You already have the Digital Nomad Visa: the first steps as a self-employed worker in Spain

Obtaining the digital nomad visa feels like the finish line. In reality, it is the starting line.

The authorization allows you to reside and work in Spain, but it does not register you for anything. Once the favorable decision is issued, a second list of procedures begins—tax and Social Security procedures—that no one explains at the consulate and that have their own deadlines. And if you spend more than 183 days per year in Spain, you will generally become a tax resident here, which changes how and where you are taxed on all of your income.

This is the short version of where to begin.

Registration with the Tax Agency

The first step is to register in the business census using Form 036 (the former simplified Form 037 was discontinued in 2025). There, you declare the activity you will carry out by selecting an IAE classification heading.

Choosing the correct classification heading matters more than it may seem: it determines how you are taxed, whether your activity is subject to VAT, whether your invoices are subject to withholding, and which quarterly filing obligations apply to you. It can be changed later, but doing so creates complications. If your work fits under several possible classification headings, it is worth consulting about it before filing the form, not afterward.

And if you believe you may qualify for the impatriate tax regime (discussed below), review it before beginning the registration process: the deadline to apply starts running from your registration with Social Security.

Registration with RETA

Next comes Social Security: registration under the Special Scheme for Self-Employed Workers.

Since the reform of the system, self-employed contributions are calculated in brackets based on your expected actual net income, rather than on a contribution base you freely choose. This has two practical implications: you must make a reasonable income projection when registering, and you may adjust it several times a year if your billing changes.

There is also a reduced contribution rate for new self-employed workers during the first year of activity, extendable in some cases if your income is low, provided that you have not been registered as self-employed in Spain in the immediately preceding years. The specific amounts and brackets are updated each year, so confirm the current figures before doing the calculations.

Invoicing, VAT, and withholding

Most digital nomad visa holders invoice clients outside Spain. That changes the rules:

• Companies and professionals in other EU countries: for most services, the reverse-charge mechanism applies, and for this purpose you must register in the Register of Intra-Community Operators (ROI) and file Form 349. If your European clients are private individuals, the rules change.
• Clients outside the EU: invoices are generally issued without VAT, but the rule depends on the type of service and where it is deemed to be supplied.
• Clients in Spain: it depends on the classification heading. If your activity is professional, your invoices to Spanish companies and professionals will generally include IRPF withholding, at a reduced rate during the starting year and the following two years if you did not perform any professional activity in the prior year (and you notify your client in writing); if it is a business activity, they generally will not. Also note a limit that is not tax-related: under the self-employed digital nomad authorization, work for companies located in Spain may not exceed 20% of your professional activity.

This is the point where most people make mistakes in the first quarter, and where a brief consultation with a tax advisor pays for itself.

Quarterly obligations

Once registered, you enter a fixed schedule: quarterly VAT and IRPF filings, plus annual summaries. The exact forms depend on your activity and your clients. For example, the IRPF installment payment (Form 130) does not need to be filed if at least 70% of the income from your professional activity in the previous year was subject to withholding; however, if your clients are outside Spain and do not withhold, you will generally be required to file it.

It is not complicated, but it is unforgiving with deadlines. Put it on your calendar the same day you register.

The impatriate tax regime

It deserves separate mention because it is where we see the most unfounded expectations.

The special regime for posted workers—popularly known as the Beckham Law —allows taxation under the rules of the Non-Resident Income Tax, at a 24% rate up to €600,000 for most types of income (47% above that amount and a separate scale for investment income), instead of under the general IRPF scale, during the year in which you become a tax resident and the following five years. A common requirement in all cases is that you must not have been a tax resident in Spain during the preceding five years.

The problem is that eligibility is not the same for everyone:

• If you come as an employee of a foreign company and work remotely from Spain, the Startups Law did extend the regime to your situation.
• If you come as a self-employed worker, eligibility is much narrower. You qualify only if you carry out an entrepreneurial activity with a favorable ENISA report, or if you are a highly qualified professional providing services to startups recognized as such, or engaged in training, research, development, or innovation, and that activity accounts for more than 40% of your employment and economic activity income. In addition, the regulations require, for the entrepreneurial route, that before coming to Spain you have obtained the residence authorization for entrepreneurs (the remote-work authorization alone is not sufficient) and, while applying the regime, you may not carry out other economic activities.

Having a digital nomad visa and foreign clients is not sufficient on its own. If your activity consists of continuing to invoice your existing clients from Spain, this regime most likely will not apply to you.

If you believe you may qualify, review it promptly with your specific circumstances in mind: the election is made using Form 149, generally within six months following your registration with Social Security, and that deadline cannot be restored.

Thinking ahead to renewal

Renewal of the authorization requires demonstrating that you have maintained your activity and that you continue to meet the requirements that qualified you for the visa, including the 20% limit on work for companies located in Spain if you are self-employed. In practice, this means keeping your invoices, contracts, registrations, and proof of income properly organized from the very first month.

People who reach the renewal stage without any issues are almost always those who kept their documentation up to date from the beginning.

And a practical note: your professional presence

A less bureaucratic detail that comes up constantly. Many people arrive on a digital nomad visa while retaining clients in their country of origin, and after a year they want to start attracting clients in Europe or, without exceeding that 20%, also in Spain. At that point, having a decent website of your own ceases to be a luxury: it is what people find when they search for you, and it also documents your professional activity.

If you do not feel like building it yourself, there are small studios that work for a fixed fee — Always Matters is one of them — rather than the open-ended monthly fees that are commonly offered. A simple, well-designed website is usually sufficient.

In summary

The visa resolves your immigration status. It does not resolve your tax or Social Security situation, and both begin to apply from the moment you arrive.

If you are in your first few weeks and are not sure about the order of the steps, write to us. It is worth getting everything properly organized from the start.