# Do I need to become autonomo and has anyone used the Beckham law?



## expat16 (Jun 11, 2016)

Hello everyone,

As a bit of background I'm from the US, recently attained EU long-term residence in NL, used that to move to Spain, and was recently granted Spanish long-term residence.

I will be working part-time for a Spanish company (this was the employment contract I used for the residence request). 

I also now started to work remotely for a US-based company as a freelancer (and this income will probably be higher than that gained from Spanish work). 

[Not sure if relevant: I received first payment from US company into my 'European' bank account, as the owner is currently based in Europe, wonder if that is an issue].

What I don't know is whether I should register as an autonomo? Perhaps I should suggest to the Spanish company that I become a freelance provider as opposed to employee?

Also, I've heard about the Beckham law, and it seems I could use that against the income from the Spanish company, but not for income earned from abroad/non-Spanish firm?

Any info appreciated! :help:


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## Williams2 (Sep 15, 2013)

expat16 said:


> Hello everyone,
> 
> *As a bit of background I'm from the US, recently attained EU long-term residence in NL, used that to move to Spain, and was recently granted Spanish long-term residence.*
> 
> ...


How come you managed to get long term residence and freedom to work in the NL without a Visa in the first place ?
Being a US citizen.
Only EU, EFTA, EEA and Swiss citizens enjoy freedom of movement and right to work in the EU without a Visa !!
Unless you have skills much sought after in the NL and there's few people in the EU that have the 
same ( sought after ) specific skillsets that were prized by your Dutch employer ?

Whether you would regard yourself as Self Employed, a Contractor or a Freelancer. There's ONLY ONE category 
you can use in Spain and that's to register as Autonomo.

Finally I believe the Spanish Tax office shot hole's in the so called Beckhams Law loophole, some years ago.


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## expat16 (Jun 11, 2016)

Williams2 said:


> How come you managed to get long term residence and freedom to work in the NL without a Visa in the first place ?
> Being a US citizen.
> Only EU, EFTA, EEA and Swiss citizens enjoy freedom of movement and right to work in the EU without a Visa !!
> Unless you have skills much sought after in the NL and there's few people in the EU that have the
> ...


Thanks. I didn't get the residence overnight hehe I lived there for 5 years on various highly skilled migrant permits (a Dutch one and then the EU blue card).

I don't know the specifics about NL highly skilled migrant rules, but found it to be a very easy job market. 

IMO this is partly due to NL being a tax haven (even if the gov is set on denying this), but I personally talked to persons in high positions in MNCs who very openly told me they moved operations to NL due to the favorable taxes (for both the company and for the employees with the 30% ruling - which said allowed them to pay e.g. less to engineers hired from abroad).


Yes, I've read about the changes to the law, it seems they actually wanted to make it more 'average joe' friendly and to impede prof. footballers from relying it (funny because it was created for D Beckham specifically)...guess the newer govt disagreed with that. 

From what I read, the aim of the law as amended is the same as the 30% tax ruling in NL - to attract skilled migrants.


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## booksurfer (Apr 21, 2018)

expat16 said:


> What I don't know is whether I should register as an autonomo? Perhaps I should suggest to the Spanish company that I become a freelance provider as opposed to employee?


There are pluses and minuses to registering as an autonomo, only you can decide if it's right for you:
Guide to Spain's autonomo system



expat16 said:


> Also, I've heard about the Beckham law, and it seems I could use that against the income from the Spanish company, but not for income earned from abroad/non-Spanish firm?


It would be the other way round. The work you do in Spain for the Spanish company would be taxed, it's the work done for companies outside of Spain you might be able to exempt from taxation, under the 'Beckham Law'. This only really benefits high income earners, low income earners may not be any better off, because there's no deductions and it's all taxed at a flat rate.


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## expat16 (Jun 11, 2016)

booksurfer said:


> There are pluses and minuses to registering as an autonomo, only you can decide if it's right for you:
> Guide to Spain's autonomo system
> 
> 
> It would be the other way round. The work you do in Spain for the Spanish company would be taxed, it's the work done for companies outside of Spain you might be able to exempt from taxation, under the 'Beckham Law'. This only really benefits high income earners, low income earners may not be any better off, because there's no deductions and it's all taxed at a flat rate.


Great, thanks for the info!


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