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TAXES

Self-employed in Spain: What are the tax rules if you do two or more jobs?

When you sign up to be self-employed or autónomo in Spain you have to state what sector or industry you’ll be working in, depending on your career or business. But what happens when you cross over industries and want to work in more than one?

Published: 30 May 2023 12:31 CEST
Updated: 30 May 2023 13:43 CEST
Self-employed in Spain: What are the tax rules if you do two or more jobs?
What are the tax implications for working in two activities at once? Photo: Brooke Cagle / Unsplash

It is increasingly common to carry out several self-employed activities at the same time to be able to make ends meet and adapt to the demands of the market. It could supplement your income and open up new opportunities.

When you sign up to be an autónomo (self-employed) you will need to be registered for IAE (Tax on Economic Activities) also called registration epígrafe. Essentially it’s a numerical code that identifies the activity you carry out.

READ ALSO – Do I have to register and pay tax if I earn below minimum wage?

Take for example an autónomo who works in marketing. They will have registered for one IAE, but if they want to supplement their marketing income and work as a tour guide or a language teacher at the same (also in a self-employed capacity), they will have to register for another IAE.

Your epígrafe or IAE will determine several factors:

  • If your activity is business or professional – If you are going to carry out a professional activity, you must apply withholding tax to your invoices within Spain. The general rate is 15 percent, but if you are a newly self-employed person, the rate is reduced to seven percent during the first year of registration and the following two.
  • The Value Added Tax (VAT) regime: The type of VAT you pay, whether it’s general, simplified or equivalent surcharge (mandatory for retailers).
  • Personal Income Tax (IRPF) – This can be an objective estimation or a direct estimation. 

If you want to sign up for more than one, you must inform both the Treasury and Social Security, since it can affect the way you pay your taxes as seen above.

To do this, you must make a declaration of census modification and fill out forms (modelos) 036 or 037. This means you will avoid having to present form 840 on the Tax on Economic Activities.

The good news though is that you can sign up for two different activities at the same time without having to pay two lots of social security fees.

READ ALSO: How self-employed workers in Spain should invoice clients abroad 

It’s important to remember that when it comes to accounting, you have to manage income and expenses separately for each of the two or more activities.  

When you present your income statements each trimester, you will have to fill in your income and expenses for each different activity. If the two activities belong to different sectors, you must also apply the VAT deduction regime separately for each sector.

It’s useful to keep in mind that as of January 2023, self-employed people have had to pay social security based on their net income, rather than a flat fee.  

READ ALSO: Will you pay more under Spain’s new social security rates for self-employed?

What to do about IVA or VAT?

The most important thing to remember is that method used to settle personal income tax and VAT must be the same for both activities. The simplified VAT regime is exclusively for taxpayers who declare personal income tax by modules.

Sometimes it may happen that you will have to charge VAT for one activity and not for the other. For example, selling bread in a bakery (with VAT) and giving cooking classes (without VAT). 

Taking this example, the VAT incurred in the acquisition of goods and services that are related to the cooking classes cannot be deducted.

However, the VAT paid on the acquisition of goods and services related to the activity in the bakery is fully deductible. 

The VAT paid for expenses common to both activities is partially deductible by applying the percentage related to the general pro rata.

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For members

TAXES

Can you pay taxes in Spain with a foreign bank account?

Many foreigners have tax obligations in Spain but might not have a Spanish bank account to pay them from. Changes by Spain's tax authorities might just make it easier, depending on your circumstances.

Published: 3 May 2024 09:01 CEST
Can you pay taxes in Spain with a foreign bank account?

Navigating the ins and outs of the Spanish tax system can be a little daunting at times. That’s why many people choose to pay for a gestor to handle it all for them.

But for many foreigners in Spain, especially those with property in the country but who aren’t resident, figuring out when and how to pay your taxes can be extra complicated, especially if you don’t speak Spanish.

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

This was compounded by the fact that, for many years, you couldn’t pay Spanish taxes from a foreign bank account. As such, many people were forced to open a Spanish bank account for the sole purpose of paying tax.

Can you pay taxes in Spain with a foreign bank account?

Fortunately, it’s no longer like that. From February 1st 2024, the tax authorities in Spain started allowing tax payments via direct debit from any bank account within the SEPA area, removing the need for a Spanish bank account.

So, in short, yes, you can pay your Spanish taxes with a foreign bank account — depending on the country in which the account is based.

What is SEPA?

SEPA stands for Single Euro Payments Area is a basically an integrated bank transfer system. SEPA includes all the EU members states, plus those in the EFTA (Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland). The UK is also still member of the SEPA area, despite Brexit.

Before the change, you could only pay your taxes in Spanish via banks approved by the tax authorities.

READ ALSO: Spanish tax returns: A handy guide for foreigners

VAT and tax experts Marosavat explain that under the previous rules, “direct debit [was] only available when the taxpayer’s bank account belongs to a bank entity cooperating with the Spanish tax authorities. This requirement impose[d] an important restriction when using direct debit as a payment method, especially for foreign taxpayers.”

But slowly, the Spanish tax authorities have eased the rules and made it easier for foreign businesses and tax payers to pay their tax from abroad. First, in March 2021, the rules were relaxed for foreign businesses with tax obligations in Spain. 

Then from July 2023 foreign accounts were approved for deferment and split applications of tax debt, and from February 2024 for regular tax payments.

Following the changes, Marosavat says, “the payments will still be processed through a cooperating bank entity, which communicates with the taxpayer’s bank entity. In consequence, all commissions and bank expenses related to the procedure will be passed on by the tax administration to the taxpayer.”

According to Spain’s Agencia Tributaria website, which you can find an English language version of here:

  • Payments are allowed for those who do not have an open account in any collaborating entity in state collection management.　

  • It is especially intended for use by those who pay their debts from abroad.　

  • It can be done by both natural persons and legal entities.　

  • The payment will have releasing effects on the date of receipt and entry of the transfer. 　

Non-resident property owners

This is particularly welcome news for second home owners in Spain, many of whom are non-resident and manage their properties from abroad for most of the year. 

According to IberianTax, by extending tax payments to the wider SEPA area, “property owners can now continue to use their home country’s bank accounts or accounts from other SEPA countries to make tax payments towards their taxes. This change simplifies the process and alleviates the burden of setting up a separate Spanish bank unnecessarily.”

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