You apply for the NIE at the immigration office or the relevant police station, or from abroad through a Spanish consulate. It is a personal number: it does not change when you renew your residence card or your status changes.
For the tax agency the NIE works as your NIF, so it is the number you will put on your invoices, the census declaration, your RETA registration and your income tax return. If you are going to be a partner or director of an SL, you also need it to sign the deed before a notary.
The typical mistake is confusing the NIE with the residence card or with the EU citizen registration certificate. The NIE is only the number; permission to live or work in Spain is a separate matter with its own procedure. Another common slip is writing the NIE without its first letter or with spaces, so it does not match the tax agency's records.
It is linked to the NIF, the census declaration and autónomo registration. In kontora you use your NIE as your tax ID on your invoices and on the modelos prepared box by box.
Guides that use this term
- Digital certificate and Cl@ve for foreign autónomos in Spain: how to get them with an NIE and what each one lets you do
- How to set up an SL in Spain: the steps, the legal deadlines and what it really costs
- Non-resident tax in Spain: which taxes you pay and when
- Modelo 210: the Spanish non-resident tax, explained in full
- Registering as self-employed in Spain: the two procedures, in order and without fines
Related terms
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