• Are you determined to register as self-employed?

  • The key is to choose your contribution base

  • It is possible to work for a company and do freelance work

Being self-employed  is an increasingly common professional option among the active population, sometimes by the will of the employer (which may be of dubious legality, as occurs with the so-called ‘false self-employed’), other times by their own will. If you are considering this possibility, it is best to be informed in advance about all the implications of registering in the  Special Scheme for Self-Employed Workers (RETA) , including the requirements to be part of this scheme, your tax and economic obligations. , as well as how to register, change your contribution base…  When and how to request your registration as self-employed and what requirements must you meet?

Registration as self-employed: requirements and how to process it

The first thing you should know is that in our country  it is perfectly possible to work for a company maintaining an employment relationship with it and, at the same time, carry out work as a self-employed professional  for any natural or legal person. In fact, if you are considering starting a new activity on your own, it may be the most advisable thing to do to maintain a stable income during the first stage of developing your business idea.

This situation is called pluriactivity and, according to Social Security, it is defined as “the situation of the self-employed and/or employed worker whose activities give rise to their mandatory registration in two or more different Regimes of the Social Security System ”.

Secondly, these are the  requirements to register as self-employed :

  • Develop an economic activity for profit and on their own.
  • Carry out this activity without depending on the direction of others.
  • Carry out the activity on a regular basis, as a secondary or main source of income and issuing invoices for it.
  • Register in the census of economic activities of the  Treasury .
  • Sign up for the Social Security RETA .

To do so, c In the second case, you will have to create a company and therefore choose the corporate form that best suits your case (limited liability company, public limited company…) The most common is to start with your registration as a person physical.

You will also have to assess whether you will work from home or in a local. All these decisions will influence the forms that you will have to fill out at the Treasury, as well as your taxation and the monthly fee that you will pay.

On the other hand,  you must choose one or more headings  that describe your activity. In case of doubt, it is best to consult a tax advisor to avoid making mistakes.

Another key decision is to choose your  contribution base : the majority of self-employed people contribute for the minimum base, which means paying 286.15 euros per month to Social Security for a base of 944.40 euros (assuming that you cannot apply any help specific, such as the flat rate for the self-employed), but you should know that you can increase your contribution base if you want to improve your social benefits, as long as you pay a higher amount.

In addition, you should consider the possibility that, at first, it is not necessary to register with the RETA, since in certain cases it is possible to invoice without being self-employed, being enough with your registration with the Treasury.

These are the specific procedures that you must carry out to  register as self-employed :

  • Procedures with Social Security

To register as self-employed with Social Security, you must join the Electronic Data Remission System or  RED System , from which your affiliation, contribution and quota collection will be processed. You will also receive notifications and communications from the Social Security Treasury through this channel. You will have a maximum of 60 days before starting your activity to process your RETA registration, but you will only start paying on the date marked as registration.

Another way to carry out these procedures is the  Social Security Electronic Headquarters , which allows all these procedures to be carried out using authentication by electronic DNI or Cl@ve System.

It is at this point that you must  decide your contribution base.  At the opposite end of the minimum base of 944.40 euros (with a fee of 283.15 euros per month) you have a maximum of 4,070 euros per month, which would imply a fee of 1,221.03 euros per month for individuals.

If in your case  you have constituted a legal person, the contribution bases and fees change : the minimum base is 1,214.10 euros per month in 2020, with a fee of 367.8 euros per month.

As for the  flat rate for freelancers , if you meet all the requirements, it will be applied to you by default, enjoying a fee of 60 euros per month for the first 12 months that will increase to a bonus of 50 percent of the base chosen from the month 13 to 18. Between months 19 and 24, the bonus will be 30 percent. Subsequently, you will pay the fee corresponding to the chosen base, without any bonus, although for men under 30 years of age and women under 35 years of age, the term is extended for an additional 12 months.

  • Procedures with the Treasury

On the other hand, it is necessary  to register with the Treasury , through model 036 (for SMEs) or model 037 (for individuals). You must correctly choose the appropriate epigraph or epigraphs, since this will mean changes in your billing (for example, with respect to whether VAT will be applied or not and in what amount, if they will have IRPF withholding or not and in what percentage…) Also It will depend on it what type of quarterly declarations you must present.

In addition, if it is in your plans to carry out transactions with European companies, you must register in the  Registry of International Operators (ROI)  and if you are going to export or import, you will have to register in the  Single Administrative Document or DUA.

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