With the TGSS you register in RETA before starting your activity, report changes of base or bracket and deregister when you close. If you hire staff, the company registers as an employer, registers each worker and pays their contributions every month. Almost everything is done online, through the social security e-office, Import@ss or the RED system.
The TGSS also issues the certificate showing you are up to date with social security, which is requested for grants and public contracts and by some large clients.
The typical mistake is thinking that the census declaration with the tax agency registers you everywhere. They are two separate procedures with two separate bodies. Another slip is missing a quota payment: the debt carries surcharges and stops you from getting the up-to-date certificate.
It is linked to RETA, the autónomo societario and your working life record (vida laboral), which you also check with social security. The TGSS and the AEAT share data to adjust quotas to real income. In kontora quotas and social security payments are recorded in your books, separate from taxes. That way you always see what goes to social security and what goes to the tax agency.
Guides that use this term
- Self-employed social security contributions in Spain 2026: the complete bracket table and how to work out yours
- Spanish tax calendar 2026-2027 for autónomos and SL companies
- Digital certificate and Cl@ve for foreign autónomos in Spain: how to get them with an NIE and what each one lets you do
- Spain's flat rate for new autónomos in 2026: what you really pay, who qualifies and how long it lasts
Related terms
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