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Business culture in Spain Self-employed in Barcelona

Do you need to speak Spanish to work in Spain?

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The title question (“Do I need to speak Spanish to find work in Spain?“) is one of the ones I’m most commonly asked. Let’s look at the arguments.

Speaking Spanish and working in Spain

Barcelona, where I live is an international place with plenty of people from all nationalities. Lots of cities in Spain are like this. There are plenty of companies here which use English as their official company language. You can actually get by in lots of offices without needing to speak any Spanish.

However, you will also be more limited in your choices. In many jobs where you do need to speak some Spanish you’ll be at the back of the line. So think carefully about what it is you’d like to do here if you’re trying to decide if you need to speak Spanish to work in Spain.

Do you need to speak Spanish? I did…

Working freelance, I could not have researched this blog without speaking very good Spanish. There is very little English-language material out there for official bodies. Even if you speak relatively good Spanish, the tax system’s “legalese” is a language in its own right! That said, a lot of people – both English and Spanish-speaking – hire a gestor to get round this.

If I didn’t speak Spanish, I would also have struggled to create and build relationships with my (Spanish) clients. Depending on who your target market is, you will need to speak Spanish to work freelance in Spain – or you’ll need to hire a client manager.

Do you need to learn Spanish to achieve your goals?

I suppose the question about whether or not you “need” to speak Spanish to work in Spain is contingent on your goals. If you’re just looking to get by for a bit and will be working for others, it’s probably not necessary. The further in you go the more limited you will find yourself. This is especially true if you’re starting your own business in Spain.

I don’t believe in too many “shoulds” or “oughts”, but I’d like to add that, for me, learning another language (although it’s been a struggle at times) has been an enormously enriching experience, and great fun. Why would you want to live in another country and not make an effort to learn the local language?

Should you learn Spanish if you want to work in Spain? Tell us what you think!

Text and photos by Penelope

Categories
Business culture in Spain

Myths about working freelance: you can do it from anywhere

When I mention that I am a freelance worker, many people have the following reaction:

“That’s great! I’d love to have a job that you can do from anywhere in the world.”

Unfortunately…not quite. And anyone thinking about working freelance in Spain should be careful of this misconception, as it is one of the largest out there. Working from home is a great option in the sense that it provides plenty of flexibility – it’s a real luxury to be able to fit in a medical appointment when I need or be around whenever the plumber needs to drop by. However, it is most definitely not all about travelling to exotic destinations with laptop in one hand and margarita in the other.

Reasons why it is difficult to work completely remotely

  • Your working space is fundamental. When you’re working freelance, it’s vital that you’re happy in your surroundings and have a space in which you feel relaxed and are free of distractions in order to be productive. Which are things a noisy, cramped hotel room cannot provide.
  • You do actually have to work. I think sometimes people forget this one! And that’s for at least 8 hours a day if you want to get anywhere. All of which leaves you very little time for sightseeing. Combined with the point below, this makes up my major reason for not working from travel destinations.
  • Travel is expensive. Too expensive, some (me) might say, to not make the most of it and have to spend your time stuck on the internet finishing projects.
  • It’s important to separate work and play. For me, a major reason why I travel is to disconnect and temporarily immerse myself in a different way of life. All of which is hard to do when you’ve got 23 emails to answer before you get back home.
  • What about your clients? I guess this depends on the kind of work you do, but I am committed to regular client meetings which tie me down to one place. And I’m very happy that I do – it’s great to get out and see my clients from time to time. Face time is so important that dropping by and meeting people is a big part of lots of professions, even if you’re not stuck in the office all day.

That said, maybe some people do manage to work freelance from anywhere in the world. And I’m always delighted to be proved wrong. Write in and let me know about your experience.

Text and photos by Penelope

Categories
Business culture in Spain

7 myths about working in Spain

A street in the centre of Seville. Daytime drinking.

In my recent article on “Modern Spanish business culture“, I mentioned a couple of preconceptions and stereotypes about working in Spain. There are many of these, so here, I’ve gone into a little more detail.

Bear in mind that I can only talk about my own experience. I understand central Barcelona is probably pretty different from a tiny village in Andalucia. But here’s a couple of the biggest generalisations I’ve heard:

  • Everyone takes a 2 hour long siesta in the middle of the day and goes home and has a sleep. If only.
  • It’s all mañana, mañana, mañana. This depends on the person you’re dealing with. Barcelona has a similar proportion of annoying procrastinators as everywhere else in the world.
  • You’re expected to be half an hour late for everything. Again, I’m sure this depends on the part of Spain you’re in. But here you will have some explaining to do if you arrive half an hour late for a meeting.
  • Working in Spain is paradise. It is definitely not. Salaries are often low, and working conditions often poor. Take a look at my section on “tax” if you needed any more convincing.
  • People will look at you strangely if you say you’re a vegetarian at lunchtime. Barcelona is a cosmopolitan city, with its fair share of vegetarians and everything else.
  • The sun always shines in Spain. As I write this, it is raining.
  • Spanish companies and systems are inefficient and backwards. In fact, even Spaniards have this stereotype of themselves. In my opinion, it is completely wrong, and also dangerously limiting. Like everywhere, Spain has its share of broken and backwards systems and companies (mentioning no names, national government), but there’s also a lot of very clever, very dynamic people out there and many things that work incredibly well. Take a look at public transport, Barcelona Activa and the smart city programme if you needed any convincing.
  • There is lots of red tape and bureaucracy. Yes, ok, this one’s true.
Categories
Tax

