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FREELANCING

Everything that changes for self-employed people in Spain this year

New social security contributions, a tax to top up pension funds, a reduction in retention rates for artists - 2023 will bring many developments for all self-employed workers in Spain.

Published: 25 January 2023 15:56 CET
Everything that changes for self-employed people in Spain this year
Everything that changes for self employed in 2023. Photo: Claudio CRUZ / AFP

New social security contributions for self-employed

From 2023, Spain’s autónomos will pay monthly social security fees based on how much they earn, instead of a fixed rate. Previously, freelancers have had to pay a minimum contribution base of €294 per month after they have been registered as self-employed for two years, regardless of how much they earn.

Instead of there being a fixed rate of €294, the fee will go down progressively to €200 a month for lower earners and progressively higher – up to €590 a month – for higher earners. This means that some self-employed workers will see their social security payments reduced, however, for anyone earning over €1,700 per month, they will increase.

New tax for all workers 

From 2023, all workers, whether self-employed or salaried in Spain will have to pay an extra tax to help fill up the country’s pension fund. Trade unions estimate that for autónomos, the average monthly payment will be around €5.

READ ALSO: Everything that changes about working in Spain in 2023

No social security tax for new autónomos in Madrid

Back in September 2022, the regional government in Madrid announced that from 2023, new autónomos in Madrid will have their social security fees paid for by the local government for their first year of self-employed work in the region.

If their monthly earnings are below minimum wage in the second year (€1,166 gross a month), they will also have their social security fees covered by the regional government. This means that new self-employed workers in Madrid will save hundreds or potentially several thousands of euros during their first year or two years of work.

READ ALSO: The tax changes in Spain in 2023 that you need to know about

Benefits for self-employed mothers

Women who are self-employed and have children under 3 years of age will receive a benefit of €100 per month until the child has their third birthday. 

To be eligible, at the time of giving birth, they must either be receiving a benefit or subsidy for unemployment or be registered with Social Security. Women who register later and have already accumulated at least 30 days of contributions will also be eligible. 

READ ALSO: How to hire someone if you’re self-employed in Spain

Reduction in retention rates for artists 

The withholding rate or IRPF for artists with the lowest level of income will be reduced to 7 percent. Previously, it was only 7 percent for the first couple of years of being an autónomo and from then on it went up to 15 percent. 

Changes for unpaid/late invoices  

As a freelancer, it’s unfortunately likely that you’ve been in a situation where you’ve had unpaid or late invoices and you’ve still had to pay tax on them, without having actually received the money yet. You then only had a limited amount of time in which to modify or change your invoice to reflect the fact that it hadn’t been paid. 

This situation is set to get easier in 2023 as the period in which you can rectify your invoice has been extended from 3 to 6 months. The methods used to claim payments have also been made more flexible and the minimum amount of the tax base that can be modified has been lowered from €300 to €50.

The threshold for tax declarations changes

In 2023 self-employed taxpayers whose gross income does not exceed €15,000 per year will not be required to file their yearly 2022 tax return. 

This means that in April when it’s time to file the Declaración de Renta, those who have earned income from more than one source will not be obliged to declare if the sum of all their income does not exceed €15,000. Previously, the threshold was €14,000. 

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For members

WORKING IN SPAIN

Not English: The languages linked to high-paying jobs in Spain

It is generally thought that if you speak English, you will have access to more, better and higher paying jobs overseas, but that's not necessarily the case in Spain.

Published: 6 May 2024 09:23 CEST
Not English: The languages linked to high-paying jobs in Spain

It’s obvious that language skills are very important when applying for certain jobs and that some companies are attracted to applications from those who speak more than one.

A common belief in Spain, particularly among locals, is that if you learn English then you’ll have access to better-paying jobs within Spain.

Therefore, it might be surprising to learn that according to a recent study from online, language learning marketplace Preply, it’s not English or even French that’s the most economically valuable foreign language in Spain, it’s Romanian.

The company analysed a total of 500,000 job vacancies in Spain in order to find out which languages ​​are the most economically profitable and which have the greatest demand.  

All the job vacancies were listed on job search engine Adzuna or were from advertisements that explicitly sought foreign language skills.

The study revealed that those who speak Romanian earn an average annual salary of €82,865, almost triple the average Spanish salary, which is €29,113.

In second place was Portuguese, with speakers earning an average of €68,120. This was followed by Arabic, whose speakers earn an average salary of €67,357.  In fourth place was Greek, with an average salary of €58,333 and then French, with an average annual salary of €54,725.

English didn’t even feature in the top five languages when it came to those earning the most in Spain. In fact, it came in ninth place, with speakers earning €49,000 on average.

While English speakers may not be earning the top salary here, it is however still one of the most useful languages to know (other than Spanish) as the study found that it was required by the most number of foreign companies in Spain – 16,000 in total.  

In second place, when it came to useful languages was German. However, the number of companies requiring candidates to speak it was much less than English, with a total of 2,040 vacancies.

READ ALSO: Why are the Spanish ‘so bad’ at English?

Why is Romanian such a profitable language to know in Spain?

It largely comes down to the fact that there are more than half a million Romanians living in Spain. A total of 627,478 in 2022, according to the latest figures available from Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE)

Rapid growth in the Romanian-speaking population means that there’s a greater need for Romanian translators and interpreters here. 

The majority of these translators are in the court system and National Police. Romanian, along with Arabic, makes up 50 percent of the court translation requests.

Since 2008, interpreters for the police have been in such great demand that they have had to outsource to specialised companies.

Because of the scarcity of translators who speak these languages specifically and the greater demand, these positions usually come with high salaries.

It has been reported that this year alone, the police will spend around €850,000 per month to translate conversations intercepted from criminals. 

Over the last 10 years, the budget for hiring translators and interpreters has increased dramatically. Currently, the police pay around €26 per hour.

Recently, the Spanish Cabinet authorised the Interior Ministry to bid for new contracts so that the National Police will have access to better interpreter services.  

The budget for this is set at €39.7 million, which is much higher than what was available before.  

Currently, the National Police can request translators in several languages ​​divided into categories according to the frequency of use.  

English, French, German and standard Arabic are some of the most requested, followed by Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Portuguese, Romanian, Italian, Polish and Dutch.

Serbian, Bambara, Bengali, Iranian, Persian, Farsi, Armenian and Igbo interpreters are also sought-after.

These translators must have a qualification and experience and must be available 24 hours a day, every day of the year. When requested, they must appear at the required police station within a maximum time that ranges between 90 minutes and four hours, depending on the language they speak and the distance they have to travel. This goes some way to explain why they are paid so much.    

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