[1880]

If you want to be a "trabajador autónomo" (autonomous worker), you have to pay a mandatory monthly fee of about 250€ (it varies a bit on your activity, if you want extra coverage, etc). There are some discounts, if you are under 30 (35 if you're a woman) and it's your first time being an "autónomo", you pay only 20% of the tax on the first 6 months and 50% on the next 18.

The 20% thing was approved about a month ago, and it's been a bureaucratic mess. I applied to it on the first day of being on the law, and as of today I'm still waiting for approval. Apparently their systems are not prepared for this discount and they have to be applied manually. Of course you don't have to wait, you can pay full rate and then claim the difference, but that could take months.

If you create a SL, you must designate a legal administrator, and the cheapest way is being an "autónomo".

Edit: about creating a Ltd in the UK, if your revenues are more than 50% from Spain, you will be fined by the Spanish IRS for capital flight. It's not easy.

[derda]

So that money goes into health insurance and social security?

If you work as an "autónomo" and your business fails, do you qualify for social-security /unemployment benefits? In this case it would not be the worst deal, espacially counting in the discounts. The scandal here is, that the system needs ages to approve the paperwork.

Also as I understand EU laws, incorporating somewhere else would not solve the problem, since you are subject to the local taxes at the place where you actually do the work.

[1880]

Yes, with that money you pay social security and health care, which is fully covered with the minimum, mandatory "autónomo" fee. That's nice I guess.

Unemployment is optional (about +20€/month IIRC), to get it you have to prove a specific lost of revenue in a specific length of time, first year doesn't count, and you get 2 months of pay per 12 months worked ("normal" jobs get 4/12). I recently read that only about 25% of the unemployment petitions are approved. I chose not to pay it.

Since the moment you stop being an "autónomo" you get 90 days of "free" health insurance. After that, if you are <=26, you can use the health insurance of a parent or sibling. If you are 27, you have to pay for health care, or prove that you don't have any income to get free healthcare.

[derda]

So basically the only benefit you get for the fee is health care? Then its pretty expensive. Does it increase with income or is it a flat fee?

Can you work around the whole thing, if you make e.g. your wife (or father, or whoever) the owner of the company and hire yourself as CEO? So you would pay health care + other stuff as a percentage of your wage (which would be very low monthly + share of yearly profit).

I am asking extensively because I plan to spent a year in Spain in the near future. And while all this information is irrelevant to the stay (I am a student and will hopefully have set aside enough to spend the year without having to work on the side). But I really like to understand as much as possible on how the country works. :)

[1880]

Yes, it's a flat fee, it only increases if you want extra coverages (full pay on day 1 of sick leave, unenmployment, etc).

The mandatory minimum doesn't increase which income†, but since you are also paying towards your retirement, you can choose to pay more, if for example you are in your final working years, so that you get a better retirement. But I'm not thinking about that right now :)

I am not the right person to ask about these things, and I may be wrong, but I think the workaround you are suggesting would cost, in the best case, the same as being autónomo on your own. You'd be paying about 250 € in taxes for a worker with the minimum wage (758 € in 12 wages).

†: of course you will have to pay income tax later (annually if >=70% of your income is B2B, quarterly if not, so many random rules!).

[derda]

Sounds like there are a ton of pitfalls running a company in Spain. Good luck in the tight economy!