# Autonomo queries



## Roger Rug (Oct 13, 2012)

Hi All.

Newbie here looking for some clarification on going 'autonomo'. I have had a good look through the threads but am still a little confused 

Next week I am moving to Barcelona from the UK to start a job as an office manager, from which I will get a contract. My new employers want to pay me as an autonomo, but I have to sort the process out myself, which seems daunting at this point! I have the following questions:

1) By becoming autonomo, and providing a work contract, do I automatically get residencia? ( and presumably the permanent NIE)

2) I gather from the threads that I will have to pay monthly social security payments of approx €204. By all accounts, this figure seems way higher than private medical insurance. As an autonomo, am I obliged to pay the €204 or can I instead take out private medical insurance?

3) Can I become autonomo solely on the basis of having a work contract or do I still have to show evidence of savings, rental agreement etc?

4) would you recommend getting a gestor to arrange the process or is it simple enough?! I have basic Spanish. 

Any advice on the above would be really appreciated. Thanks.


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## rach3429 (Jan 22, 2012)

Roger Rug said:


> Hi All.
> 
> Newbie here looking for some clarification on going 'autonomo'. I have had a good look through the threads but am still a little confused
> 
> ...



Hi, it's good that you have basic Spanish but as far as I know, your NIE has to be sorted out by yourself and residenciaestates as well.
It can be quite a time consuming process to finally get your NIE as I know from getting my sons and bf but that said,when I came over 4 yrs ago, I went one day, ques too long but second day I got in and after a few hours and going out to pay mid way through, I actually got it on that day.

As autonomous, you HAVE to pay that social security, no choice. One reason Spain's in trouble because it's a lot of money for people to take out of a wage!!!

I am autonomous and work for myself so my position is different to yours but when I registered as autonomous via my Gestor, they wanted my NIE, passport, rental contract and bank account details.

My advice would be for you to use a Gestor as in spain, there is always a lot of tooling and frowing and getting passed from pilar to post which can be very difficult, time consuming and stressfull if you've only just arrived and don't know the area and how things work etc.
That said, gestors do cost a bit so if you think you could manage the language barrier, you have time to run around and transport, maybe try yourself.

I pay 205euro pm social security and I am on a discounted rate due to my age so please be aware, you may be paying a little more as the minimum recently went up.

Also, the medical facilities where I am in coin, Malaga, Andalucia are not very good. Over stretched. If I need medical advice or assistance, I've taken to just going straight to hospital as that's where they send you anyway, if they ever get round to booking appointments.

Also one last thing is, taxes have recently gone up here and bills also are very pricey. Living in spain is nowhere near as cheap as it was only a few years ago.

Sorry if it seems like I have a bit of a downer on spain but I do. Everything is getting to be a joke. I don't know how they expect people to survive and this is why crime is so rife...touch wood I've never been a victim yet though.

I have tried to give you my best advice with regards to your questions and if you have any other questions contact me no problem.

Hope everything works out well for you.
Spain is a lovely place to wake up in the morning through the warm months and I think that is one of the reasons the remaining expats stay here

Regards


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## rach3429 (Jan 22, 2012)

Apologies for the spelling issues in my post, it's late and predictive text has kicked in.


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## Roger Rug (Oct 13, 2012)

Thanks so much for your detailed reply. Much appreciated. Must admit that the finances side of moving to Spain are fazing me, however, like you, am hoping the lifestyle side of things will more than compensate


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

we are moving later this year and will employ a solicitor and or gestor for out residencia ect.

I am not that knowledgeable, but i do know that it is not easy to get automono and would have thought that the company who has offered you the contract would be able to assist in this process?


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Roger Rug said:


> Thanks so much for your detailed reply. Much appreciated. Must admit that the finances side of moving to Spain are fazing me, however, like you, am hoping the lifestyle side of things will more than compensate


you need to get something clear - if they want you to be autónomo then they _aren't _giving you an employment contract - if they were then they would tax you & deduct NI at source - & you'd be 'plugged in' as far as healthcare is concerned

_autónomo _is self-employed - & usually you need more than one client for that to be allowed 

as already said, it's certainly easier to use a gestor to sort this out for you - I did even though I speak Spanish


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

xabiachica said:


> _autónomo _is self-employed - & usually you need more than one client for that to be allowed


I had something similar when I worked for Club la Costa selling timeshare - self employed, so that they didnt need to pay costs, they didnt need to pay if you didnt hit targets, but you were technically working for them and only them. A bit of a dangerous position to be in cos you're neither one or the other - however, its a choice and there were those who did this and made a living. But not a risk I was willing to take. 

