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If you are considering becoming self-employed, surely the first thing you will look for is an autonomo tax calculator. And the truth is that many of our clients ask us “How much will I pay in taxes if I am self-employed in Spain?”

Basically, this question comes from 2 types of customers:

1. Foreign clients who want to establish themselves in Spain as self-employed.

2. Clients residents in Spain who want to establish themselves as self-employed.

Typically, they are clear about their gross annual income, which comes from foreign companies. 

If this is your case, and you want to understand what you will have to pay in taxes if you start economic activity in Spain, keep reading because it will be very useful. Let’s start by explaining some things to keep in mind while using this autonomo tax calculator according to your situation.

Personal factors that influence what you are going to pay in taxes

These factors are basically whether you are married (here we include single, separated, divorced and widowed) and the number of children under 25 years of age who live with you and do not have an annual income of more than €8,000 (in the simulations we have considered children of 10 and 11 years old).

In the different profiles that we have prepared for you to identify your specific case, we have considered a married person as one who has a spouse who does not receive income. If you are married and your spouse receives income, you must identify yourself with the single profiles.

In the profiles of singles with children, we have considered that the children live with both parents, that is, unmarried couples with children, forming a family unit.

Economic factors that influence what you are going to pay in taxes

The first and most important is the expected annual volume of income, without considering VAT, only the value of your work.

The expenses you incur are also important. This data is very personal for each freelancer, and it isn’t easy to make forecasts. You should know that the more expenses you have to carry out your activity, the lower your tax payment will be. 

For our estimates, we have considered two expenses that most self-employed people have: 

• the advisory cost, which we have estimated at €840.00/year (€70/month of our Basic plan), and
• The self-employed fee with a flat rate, which during the first year amounts to €960.00/year (€80/month). In the cases in which a flat rate is not applied, we have considered the minimum self-employed quota based on the section in which each profile is located based on its annual net income, respecting the sections approved for the year 2023. These are the totals of the contribution fee that each profile will pay based on their annual income:
  €20,000 –→ €3,608.64 (€300.72/month)
  €40,000 –→ €4,418.88 (€368.24/month)
  €60,000 –→ €5,462.16 (€455.18/month)
  €80,000 –→ €6,505.56 (€542.13/month)

If you want to know more about the new 2023 contribution system, you can watch this video.

Reduction for starting economic activity (20% of net income)

That is the most considerable reduction to which new self-employed workers could benefit. To take advantage of it, you must meet these two requirements:

1. In the 12 months before the registration date, you cannot have carried out any economic activity as a self-employed person, neither in Spain nor abroad.

2. More than 50% of the income you receive in the first year as self-employed cannot come from an entity from which you would have got income from work the year before registration. 

The second requirement is an anti-fraud measure. The aim is to prevent a person hired as an employee by company A from registering as self-employed to perform the same work for the same company A, thus taking advantage of this reduction.

This reduction applies to the first and second fiscal year as self-employed if you meet the requirements. From the third year, you can no longer apply it.

Have a look at the details the Tax Agency explains on its website.

Estimation method or tax regime for these calculations

The estimates we have made are not applicable if you carry out an activity by modules (such as retail trade, hospitality, taxi driver, etc.). They only apply to economic activities that calculate taxes using the direct estimation method, both regular and simplified.

All professional activities (teachers, programmers, designers, writers, community managers, YouTubers, etc.) calculate their taxes using the direct estimation method.

What happens to VAT?

VAT is not a tax that you will have to pay on your income because you charge VAT to your client (for example, if your work is worth €500, you add 21% to the cost of your work, and the client will pay you your work and VAT). Those VAT amounts you are collecting from your clients will have to be entered once per quarter through the VAT model 303.

Not all the VAT you collect will indeed have to be entered. Usually, you will enter a little less because when you pay the expenses of your activity, you are paying VAT. You can deduct these VAT amounts from your customers’ VAT that you have collected.

It is very simple, the amount of VAT you will have to pay is equal to the VAT that you collect minus the VAT you have paid when making expenses for your activity.

Payments on account and personal income tax withholdings

In the following section that we have called Profiles, you will see the total amount of personal income tax that, depending on each case, you will have to pay annually. But the tax law, to ensure collection, establishes a mechanism for payments on account and another for withholdings. What do these mechanisms comprise? We see it below:

Payments on account (form 130)

Suppose you will carry out a business activity, such as a shop or a bar (these activities are not subject to withholding). In that case, you will have to deposit 20% of your income quarterly (income minus expenses).

