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SELF-EMPLOYED

Baja de autónomo: How to deregister as self-employed in Spain

Did you know that self-employed workers in Spain can deregister from the autónomo system up to three times per year without having to pay the full social security fee for that month? It's tricky but worth it, here we’ve explained how to do it.

Published: 26 March 2021 18:06 CET
Updated: 29 March 2024 08:26 CET
Baja de autónomo: How to deregister as self-employed in Spain
Photo: Tim Gouw/Pixabay

Official freelance processes in Spain can be challenging, even getting yourself off the system can be complicated.

But learning how to do the ‘baja’ from Spain’s self-employment system is definitely worth it.

You are able to deregister from the autónomo system up to three times per year without having to pay the full social security fee for that month.

You will only pay the portion up until the day you get yourself off the system. If you deregister a fourth time, however, you will be liable to pay the full fee.

This can be useful to know because it means you can temporarily stop trading and avoid having to pay the social security fee if you’re not earning.

You might need to temporarily unregister if you know you are not going to get any work for a couple of months, but will have a bigger project later on in the year or if you have lost some clients and need to wait until you can get some new ones.  

READ ALSO: Spain’s new tax rates for the self-employed from 2023 onwards

Or perhaps your work is seasonal, maybe you’re a freelance teacher who won’t get any work during the summer months. In this case, you can do the baja from the system for the months of July and August only. Similarly, you can also re-register as an autónomo up to three times per year.

If you have a digital certificate, you can do the baja online yourself, and there is no need to wait ages for appointments to become available and go into the offices.

If you don’t have a digital certificate, you can ask your gestor to submit them for you.  

READ ALSO: What does a gestor do and why you’ll need one

Keep in mind, deregistering online is only for people who are sole-traders and not for anyone who also employs other people. In order to deregister when you employ others, you will have to go in person to both the Hacienda and the TGSS Social Security office.

How to deregister from Hacienda 

The first step is to make Hacienda, Spain’s official tax body, know about your plans.  In order to stop being deemed as self-employed,  they will have to remove you from RETA (Régimen Especial de Trabajadores Autónomos) or the Special Scheme for Self-Employed Workers.

It’s very important to let the tax office know that you are not going to be working so they don’t expect you to present future quarterly tax returns. If you stop working in the middle of the financial quarter, you will still have to declare what you earned in that quarter ie) If you deregister in April, the first month of Q2, you will still have to do your declaración. 

Once you’ve gone on to the tax office website, type Modelo 037 into the search box or click on this link. This is the form you’ll need to deregister. Alternatively, you can also fill out the other version of the form – the Modelo 036 for the ‘Declaración censal de alta, modificación y baja’.

Next, click on ‘Trámites’ and select ‘Cumplimentación y presentación telemática 037’ (Online completion and presentation of 037) or 036, if you are choosing that form.

The system will then ask you to log on using your digital certificate or your Cl@ve pin.

READ ALSO: Spanish bureaucracy explained: Saving time through the Cl@ve system

Fill out all your details on the form, making sure to select box 150 (baja) to deregister or unsubscribe. You will also need to fill out the date that you ceased trading or stopped working and the reason why.

Once the form has been filled out, you can send it for processing. You can check this has been done correctly by going back to the home page and logging on with your digital certificate, before selecting ‘Mis Expedientes’ or My Files.

Freelancer
Freelancer. Image: StartupStockPhotos / Pixabay

How to deregister from Spain’s Social Security system

Remember, it’s also very important to deregister from Spain’s Social Security system. If you don’t do it with both Hacienda and the Seguridad Social, they will not accept your deregistration and you will have to continue paying the Social Security fees every month, despite not actually earning anything.

Once on the Social Security website, you can search for and select ‘Solicitud de baja en el Regimen Especial de Trabajadores por Cuenta Propia o Autónomos’ or Withdrawal from RETA. 

You’ll then be prompted to log on with your digital certificate and make sure all your personal details are up to date.

The next step is to fill in your IAE code. This is the code that corresponds to your profession. You can find it on the original RETA certificate you received when you registered as autónomo in the first place.

You will also need to fill out the date that you stopped working, making sure it’s the same date that you put on the Modelo 037 that you sent to Hacienda.

When you have finished filling out the form, press confirm to generate a PDF certificate to show that you’ve deregistered. Save this just in case you might need it later as proof. 

It may take a few days for the system to recognise that you’ve deregistered and once it has, you will receive an e-mail or text message to say that everything has been done correctly.

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SPAIN AND THE US

Spain and the US sign new pensions and social security agreement

The Spanish government has made an agreement with the United States to improve pensions calculations and social security protections for workers who have worked and spent time between both countries.

Published: 9 April 2024 11:44 CEST
Spain and the US sign new pensions and social security agreement

Spain and the United States have signed a new agreement that improves the way in which pensions are calculated and extends social security protections for people who have lived and worked in both countries.

Spain’s Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, presented the agreement with U.S. Ambassador to Spain, Julissa Reynoso, at the formal signing on Monday.

The new deal updates the first bilateral agreement between the two countries, signed back in 1986 and in force since 1988.

Americans are increasingly moving to Spain to live, and the relaxed pace of life and relative affordability compared to many parts of the U.S. attracts pensioners in particular. In late 2022 there were 41,953 US nationals officially residing in Spain, according to Spain’s national statistics agency (INE).

READ ALSO: Where in Spain do all the Americans live in 2023?

The new deal will also benefit many of the hundreds of thousands of Spaniards living in the US. The United States is the third country in the world with most Spaniards living there, behind Argentina and France. As of 2023 there were 192,766 Spaniards living in the U.S, according to INE figures. 

At the signing, Saiz said that “thirty-six years after the signing of the first agreement, we are taking another step forward in promoting international labour mobility, which will undoubtedly be a powerful lever to continue stimulating our bilateral economic activity.”

The Minister emphasised that the deal will have an “impact on the lives of hundreds of thousands of workers”. Among the changes, the new agreement allows for the easier application and implementation of social security benefits in the two countries, eliminates coverage duplication, provides relief from double taxation and avoids gaps in the social security system for many workers.

According to a government statement: “The main changes included in the new text effect, firstly, the calculation of Spanish social security pensions, which will be more beneficial. From now on, there will be two pension calculations. The first will be based solely on contributions in Spain, and the second will add the time contributed in the United States.”

After comparing the two calculations, the more favourable one will be paid. This benefits pensioners, the government says, because “until now, if you were entitled to a pension only with contributions in Spain, the benefit was paid without the second calculation being made by adding the contributions in the United States, even though it could have been higher.”

“In addition, the calculation of the regulatory base for benefits has been improved when contributions from Spain and the United States are added together, based on the actual contribution bases prior to the last working day in Spain.”

This will especially impact those who spent the latter part of their working lives in the United States.

The agreement also makes improvements for self-employed workers abroad, and extends the period for self-employed and employed workers posted abroad to 5 years, extendable by a further 2 years in exceptional circumstances and subject to authorisation by the relevant social security system.

It also includes civil service and military pension schemes in the scope of the agreement.

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