But as an autonomo, you are obliged to pay into the system - just like the UK, regardless of whether you have private healthcare or not

Jo xxx


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

jojo said:


> I had something similar when I worked for Club la Costa selling timeshare - self employed, so that they didnt need to pay costs, they didnt need to pay if you didnt hit targets, but you were technically working for them and only them. A bit of a dangerous position to be in cos you're neither one or the other - however, its a choice and there were those who did this and made a living. But not a risk I was willing to take.
> 
> But as an autonomo, you are obliged to pay into the system - just like the UK, regardless of whether you have private healthcare or not
> 
> Jo xxx


yes, I was self-employed when I was with a language academy - although as I've said before, I was the only teacher there actually declaring & I didn't only have the academy as a client - I had lots of private work, too 

when you register as autónomo you have to declare what you will be doing - & produce invoices for each client - questions will be asked if there is only one client & I'd be surprised if you can actually register to be an office manager...

my point is though, that what is being offered isn't a 'proper contract' if they want him to be autónomo, so imo it's unlikely to count as far as registering as resident is concerned - & also there's no security with it - which is what you expect from a proper work contract


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

xabiachica said:


> yes, I was self-employed when I was with a language academy - although as I've said before, I was the only teacher there actually declaring & I didn't only have the academy as a client - I had lots of private work, too
> 
> when you register as autónomo you have to declare what you will be doing - & produce invoices for each client - questions will be asked if there is only one client & I'd be surprised if you can actually register to be an office manager...
> 
> my point is though, that what is being offered isn't a 'proper contract' if they want him to be autónomo, so imo it's unlikely to count as far as registering as resident is concerned - & also there's no security with it - which is what you expect from a proper work contract


I'd be interested to know the wording on their contract - But legal advice is a must, so the OP needs to get in touch with a gestor or abogado asap IMO!!

Jo xxx


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

This sounds highly dubious. If you are required to register as autonomo, they are basically not employing you. If they decide to not want you once you arrive, you are on your own, you have no rights nor recourse. I've been in a similar position and when the "employer" was taken over by another company, they just dropped everybody - no unemployment benefit or other rights because I wasn't "employed" but classed a "self-employed".


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## rach3429 (Jan 22, 2012)

I know that no one wants to employ in spain anymore as its too expensive and too difficult to sack someone. Therefore usually an employer will ask you to register as self employed to get around this, it's very common in all the sales and timeshare jobs I believe.
But I didn't think about being self employed and only having one client.
When you register as autonomous, you declare what services/products you supply and what your business is. 
You would have to ask about whether only having one client is legal but it does mean that if you open yourself up as far as what your business does right at the beginning of registering autonomo, then you are able to do other things as well and claim tax back and be legal doing so, for instance...and it's just an example, but if you wanted to offer gardening services or something you know, you can do that as well. But you deffo have to cover all bases when registering coz it's a pain if you need to add services to your autonomo at a later date.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

rach3429 said:


> I know that no one wants to employ in spain anymore as its too expensive and too difficult to sack someone. Therefore usually an employer will ask you to register as self employed to get around this, it's very common in all the sales and timeshare jobs I believe.
> But I didn't think about being self employed and only having one client.
> When you register as autonomous, you declare what services/products you supply and what your business is.
> You would have to ask about whether only having one client is legal but it does mean that if you open yourself up as far as what your business does right at the beginning of registering autonomo, then you are able to do other things as well and claim tax back and be legal doing so, for instance...and it's just an example, but if you wanted to offer gardening services or something you know, you can do that as well. But you deffo have to cover all bases when registering coz it's a pain if you need to add services to your autonomo at a later date.


yes, but you DO have to issue proper invoices for everything & supply copies of them to the authorities - & questionbs would be asked if you had only one client - or if you registered as one thing & only ever produced invoices as something else


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## Roger Rug (Oct 13, 2012)

Hi everyone. Thanks for all your feedback. 

I should have explained my situation better. My employers ( who are also close friends) run a design consultancy and all their workers are self employed. I think my use of 'contract' was misleading in that (from what I gather) it is just something that helps provide their staff with some form of security. They are self employed but this piece of official paper tells them they have work for say six months or a year. I know this paper has been used by their staff in their registration of becoming autonomo. Since I put this thread up, my friends ( and employers) have told me that they do indeed know of a gestor who can help me when i get to bcn. Good news. 

I have one more question given the previous poster, who says that when registering to be autonomo, all the services should be listed. As this job is only going to be 3 days per week, I am hoping to fill the remaining two days with English teaching as I am an experienced ESL teacher. So, should I list teaching as well as the office manager role to avoid further problems down the line? 

Thanks again


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Roger Rug said:


> Hi everyone. Thanks for all your feedback.
> 
> I should have explained my situation better. My employers ( who are also close friends) run a design consultancy and all their workers are self employed. I think my use of 'contract' was misleading in that (from what I gather) it is just something that helps provide their staff with some form of security. They are self employed but this piece of official paper tells them they have work for say six months or a year. I know this paper has been used by their staff in their registration of becoming autonomo. Since I put this thread up, my friends ( and employers) have told me that they do indeed know of a gestor who can help me when i get to bcn. Good news.
> 
> ...


I originally registered as a teacher & translator

translating attracts IVA , teaching doesn't - & my gestor charges a little more on a monthly basis for 'IVA' businesses - I stopped doing translating work for quite a while so changed to just 'teacher' & de-registered for IVA ( & saved a bit in gestor fees )


I was recently persuaded to do a massive translation job for a uni & had to re-register for IVA & add 'translator' to my job again

now - I don't know if it would matter if both my 'jobs' were the same as far as IVA is concerned, but that's my experience


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