Hi all,

This page has helped me a lot, but I have another question which I can't find an answer to.

I have a complicated employment situation, earning some money legally in Spain and the rest from the US and UK. I have the US and UK money paid into an account in the UK (saves the hassle of Spanish banks) but I pay no tax on that money, in neither the UK, US or Spain. As my legal employment in Spain is going to dry up soon, I feel I ought to go autonomo, if not out of moral compulsion or fear of the police coming a-knocking at my door, then at least to guarantee myself a bit of health insurance in case the old ticker gives out on me.

My problem is that I earn quite inconsistent amounts of money. My guaranteed monthly money is only about 500€, but I get some nice little contracts occasionally that allow me to buy my bread, milk and PlayStations. But I never know when the next big payment is coming in and am afraid to pay 200€ per month when I don't know if the money gods are going to be kind to me this month or not.


So, the question: can you go autonomo willy-nilly, pay one month, go off the next, etc? A friend of mine told me that he used to only go on when he was working in his university holidays and sign off when he wasn't working. Is that safe? Is it simple as just not paying, or do I have to sign forms each month each time I go alta or baja?

I won't have the problem of companies checking up on whether or not I am up to date or not as everything I do is independent of Spanish companies.

Thanks.

JC

quote:

So, the question: can you go autonomo willy-nilly, pay one month, go off the next, etc? A friend of mine told me that he used to only go on when he was working in his university holidays and sign off when he wasn't working. Is that safe? Is it simple as just not paying, or do I have to sign forms each month each time I go alta or baja?

yes you can go on and off autónomos status but it is not a question of just not paying and paying, you need to "darte de alta y de baja" (register and unregister) officially when you do this.

saludos,
jer...

Jer is right, you have to sign up and sign off via paperwork each time you want in or out. It's not a huge deal, but it must be done correctly and by a certain date each month in order to a) get benefits and b) not get charged. They can advise you further at Hacienda or Ventanilla Unica.

Juliette

This thing about going on and off... it probably goes without saying that you can only do this if you are an EU citizen/permanent resident who doesn't work here under a work permit. For example, an American citizen who is here working on a permiso de trabajar por cuenta propia couldn't get away with this.

But, yes, lots of freelance Spaniards do this if their work is seasonal (or whenever they have to get paid by an entity that goes by the book--like some kind of governmental agency). If you do this, can you report back on how it goes?

Thanks guys, that's helpful.

My heart sunk at the idea of going back into a Spanish government office once a month and filling in forms, but then it has to be done.

So if I go in and say "me doy de baja" they aren't going to ask what I'm going to do for dinero? It's ok to disappear off the system occasionally?

Thanks again.

JC

P.S. I'm British. "Too legit to quit", didn't someone say that? I think it was MC Hammer.

I don't think they'll ask a thing. GETTING information is the difficult thing here. When I went to sign up to be autonoma, they whisked me through 4 or 5 funcionarios filling out forms and stamping things and sending me on to the next one with nary a word.

I had no idea what to do after that...how to do my taxes, what forms to use and when...anyway, I don't think you'll find them chatting you up too much.

hey Johnny "Efectivo" or maybe "Johnny Metálico"

quote:

So if I go in and say "me doy de baja" they aren't going to ask what I'm going to do for dinero? It's ok to disappear off the system occasionally?

no, they are civil servants (funcionarios) and they could not care less how you will make money to keep up the playstation addiction. besides, they are more like robots and will not want to do any more prying or work than they are paid to do.

they are simply there to take the paperwork and process it.

if they do ask, just tell them you will make your living from selling drugs in the time you are not on autónomos

the only problem could arise if and when you just gave yourself the "baja" and you all of a suddent get a client that you have to bill. then you would have to give yourself the alta again right away. you could end up making a LOT of trips back and forth.

now, if work is sporadic and unpredictable (which i believe is your case) instead of seasonal, it will be more annoying. one thing is for a freelance teacher for example to be autónomo the whole academic year and then go off autónomos for the 3 months of the summer and another more difficult situation would be a writer for example who gets gigs once in a while and cannot predict when he/she will be working or not.

saludos,
jer...

autónomo finally got the spelling right!

I've been looking into free lance vs employee situation. Not so much from a tax point of view but from a work point of view. The main advantage to going autónomo is more options for getting work. I spoke with the agency that I work for and they would only offer me a contract based on 80% of my current load (13 hours a week). This leads me looking for another agency that will hire me as an employee or on a cash basis.

On the other hand if I go free lance than I have a lot more options for work. Over the past year I’ve had several offers of block hours in good locations but had to turn them down as I didn’t yet have my papers. The offer was based on the fact that I would be billing them ( ie autónomo) . If I wanted to be an employee they wouldn’t have hired me.

Rob