Wonder if anyone can give me a bit of advice as I am totally confused about registering as self employed and my business and before I hire an accountant I want at least a little idea of what I should be asking / looking for.

I have just moved here for health reasons and will be keeping my business going with my UK clients and will more than likely go for Spanish clients too. My profession is a Risk Analyst. I will be setting up and office from home as everything is mainly via phone, email, video link etc.

Someone told me to register as a Sole Trader which means that I am one with the business but how does the tax work on that? This has been a bit of a rushed move so not had the time to really sort through this properly.

Thanks

Kyle.

Hi Kyle,
My husband and I have recently moved and have done exactly what your asking! most Spanish Tax accountant will offer you advice for free and by the sounds of your situation it would be wise to look at either Autonomo or a Spanish Limited company, a Spanish Ltd company will be more expensive to set up, but the personal risk to you never exceeds 3,100 euro’s and as a risk anaylst you may wish to have that protection. Alternatively we most of your clients still being in the UK, look in to set up a limited company in Gibraltar so that your clients continue to be invoiced in ?sterling without IVA (spanish vat). You could then invoice your gib company for the consultancy work you do from your Autonomo business in Spain and just pay the taxt associated. This would be a good way for you to assess the spanish market before jumping in. There are lots of tax benefits to setting a company up in Gib!

Which ever way you decide to go regardless of your client base and means of interaction you will need to pay tax in spain as there is a dual tax treaty between spain and england, you will only need to pay tax in Spain!

Good luck

Hi Livingthedream

Thanks for that information I have had a meeting with one accountant and got some good information and arranged another meeting with a different accountant to see what he has to say.

Kyle

Thank you very much for this information. I am also in the same situation. I opted to be self-employed just recently because the economy is just getting worse. There are thousands of people trying to make a living—or just make cash—off their hobbies. An increase in joblessness combined with tough financial times always mean a rise in the effort. Cottage industry is on the rise, and it could well be the incubator for American recovery. The roughest part of a recovery is learning the tough lessons - and there are hundreds posed to be on the rough end of that lesson. It may be worth it to take out a payday loan to start your own business.