In short: the taxes of a foreign autónomo (self-employed person) who is a tax resident in Spain are IRPF (income tax, paid every quarter with modelo 130 and again in the annual Renta return) and IVA (VAT, paid every quarter with modelo 303). On top of that comes the monthly RETA contribution, which is Social Security and not a tax. IRPF is worked out on what is left after you subtract the expenses of the business, and in VAT you subtract the VAT you paid on those expenses. In 2026 the minimum contribution of each RETA bracket runs from €205.88 to €607.35 a month, depending on your income.
Who it is for. For foreigners who are tax residents in Spain and work for themselves, including Ukrainians. There is no separate tax for being a foreigner: IRPF depends on whether you are a tax resident (tax residence and the 183 days), not on your nationality. To register as an autónomo, your permit must allow self-employment: see residence and work as self-employed.
The three payments of an autónomo
IRPF, payments on account during the year. Every quarter you file modelo 130. You pay 20% of the net income (income minus deductible expenses) accumulated since January, minus what you already paid in earlier quarters and the withholdings applied to you (AEAT, amount of the instalment payments). There are also two reductions that this guide does not cover: €25 to €100 if the net income from economic activities in the previous year was €12,000 or less, and 2% of the net income for external financing of the main home, under conditions. If you carry out a professional activity and, in the previous calendar year, at least 70% of the income from the activity had withholding, you do not file modelo 130 (AEAT, instalment payments). Autónomos under the módulos regime use modelo 131.
IRPF, withholding on your invoices. If you bill professional services to companies or other professionals, those invoices usually carry IRPF withholding: 15% in general and 7% in the year you start and the two years after (AEAT, withholding table 2026). Your client withholds that percentage and pays it to the tax authority on your behalf.
IRPF, annual Renta. The Renta return works out the final tax of the year and subtracts the modelo 130 payments and the withholdings. If you were registered as an autónomo at any point in the year, you file the Renta even if you earn little (AEAT, Renta 2025 manual). How to file: tax return for foreign residents.
IVA (VAT). You charge VAT to your clients: 21% is the general rate and 10% and 4% are the reduced rates (AEAT, VAT rates). Every quarter you file modelo 303: the VAT you charged minus the VAT you paid on deductible expenses (AEAT, modelo 303). Some activities are exempt from VAT, for example certain health and teaching services (art. 20 of the VAT law): there you charge no VAT and you cannot deduct it either. The annual summary is modelo 390, which in the 2026 calendar was due on 30 January together with the 4th quarter.
A quarter with invented numbers. Suppose you invoice €7,500 before VAT and your deductible expenses are €2,500. Net income is €5,000 and modelo 130 comes to €1,000 (20%), with no withholding, earlier payments or reductions. For VAT you charged your clients €1,575 (21% of €7,500) and paid €300 of VAT on your expenses, so modelo 303 comes to €1,275.
RETA contribution (Social Security). It is a monthly payment. In 2026 the total rate is 31.5% of the contribution base. It is made up of 28.30% for common contingencies, 1.30% for professional ones, 0.90% for cessation of activity, 0.10% for training and 0.90% for the MEI (intergenerational equity mechanism). Your bracket depends on your expected monthly net income, and within the bracket you choose a base between the minimum and the maximum (Social Security, 2026 bases and rates; Order PJC/297/2026). The last column is the minimum contribution of each bracket, which we work out by multiplying the minimum base by 31.5%.
| Bracket | Monthly net income | Contribution base (minimum to maximum) | Minimum monthly contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reduced 1 | up to €670 | €653.59 to €718.94 | €205.88 |
| Reduced 2 | €670 to €900 | €718.95 to €900 | €226.47 |
| Reduced 3 | €900 to €1,166.70 | €849.67 to €1,166.70 | €267.65 |
| General 1 | €1,166.70 to €1,300 | €950.98 to €1,300 | €299.56 |
| General 2 | €1,300 to €1,500 | €960.78 to €1,500 | €302.65 |
| General 3 | €1,500 to €1,700 | €960.78 to €1,700 | €302.65 |
| General 4 | €1,700 to €1,850 | €1,143.79 to €1,850 | €360.29 |
| General 5 | €1,850 to €2,030 | €1,209.15 to €2,030 | €380.88 |
| General 6 | €2,030 to €2,330 | €1,274.51 to €2,330 | €401.47 |
| General 7 | €2,330 to €2,760 | €1,356.21 to €2,760 | €427.21 |
| General 8 | €2,760 to €3,190 | €1,437.91 to €3,190 | €452.94 |
| General 9 | €3,190 to €3,620 | €1,519.61 to €3,620 | €478.68 |
| General 10 | €3,620 to €4,050 | €1,601.31 to €4,050 | €504.41 |
| General 11 | €4,050 to €6,000 | €1,732.03 to €5,101.20 | €545.59 |
| General 12 | over €6,000 | €1,928.10 to €5,101.20 | €607.35 |
Social Security settles the contribution against your real income of the year. If you pay a difference to Social Security, it counts as more expense; if they refund you, as less expense (AEAT, Renta 2025 manual, expenses of the holder).
