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What Tax Can I Expect to Pay If I Am Self-Employed?

An individual who develops an economic activity as self-employed (called autonomous or freelance) needs to take into account that he/she is going to be taxed (and consequently will be forced to pay) mainly under the next taxes:

I.R.P.F. (Personal Income Tax).

The profit of the development of an economic activity is taxed with a progressive scale that depends on the Autonomic Community in which an individual is considered tax resident . If we consider Catalunya, the amount of taxes that you are going to pay can be the 48% if your benefit is higher than 175.000 €.

Depending on the activity that an individual is developing -basically professionals like lawyers, engineers, architects, economists,…), companies that autonomous are working for will practise a withholding tax of 15% (or 7% for new autonomous) of their incomes.

Self-Employed are also forced to file a quarterly payment on-account that consists in the 20% of their quarterly profit. This profit is calculated as the difference between their incomes and expenses and will be deducted when Self-Employed calculate their Year Personal Income Tax they

IVA (VALUE ADDED TAX).

The self-employed have the obligation to file a quarterly IVA declaration – called model 303 – which consists in declaring the difference between the collected and supported IVA.

This model must be filed within the first twenty days of April, July and October and during the first thirty days of the month of January regarding of the previous quarter.

The result of this statement can be positive – given that collected IVA has been higher than paid IVA and therefore must be paid- or compensated – since paid VAT has been higher than the collected IVA. In the latter case at the end of the year you can request a refund.

It is also important to mention that some activities can be considered exempt from VAT and, as a consequence, the IVA paid is considered an expense and is not directly recoverable. In this case, there is no obligation to present the form.

It is also very important to consider that IVA is a tax that falls on the final consumer and that companies and professionals act as collectors of it.

In the development of some business activities, and subject to certain limits, the self-employed can pay taxes in a simplified system that has nothing to do with the difference between the VAT charged and supported, but based on certain indices or modules.

SOCIAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTION

Under the Spanish Social Security Law, self-employed have the obligation to pay a monthly Social Security Contribution. This contribution is, by the moment, fixed regardless of the incomes or benefits that the self-employed have obtained.

The amount that self-employed are forced to pay monthly is the 30.30% of the selected base being the minimum base 944,40 €. As a consequence, the minimum amount that a self-employed needs to pay monthly is 286,15 €.

The mean social benefits to which self-employed have access paying this quotation are related to the illness and the cessation of activity and the amount that they will receive would have a direct relation with the selected base.

Any case, the self-employed can select a higher base and, as a consequence, will have the obligation of paying a higher amount.

However, since the entry into force of the Law on Urgent Reforms of Self-Employment, they enjoy an initial fee of 60€. If the self-employed person is over 30 years old (or over 35 years old in the case of women), for 24 months, they have some reductions:

During the first 12 months, the self-employed have a fixed quota of 60 euros per month.
The following 6 months, a reduction of 50%.
And the following 6 months, a reduction of 30%.
In the case of the self-employed who are under 30 years old (or under 35 years old in the case of women), for 36 months they have some reductions.

During the first 12 months, the self-employed have a fixed quota of 60 euros per month.
The following 6 months, a reduction of 50%.
The next 6 months, a reduction of 30%.
And a 30% reduction during the last 12 months.