Registration means filing the census declaration with the tax agency and enrolling in the RETA social security scheme, usually within days of each other. In the census declaration you state your activity, the business code that fits it and the taxes you will file. With social security you choose your contribution base according to the net earnings you expect.
From then on you have recurring duties: issue complete invoices, keep your income and expense records, file VAT and the IRPF advance payment every quarter, and file the income tax return every year. You also pay the monthly autónomo quota, even in a month when you invoice nothing.
The typical mistake is invoicing before you are registered, or registering with the tax agency and forgetting social security. Another common slip is not keeping expense invoices: without an invoice in your name, the expense cannot be deducted. Keep every expense invoice from the very first day.
An autónomo pays IRPF, unlike an SL, which pays Impuesto de Sociedades. With kontora you keep your books, invoice with Verifactu and get the quarterly modelos prepared box by box, with deadline reminders.
Guides that use this term
- Autónomo or SL: what suits you and when
- How to pay yourself from your own Spanish SL: director's remuneration, invoice or dividend
- How to fill in the modelo 036 box by box: registering as an autónomo or an SL, IAE heading, ROI, changes and deregistration
- The autónomo quota increase in 2026: how much it really rises, bracket by bracket
- How to fill in modelo 130 box by box: instructions and a four-quarter worked example
Related terms
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