Flat rate (tarifa plana). The reduced contribution for people starting an activity was €80 a month in 2023, 2024 and 2025 (fifth transitional provision of Royal Decree-law 13/2022). From 2026 the amount is set by the budget law. We have not confirmed the 2026 figure in an official source: neither the Social Security contribution page nor Order PJC/297/2026 gives it. Ask Social Security before counting on €80.
How IRPF is calculated: two regimes
Direct estimation. You pay on your real profit: income minus deductible expenses. It has two modalities. The simplified one applies on its own if your turnover of the previous year does not exceed €600,000 and you do not opt out (in the first year of activity too). With it you use the simplified depreciation table and can add 5% of hard-to-document expenses, with a maximum of €2,000 a year and only if the result is positive. Above €600,000 or if you opt out, you move to the normal one. The opt-out is filed in December of the previous year with modelo 036 or 037; it holds for at least 3 years and is then renewed each year unless you revoke it (IRPF regulation, IRPF law, art. 30).
Objective estimation (módulos). You pay on indexes, such as staff or floor area, and not on your real profit. It only applies to activities on the list of the yearly módulos order and with turnover limits. The quarterly payment goes in modelo 131, not in 130.
Which expenses you can subtract
An expense counts if it is related to your activity, you justify it with an invoice (the main proof) and you enter it in the record books. Expenses from before registration do not count (AEAT, requirements for a deductible expense).
| Expense | What is subtracted | Key condition |
|---|---|---|
| RETA contribution | The contribution you pay each month | That you pay it yourself |
| Home utilities | 30% of water, electricity, gas, phone and internet, multiplied by the percentage of square metres you use for work | Main home with the part used for work declared in modelo 036 or 037. Example from the AEAT manual: 40 m² out of 100 m² gives 12%, and of €5,000 of utilities you subtract €600 (AEAT, utilities) |
| Business meals | Up to €26.67 a day in Spain and €48.08 abroad. With a night away from the municipality of your work and your residence: €53.34 and €91.35 | Restaurant or hospitality venue, payment by card or other electronic means (not cash) and a work reason you can prove |
| Health insurance | Up to €500 a year per person (you, your spouse and your children under 25 who live with you); €1,500 per person with a disability | Health insurance paid by you (AEAT, insurance premiums) |
| Car | Passenger car: only if you use it solely for the business, apart from the exceptions in art. 22.4 of the IRPF regulation (for example passenger transport, driving schools, sales agents or vehicle rental). Van or mixed vehicle: under the TEAC criterion of 24.06.2025, it is presumed tied to the business if its look and use point to a professional purpose | Any private use of a passenger car cancels the expense (TEAC criterion) |
| Rented office or premises | The rent and the costs the contract puts on you | For premises, you normally withhold 19% of the rent for the landlord and file modelo 115 |
| Computer, software and equipment | Yearly depreciation: up to 26% for computers and software and up to 10% for furniture, under the simplified table | Equipment entered in the investment goods book (Order of 27.03.1998) |
| Phone and internet | Mobile line used exclusively for carrying out the economic activity: subtracted in full. Mixed mobile line, personal and work: not subtracted. Home internet: the 30% utilities rule | Contract and invoice in your name (AEAT, utilities) |
| Software, website, advertising, gestoría and training | Subtracted if tied to your activity | Invoice in your name with your NIF; a card charge without an invoice is weak proof |
| Staff | Salaries and Social Security paid by the employer. Salaries of your spouse or minor children who live with you count only with a real contract and Social Security registration | Payslips and bank payments |
| VAT on your expenses | If you deduct it in modelo 303, it is not subtracted again as an IRPF expense. If you cannot deduct it (recargo de equivalencia, exempt activities), it is an expense | That modelo 303 and the IRPF expenses match (AEAT, deductible taxes) |
Fines, enforcement surcharges or surcharges for filing late, and personal costs such as private subscriptions are not subtracted.