How to fill in Modelo 303 (updated and with examples)

“Modelo 303” is the Spanish quarterly VAT return form that all self-employed professionals (except VAT-exempt ones) must complete every quarter. Here’s a guide to filling in Modelo 303, with some screengrabs below to help you out.

Declaring and claiming back VAT with Modelo 303

Do you need to fill in Modelo 303? Modelo 303 must be completed by all freelancers every quarter (January, April, July, October) between the 1st and 20th day of the month. The exception is businesses who are exempt from VAT (teaching, for example, falls into this category). Non-European clients also do not pay VAT, so freelancers with solely international clients do not need to complete this.

How much VAT do I pay? Upper limit is 21%, and this applies for the majority of cases. This is calculated by adding 21% to your total earnings. It is not 21% of your total earnings. 100 + 21% is not the same as 21% of 100. So if you earn €121, you should pay €21 in VAT, and if you earn €100, you should pay €17,35.

Sign up to make declarations online. This is now obligatory.

Pay in your VAT. Work out how much VAT you need to pay, and then follow this link to go to the Government’s website where you can pay it in. Choose the option “Autoliquidaciones > Pago mediante cargo en cuenta” (pay via bank charge) and fill in your bank details. Copy down carefully the reference number you are given (you can get this back if you forget, but doing so is complicated).

Fill in Modelo 303.

Step by step, here’s how,,,

  • Follow this link.
    • Choose from the heading “Si desea confeccionar y presentar el modelo de forma electrónica“.
    • You will probably need to choose the option that includes the Regimen General – the Regimen Simplificado is for those trading in agriculture, fisheries, livestock and wholesale goods).
  • IVA devengado (VAT yielded). In boxes 1, 2 and 3 (and others if you have more than one VAT rate), write in your earnings (amount before VAT has been added on), VAT rate and total VAT to pay. This is added up in box 27.
  • IVA deducible (VAT you’re claiming back). In box 28, write the amount of any business expenses before VAT has been deducted. To the right of this, add up all the VAT you are claiming back. Investment goods (“bienes de inversión“) include anything that costs over €600, and are added up in box 30. Add up the total in box 45, and work out the VAT you need to pay in 46.
  • Información Adicional. Here you add in any extras. In box 60, for example, I am required to write down the international earnings I have which do not generate VAT.
  • Resultado. Add it all up. You can also see that I’ve filled in box 67 (“Quotas a compensar…“), because last trimestre I actually came out being owed VAT and decided to reserve this to pay off future taxes with.
  • Finally, tick the box that says “Resultado positivo > Ingreso total” and add in your details and the reference number you collected in Step 4. If your VAT payments have come out negative (the Hacienda owes you more than you need to pay in), you can either choose to claim this back or the option “A compensar“, which retains the amount you have been owed to claim back at a future date, like I have done here.

Finally, sign and send!

 

Categories
Self-employed in Barcelona

Cafés in Sagrada Familia to work in

Photo by Charlotte May on Pexels.com

Fancy some froth?

Amongst all those serious articles on tax returns and news on employment conditions, what do you guys read most in this blog? A little birdie (or rather, Google Analytics) tells me that one of the most popular topics around here is the best cafes in Barcelona that are also WiFi-enabled.

I also just moved to the Sagrada Familia area of Barcelona (well, technically Camp de l’Arpa, which is a couple of streets down the road, but let’s not split hairs), which makes it a great occasion to tell you about my favourite working cafés in this area. Cake, coffee and a fast wireless connection? Find it here.

For more information about Barcelona’s café/restaurant scene, you might also like to look at my other blog, which is dedicated just to this subject.

The best cafés with WiFi in Sagrada Familia

Very close to the Sagrada Famila and Hospital de Sant Pau is Tactic. More than just a café, Tactic is an original concept where, rather than paying per drink, you pay for the amount of time you spend in the venue and drinks and biscuits are unlimited throughout. This naturally lends itself well to taking a laptop and getting down to work, especially as they also offer WiFi. The place itself has a young feel and has an Escape Room out the back. It’s a little grungy, but one of my favourite places to work in as it’s quiet and comfortable.

