If you’re self-employed working in Spain, you’ll have to pay the self-employment tax. This is a monthly social security contribution that, beginning in 2023, varies depending on your income.

Traditional employees don’t pay this tax directly because their employer makes the social security contributions on their behalf. To receive coverage for common professional contingencies and benefits in case they stop working, self-employed individuals pay this contribution directly to the Spanish social security agency, the Seguridad Social.

Like traditional employees, the amount self-employed workers pay in taxes varies based on several factors. In this article, we’ll break down the calculations required to determine the self-employment tax contributions that you’ll need to pay in 2024.

What’s in this article?

• How to calculate tax contributions for the self-employed in 2024
  
• How to calculate actual income if you are self-employed
  
• Types of tax contributions for the self-employed
  

How to calculate tax contributions for the self-employed in 2024

On 1 January 2023, the new contribution system for the self-employed in Spain came into play. This new system is being introduced gradually, with the self-employed contribution increasing slightly each year, except for those whose turnover is €1,700 or less, where it may decrease. In 2024, as outlined in Royal Decree Law 13/2022, several changes were implemented.

In the table below, you’ll find the 2024 contribution bands for self-employed workers. It might be a bit tricky to take in all at once, here’s how to read each column:

• Bands: These refer to the actual income that self-employed workers earn from their business activities. In the next section, we’ll show you exactly how to calculate them, and which bracket you fall into. The result determines the figures and brackets for the other four columns.
  
• Minimum contribution base: The contribution base is the figure used to calculate the amount of money a self-employed worker must pay in Spain. Within the bracket for your actual income, you can choose the minimum contribution if you want to keep your contributions as low as possible. If you choose this, the pension granted when you retire will be lower.
  
• Maximum contribution base: This, on the other hand, represents the highest amount of taxes a self-employed worker can pay according to their actual income. Some self-employed workers in Spain prefer to choose the maximum contribution base so that their resulting pension is as high as possible.
  
• Minimum contribution: This is the minimum amount that self-employed workers can choose to pay each month to the Seguridad Social. The amount is 31.30% of the chosen contribution base, which includes common contingencies (28.30%), cessation of work (0.9%), the “Mecanismo de Equidad Intergeneracional” (Intergenerational Equity Mechanism) (0.7%), and professional training (0.1%).
  
• Maximum contribution: If you choose the maximum contribution base, the contribution (i.e. the amount to be paid monthly to the Seguridad Social) will also be at maximum. This uses the same calculations as the minimum contribution, but the maximum contribution base is used to obtain the amount payable.
  

Although we’ve only discussed minimum and maximum rates, self-employed workers in Spain can choose any contribution base within these two limits. To make the necessary calculations, we recommend using the official contribution calculator for the self-employed. If the Seguridad Social hasn't updated the figures for its calculator (you will find the year in the title of the page), you can check the current values in a more updated table, such as the one below:

In 2025, the actual income contribution system will change once again, so it’s important to keep this in mind as you file your taxes each year. For example, in the lowest income bracket, the minimum contribution will be around €204.57, around 11% lower than the current minimum monthly instalment.

How to calculate actual income if you are self-employed

The figures in the “Bands” column of the table above represent the actual self-employed income. To determine the contribution you will need to pay to the Seguridad Social, you must estimate the income you expect to earn from your business.

So, how can you calculate this as accurately as possible?

First, the actual income is the amount of money that a self-employed worker earns after subtracting deductible expenses, which are the costs incurred by a self-employed worker while conducting their business activities.

Determining which expenses are considered deductible is simple: if the expense is necessary for carrying out your professional activity, you can simply subtract that amount from your total earnings.

Additionally, the Seguridad Social acknowledges that it can be challenging for the self-employed to track down and substantiate all their business expenses. Because of this, self-employed workers are allowed to deduct 5% of their net income (up to a maximum of €2,000) in addition to the substantiated deductions described above.

The formula for calculating a self-employed worker’s actual income is as follows:

Net return of a self-employed worker in Spain in 2024 = (Net income - Deductible expenses) - (0.05 x Net income)

Let’s look at an example of calculating net income:

1. Let’s say a given self-employed worker’s net income (i.e. the sum of their invoices excluding value-added tax, or VAT) is €30,000.
   
2. Over the course of the year, the self-employed worker spent a total of €5,000 on equipment, products, and services that were necessary to conduct their business. These are deductible expenses.
   
3. By subtracting the deductible expenses from the self-employed worker’s net income, we get €25,000.
   
4. From here, we can subtract the expenses that are difficult to substantiate. Remember, this is 5% of their net income minus expenses, or up to €2,000. In this self-employed worker’s case, 5% of €25,000 is €1,250. By subtracting this total, we get the self-employed worker’s annual net return: €23,750.
   