Invoices, books and cash
- Invoice. As an autónomo you issue an invoice for your services. It is mandatory when your client is a company or a professional, or when any client asks for it to exercise a tax right (AEAT, duty to invoice). If the client is a company or a professional, you issue it by the 16th day of the month after the transaction at the latest (Invoicing regulation, art. 11).
- Receipt or simplified invoice. It is allowed up to €400 including VAT, and up to €3,000 in activities on a list (retail, hospitality, hairdressers, car parks and others) (Invoicing regulation, art. 4). A receipt without your details is weak proof: when you pay, ask for the invoice in your name and with your NIF.
- Payments and cash. Charge and pay through the bank. An operation of €1,000 or more cannot be paid in cash if one of the parties is a business or a professional. The fine is 25% of the amount paid in cash and both parties are liable (Law 7/2012, art. 7; the limit dropped to €1,000 on 11.07.2021 with Law 11/2021).
- Record books. For IRPF, autónomos under direct estimation keep books of income, of expenses and of investment goods; professionals also keep the book of provisions of funds and supplied items (Order HAC/773/2019). For VAT, the books of issued invoices, received invoices and investment goods, and another one for certain operations with the EU (AEAT, VAT record books).
- Keep records. Keep invoices and books for at least 4 years, which is the tax limitation period (General Tax Law). As a business owner, the Commercial Code asks you to keep documents for 6 years.
- Verifactu. From 1 July 2027 autónomos must use invoicing software that meets the Verifactu requirements (for example a QR code on the invoice). For companies paying Corporate Income Tax the date is 1 January 2027. Until then it is not mandatory. The AEAT offers a free invoicing application (AEAT, note on the new deadlines; guide to the free application).
Calendar for modelos 130 and 303
| Quarter | What it covers | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | January to March | 1 to 20 April |
| 2nd | April to June | 1 to 20 July |
| 3rd | July to September | 1 to 20 October |
| 4th | October to December | 1 to 30 January of the following year |
If the last day is not a working day, the deadline moves to the next working day (AEAT, deadlines for modelo 130; AEAT, taxpayer calendar 2026). In 2026 the 3rd quarter is filed by 20 October. Modelo 115 (withholding on premises rent) has its own calendar at the AEAT. The Renta for the 2025 tax year was filed from 8 April to 30 June 2026 (Order HAC/277/2026); the period for the 2026 tax year will be set by the order for the 2027 campaign.
When this does not work or is not confirmed
- You are not a tax resident in Spain. You pay a different tax, the IRNR, and this guide does not apply. In the Basque Country, Navarre, the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla some rules are different.
- VAT exemption of €85,000. It does not exist in Spain. The optional exemption of the EU directive for small businesses is not applied here: Spain told the Commission it does not intend to apply it. On 11.03.2026 the Commission referred Spain to the EU Court of Justice for not transposing parts of that directive (European Commission, release IP/26/442). If your activity is not exempt, you charge VAT from the first invoice.
- Clients in other countries. VAT on invoices to clients in the EU or outside the EU has its own rules, for example modelo 349, a summary of certain operations with the EU. This guide does not cover them: ask a gestor.
- 2026 flat rate. The figure is not confirmed (see above).
- Módulos. The list of activities and the turnover limits are set every year. Ask a gestor before choosing this regime.
- FOP in Ukraine. If you keep a Ukrainian FOP and are a tax resident in Spain, we have not confirmed how it fits with your registration as an autónomo or whether its single tax counts as tax paid abroad. We have not found an official consultation that clarifies it. What is on record is that a tax resident pays tax on worldwide income (remote work for a foreign company), and tax paid abroad may give a right to double taxation relief. This is a case for a tax adviser.
- One year's figures. The RETA contribution table, the Renta deadlines and the módulos rules change from one year to the next. The figures in this guide are for 2026.
What you can do
- Check that your permit allows self-employment (residence and work as self-employed).
- Register in the AEAT census (modelo 036 or 037) and in the RETA of Social Security, and choose your contribution base according to your expected income.
- Ask for the invoice in your name and with your NIF, and pay through the bank.
- Enter income and expenses in the record books and keep the invoices.
- Put the dates of 130 and 303 in your calendar. If you prefer not to file them yourself, a gestor can do it for you.
- With doubts about your regime or about a Ukrainian FOP, ask a tax adviser.
Official source: AEAT, IRPF for individual entrepreneurs and professionals, Social Security, autónomo contributions 2026, BOE, IRPF law and VAT law.
Informational only; check the official source and a professional for your specific case.