Another situation in which you will have to apply this mechanism is when you carry out a professional activity, and your clients are foreigners (your foreign clients cannot retain you because they don’t pay taxes in Spain).

Withholdings (professional activities)

They are exclusive to professional activities and will be applied to your invoices if your client is a Spanish company or freelancer. In this way, the tax regulation forces you to issue your invoice with a withholding percentage (7% for new self-employed workers and 15% in other cases) that reduces the amount of your work. 

For example, if your job is worth €1,000 and you are a newly self-employed person, your client will retain €70 (7%) and pay it to the Treasury in your name.

You will have paid specific amounts on account for your final personal income tax payment in both cases. Thus, when the time comes to present your annual income statement, you will have to subtract all the amounts paid for payments on account and/or withholdings from the resulting amount.

Different Situations: Autonomo tax calculator

1. Single without children. Annual volume: €20,000

With a flat rate and a 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €1,514.80
No flat rate and no 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €1,725.99

2. Single with no children. Annual volume: €40,000

With a flat rate and a 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €5,450.40
No flat rate and no 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €6,551.46

3. Single with no children. Annual volume: €60,000

With a flat rate and a 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €10,703.00
No flat rate and no 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €13,117.58

4. Single with no children. Annual volume: €80,000

With a flat rate and a 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €16,648.25
No flat rate and no 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €20,811.70

5. Single with 1 child. Annual volume: €20,000

With a flat rate and a 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €1,294.62
No flat rate and no 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €1,505.81

6. Single with 1 child. Annual volume: €40,000

With a flat rate and a 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €5,230.22
No flat rate and no 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €6,331.28

7. Single with 1 child. Annual volume: €60,000

With a flat rate and a 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €10,482.82
No flat rate and no 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €12,897.40

8. Single with 1 child. Annual volume: €80,000

With a flat rate and a 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €16,428.07
No flat rate and no 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €20,591.52

9. Single with 2 children. Annual volume: €20,000

With a flat rate and a 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €1,046.91
No flat rate and no 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €1,258.10

10. Single with 2 children. Annual volume: €40,000

With a flat rate and a 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €4,982.51
No flat rate and no 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €6,083.57

11. Single with 2 children. Annual volume: €60,000

With a flat rate and a 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €10,235.11
No flat rate and no 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €12,649.69

12. Single with 2 children. Annual volume: €80,000

With a flat rate and a 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €16,180.36
No flat rate and no 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €20,343.81

13. Married with no children. Annual volume: €20,000

With a flat rate and a 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €851.21
No flat rate and no 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €1,018.69

14. Married with no children. Annual volume: €40,000

With a flat rate and a 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €4,505.20
No flat rate and no 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €5,606.26

15. Married with no children. Annual volume: €60,000

With a flat rate and a 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €9,482.40
No flat rate and no 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €11,896.98

16. Married with no children. Annual volume: €80,000

With a flat rate and a 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €15,285.77
No flat rate and no 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €19,349.70

17. Married with 1 child. Annual volume: €20,000

With a flat rate and a 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €410.84
No flat rate and no 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €578.32

18. Married with 1 child. Annual volume: €40,000

With a flat rate and a 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €4,064.83
No flat rate and no 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €5,165.89

19. Married with 1 child. Annual volume: €60,000

With a flat rate and a 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €9,042.03
No flat rate and no 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €11,456.61

20. Married with 1 child. Annual volume: €80,000

With a flat rate and a 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €14,845.40
No flat rate and no 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €18,909.33

21. Married with 2 children. Annual volume: €20,000

With a flat rate and a 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €0.00
No flat rate and no 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €82.91

22. Married with 2 children. Annual volume: €40,000

With a flat rate and a 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €3,569.42
No flat rate and no 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €4,670.48

23. Married with 2 children. Annual volume: €60,000

With a flat rate and a 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €8,546.62
No flat rate and no 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €10,961.20

24. Married with 2 children. Annual volume: €80,000

With a flat rate and a 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €14,349.99
No flat rate and no 20% reduction.
Taxes to pay: €18,413.92

For the calculation of each of the profiles, we have used the 2022 income simulator. On the date on which we publish this article, there have been no significant changes in the tax rates for the following years, 2023 and 2024.

On the other hand, we consider all the profiles to be residents of the community of Madrid, which means that there may be slight differences in types in other communities.

In any case, the objective of this autonomo tax calculator is to give an orientation of the amount to pay of personal income tax under certain personal and professional circumstances. We don’t pretend to offer a detailed study of all the variables (which are many) that must be taken into account to elaborate an estimate of the payment of taxes. 

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