5. Because the actual income calculations are based on monthly income, we then divide the annual net return by 12. This gives us an actual income of €1,979.16 per month, which puts the self-employed worker in the €1,850.01 to €2,030 income band. The self-employed worker could then contribute anywhere from €332.43 to €635.39 to the Seguridad Social.
   

Once you have completed the calculations as described above, you will need to access Import@ss, the online portal of the General Treasury of Social Security, to report the expected net income. Based on the information you provide, both the contribution base and the monthly contribution amount payable will be calculated. If you think it necessary, you can adjust your contribution base every two months.

To make sure your calculations are accurate, Stripe Payments allows you to keep track of all your payments in one place. Payments will also help you collect your invoices by accepting your customers’ preferred payment methods. And because it integrates seamlessly with Stripe Tax, you can automatically apply the right amount of sales tax, VAT, and GST in more than 50 countries (please check the updated list of excluded territories) and generate reports to simplify your returns.

Although your calculations are correct, it’s possible that the estimate was rather conservative. If your actual income exceeds the amount previously reported to the Seguridad Social, you will need to make an additional payment (after celebrating the fact that your business is exceeding expectations, of course).

This figure is calculated by the agency itself during the process of adjusting self-employed contributions to ensure that the amount paid aligns with your income. Similarly, if after adjusting all your contributions, the Seguridad Social determines that your actual net income was less than previously calculated, it will refund you the difference.

Types of tax contributions for the self-employed

Although the self-employed contributions we’ve discussed so far are the most common, there are other types that apply to specific cases. These types of self-employed contributions vary depending on several factors, such as the personal situation of each self-employed worker or the duration of their self-employment tenure, among others.

Let’s have a look at how the various types of self-employed contributions available in Spain in 2024 work.

Flat rate

The flat-rate system was introduced in 2013 to encourage entrepreneurship in Spain. At that time, the monthly payable amount was €50. Currently, if new self-employed workers in 2024 use this system, they have to pay €80. While this increase is substantial, it’s a significant difference compared to the minimum fee, which is €230.15 in 2024.

This flat-rate amount remains unchanged throughout the first year of business activity. However, what happens if the business hasn’t taken off and generates earnings below the minimum wage (also known as SMI, from the Spanish, “salario mínimo interprofessional”)? If the forecast indicates that this amount will not be exceeded (which, as of 6 February 2024, is €1,134 per month), there is an option to request an extension of the flat rate.

To be eligible for the flat rate, you must meet the following requirements:

• You must not be a self-employed collaborator (working for a direct family member)
  
• You must not have any debt to the Agencia Tributaria (the Spanish Tax Agency) or the Seguridad Social.
  
• You must not have been in the RETA (“Régimen Especial de Trabajadores Autónomos,” or Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers) during the two years prior to the start of your professional activity. If you were a previous beneficiary of the flat-rate system, this period increases to three years.
  

Self-employed contributions for those over 47 years of age

Self-employed contributions for individuals over 47 years old are the same as those listed in the table above, under the section about calculating self-employed contributions in 2024.

As indicated in the table, the limit for the maximum contribution base is €4,720.50. Before the approval of the new system based on actual income, the maximum limit for anyone who was 47 or older was just over €2,077. However, with the new system, this limit has increased by almost 230%.

This means that if a self-employed person wants to increase their contribution base, they are no longer limited to the previous amount. Instead, they can increase it up to €4,720.50, provided their income supports it. Although it might seem counterintuitive to pay more than you need, it will leave you with a higher pension when you retire, so it could be worthwhile to do this if you have the income to do so.

Self-employed collaborators in 2024

If you are a direct relative (up to the second degree) of a self-employed individual, live in the same household, and perform professional work for them, you can join their “autónomo colaborador” (self-employed collaborator) group. In this case, you won’t have to pay income tax (IRPF) and VAT every quarter, but you will still need to pay your monthly self-employed contribution to the Seguridad Social. The self-employed collaborator’s contributions are paid by the family member who owns the business.

Self-employed collaborators in 2024 are eligible for a bonus that lasts for one and a half years. The contribution is reduced by 50% during that period and then decreases to 25% over the following six months. Note that the minimum monthly contribution base for self-employed collaborators in Spain is set at €1,000 if they’ve been registered as a self-employed person for 90 days during the last calendar year.

Self-employed individuals who run their own company

Self-employed individuals who run their own company (known as “autónomos societarios”) are among the primary beneficiaries of this new contribution system based on actual income. Their minimum monthly contribution base has been significantly reduced to €1,000, as with self-employed collaborators. Due to the previously high minimum contribution base, the self-employed were paying €377.87; in 2024, this amount decreased to €313.