the day you begin offering your services or buying stock to sell, not the day you are first paid. The second is whether you will trade as an individual or through a company; here we focus on individuals.

The third is what you need to operate online. Both the Tax Agency and Social Security let you do everything over the internet, but you will need a digital certificate, an electronic ID card or Cl@ve. If you have none of these, apply a few days in advance.

• Planned start date of the activity.
• A precise description of what you will do, so you can choose the right heading.
• The address where you will work and, if working from home, the share of the property used for the business.
• A reasonable forecast of first-year income and expenses, needed for your contribution base.
• A bank account for direct debits of contributions and taxes.

Step 1: tax registration with form 036

The first step is the census declaration of business start-up. For years there were two forms, 036 and the simplified 037, but Order HAC/1526/2024 abolished form 037 with effect from 3 February 2025. Since then all registrations, changes and deregistrations are filed on form 036, which the Tax Agency has simplified with a wizard that only shows the boxes relevant to you.

Form 036 must be filed before you start trading. It records your identity details, the start date, the IAE heading, the business address and the tax regimes that apply to you. For income tax, most new self-employed people fall under the simplified direct assessment method, provided turnover does not exceed €600,000 a year and they have not opted out. For VAT the general regime is the norm, except for exempt activities or retailers under the equivalence surcharge scheme.

If you will work from home, state on form 036 the percentage of the property used for the business. That figure is the basis for later deducting part of the property costs.

Step 2: choosing the right IAE heading

The Business Activities Tax (IAE) classifies every activity under a heading. Individuals are exempt from paying it but must still register under the correct heading via form 036. The choice has practical consequences: the tariff distinguishes between business activities (section one) and professional activities (section two), and only professionals have income tax withheld on the invoices they issue to companies and other self-employed clients.

If you carry out several activities, register under every relevant heading. A wrong heading can be corrected with an amending form 036, but in the meantime it may lead to incorrect withholding or VAT treatment, so read the official tariff description before choosing.

Social Security will also ask for the CNAE code of your main activity. It is not the same as the IAE heading, although both must describe the same activity; the CNAE code determines, among other things, the occupational accident rate applied to your contribution.

Step 3: joining the RETA

The second step is registering with the Special Scheme for Self-Employed Workers (RETA) through Social Security's Import@ss portal. You can apply up to 60 calendar days before starting and, in any event, no later than the day you begin. Registering late means paying back contributions with surcharges and may cost you the flat rate.

In the application you state the activity, the CNAE code, the start date, the mutual insurer that will manage your sick-pay and occupational-risk cover, and a forecast of your net earnings for the year. The flat rate is not applied automatically: you must claim it in the registration itself.

Contributions are collected monthly in arrears by direct debit, normally on the last working day of each month.

The €80 flat rate in 2026

The flat rate, set out in Article 38 ter of the General Social Security Act, lets you pay a reduced contribution of €80 a month for your first 12 months of activity, whatever your income. It is available to people registering for the first time or who have not been self-employed in the previous two years; the gap is three years if you have already had this reduction before.

After those 12 months you can apply to extend it for another 12 months provided your expected net earnings for the second year are below the annual minimum wage. In 2026 the minimum wage is €1,221 a month over 14 payments, or €17,094 a year. The extension must also be requested explicitly.

Example: a designer who registers on 1 October 2026 pays €80 a month until 30 September 2027. If in her first year she invoices €30,000 with €6,000 of expenses, her net earnings of €24,000 exceed the minimum wage, so she cannot extend it and will move to contributing according to her earnings bracket.

How to choose your contribution base

Since 2023 the self-employed contribute according to actual earnings. You declare expected monthly net earnings and choose a base within the corresponding bracket; the following year Social Security cross-checks your figures with the Tax Agency and settles the difference, refunding or claiming it. In 2026 the total contribution rate is 31.50% of the chosen base.

Computable earnings start from the net taxable profit of the activity, before deducting your own Social Security contributions, less a 7% allowance for general expenses. For example, with €36,000 of income and €8,000 of expenses, net profit is €28,000; after the 7% allowance it is €26,040, or €2,170 a month. That falls in bracket 9 (€2,030 to €2,330), whose minimum base is €1,274.51, giving a minimum contribution of €401.47 a month.

You can change your base up to six times a year if your forecast changes, taking effect on the first day of March, May, July, September, November or the following January. A very low base makes contributions cheaper but reduces benefits and your future pension, and increases the risk of an upward adjustment.

• Bracket 1 (up to €670 a month): minimum base €653.59, contribution €205.88.
• Bracket 4 (€1,166.70 to €1,300): minimum base €950.98, contribution €299.56.
• Bracket 6 (€1,500 to €1,700): minimum base €960.78, contribution €302.65.
• Bracket 9 (€2,030 to €2,330): minimum base €1,274.51, contribution €401.47.
• Bracket 15 (over €6,000): minimum base €1,928.10, contribution €607.35.

Obligations from day one

Once registered, every invoice you issue must show a sequential number, the date, your details and the client's including their tax ID, a description of the service, the taxable amount, the VAT rate and amount and, if you are a professional invoicing companies or self-employed clients, the income tax withholding. The standard withholding rate is 15%, but in your first year and the two following years you can apply 7% if you did not carry on a professional activity in the previous year; you simply notify the client in writing.

You must also keep records of income, expenses and capital assets, and retain the invoices you receive. The Verifactu invoicing system, which requires software that logs and seals every invoice, will become mandatory for the self-employed from 1 July 2027 following the postponement in Royal Decree-law 15/2025; until then you can adopt it voluntarily.

Every quarter you will file form 303 for VAT and, under direct assessment, form 130 for income tax prepayments, unless at least 70% of your income in the previous year was subject to withholding. If you employ staff or pay other professionals, add form 111; if you rent business premises, form 115. January brings the annual VAT summary (form 390) and spring the personal income tax return.

Common mistakes in the first months

The most frequent is invoicing before being registered, or registering with the Tax Agency and forgetting Social Security. Others include not requesting the flat rate at registration, charging VAT on exempt services and not setting money aside for quarterly taxes. A practical rule: move all VAT collected and around 20% of profit into a separate account for income tax.

If you start in October 2026, your first returns will be for the fourth quarter, filed in January 2027 alongside the annual VAT summary. Plan that first close in good time or ask a tax adviser to review your registration before filing.