# Freelancing for UK company. Living in Spain.



## barceloner (Mar 12, 2017)

Hello everybody,

This is my first post so please be gentle. 

Here's my situation. Right now I'm in London but I'm considering a move to Barcelona to follow my girlfriend who has recently landed her dream job there. She's from Barcelona so it's a return home for her.

There is a project that my employer outsources 4 times a year and my intention is to be the replacement provider of this service and to do the work from my home in Barcelona. It's a total of 10 weeks work made up of 2 lots of three weeks and 2 lots of two weeks (let me just check the maths, yep I didn't fluff it up ) spread across the year.

The income from this would be enough for me to survive on but with another 42 weeks of the year left available I'd be a fool to not consider supplementing my income with additional work (give or take the odd trip abroad). Are there income thresholds I should bear in mind?

My first main question is, where should I be registered to pay tax? This will be my first time being self-employed in either country so have zero experience with this. Does it make any difference which country the money is coming from? Could I continue to be registered in the UK, earn money from a UK company, but just happen to be living in Spain?

Secondly, is there anything else I need to consider? With the "Brexit button" supposedly about to be pushed is there anything I'd likely be better off doing sooner rather than later?

Thank you all so much in advance for your advice.


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

You pay tax in the country you spend most of the year living in. However in Spain it is not just a case of registering to pay tax, you also need to pay social security and, if your employer is unable to give you a contract where they handle the social security payments for you, then you'll probably have to register as an autonomo (freelancer) and handle these payments yourself. If you hunt around in this forum you should find information on what this involves.

If possible I would make sure you move to Spain after June, so you spend less than 6 months of this year in Spain and remain a UK tax resident, and then in theory you won't have to worry about paying tax in Spain until after June 2018.


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## CharlieMCFC (Jan 27, 2016)

I mostly concur with Chopera although I didn't think that you needed to pay social security, you can pay for private health care instead.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

CharlieMCFC said:


> I mostly concur with Chopera although I didn't think that you needed to pay social security, you can pay for private health care instead.


You don't have a choice. You have to be autonomo (self-employed) in Spain, and this requires monthly SS to be paid.


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