You may never have thought of entering an Argentinian Patisserie-Café, but once you have paid a visit to Mendieta there is no turning back. Mendieta is one of the few relatively trendy cafés in this residential part of town (moving over towards El Clot/Camp de l’Arpa), and is incredibly successful (as the waitress tells me, “Monday morning, Tuesday morning, Wednesday afternoon… it’s always this busy!”). It’s a great place for meeting your mates, but as a work venue in need of a few quiet corners. Still, no arguing with the pastries on sale 😉

Text and photos by Penelope

Categories
Tax

New tax reforms in Spain for freelance workers

Walking into the Castell de Montjuic.

For a while now, the government has been muttering about a new set of reforms to the Spanish tax system. They’ll be being discussed and confirmed all throughout the month of June, but to give you a special “taster” of how taxes for “autónomos” (the self-employed) in Spain could be affected, here’s some of the proposals Rajoy’s government have come out with.

Please note that none of these proposals have been confirmed as of yet. This article is based on things I’ve heard, people I’ve spoken to and Spanish-language newspapers and blogs I’ve read. Above all, I’d like to thank the infoautonomos blog in particular for being – as always – a great source of info.

1. VAT increase to 23%

Here comes the whopper: a maximum VAT rate increase from 21 to 23% has been proposed, with many of the goods and services that currently benefit from reduced rates being reclassified and put into the highest-rate category. Let me know what you think of this in the comments box below.

2. Goodbye to the modular system

Some classes of freelance worker in Spain currently pay tax under a system of “módulos” – that is, they pay some of their taxes according to predicted rates for their sector, rather than having to present records of all their earnings. This applies to a minority of workers such as plumbers, fishers, construction workers, taxi drivers, hairdressers and some hotel and bar owners. The modular system is being phased out, and will be kept only for a very limited percentage of taxpayers.

3. Lowering business tax

Don’t get excited: the business tax (“Impuesto de Sociedades”) only applies to societies, companies and associations. Run-of-the-mill freelancers do not pay this in any case.

4. No excuses for not paying your IRPF

At the moment, some types of income are not charged IRPF income tax. An example of this is redundancy payments, which until now have been exempt from this kind of tax. The proposal is to change this, and so make all forms of income taxable.

5. The cost of hiring will be lowered

To sugar the pill of pushing up VAT, it’s been proposed that employers’ social security contributions for new employees are lowered.

 

What do you make of the new tax reforms? How will they affect you?

Photos and text by Penelope

Categories
Business culture in Spain

Over 160,000 falsely “freelance” workers in Spain

The Parc del Clot, Barcelona.

As I mentioned in “Where it all began“, many local friends think I am crazy to be self-employed when I could probably be much more comfortable in a more stable job.

And there’s a good reason freelancing has a bad rep here. Rather than implying “entrepreneurial and dynamic”, the term normally instead correlates to “terrible working conditions”. It’s argued that part of the reason for this is that hiring freelance workers rather than permanent ones gives unscrupulous companies who should really hire full-time workers a way to avoid paying for holidays, social security, sick days and possible redundancy payments. This has lead to the rise of “autónomos falsos“; workers who are self-employed but would normally be considered in-house employees, or at least deserve a “contrato de obras y servicios” (individual project contract). According to the Active Population Study (EPA, 2013), the amount of falsely “freelance” workers in Spain is now around 160,000.

Here’s some adverts for self-employed workers I’ve found on the job boards lately (no names mentioned). What do you think? Should these workers really be taken on as freelancers?

Looking for freelance work in Spain?

“PR Senior Account Executive – FREELANCE

  • Your mission will be to work in our Communications Department AS A FREELANCE WITH SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE in the Health Sector, being responsible for:
  • Follow-up of the assigned accounts under the supervision of the Account Director or the Account Responsible
  • Execute determined communication and marketing plans, in particular this would entail: write press-kits, press releases, articles, specified contents for the client, follow-up of press releases, organize any type of events or meetings (press conferences, working days/conferences with clients, product presentations) and work with the new 2.0 tools (web, social networks, etc…)
  • Achieve the utmost satisfaction from the client
  • Collaborate in preparing plans and proposals for current or potential clients”

“On-Site Freelance Art Director

  • We’re looking for an art director with experience in the creative conceptualisation of concrete tactical programmes, interactive developments and above all strong offline graphical execution skills.
  • Minimum experience 2/3 years
  • Offline and online experience to help with various projects in the agency
  • 8 hour day on-site at the agency
  • Salary to be negotiated
  • Duration: approx. 1 month
  • Please send portfolio”

A recent commentator on this article has helpfully directed me to the IRS’ (American Inland Revenue) website, which has some info about the kind of things to take into account when considering if you should be self-employed or actually working for a company. It’s an interesting list, although there’s probably a few things I’d add to it. How else would you specify the difference?

Text and photos by Penelope

Categories
Business culture in Spain Tax

Why female freelancers are worse off under Rajoy

C/Pelai, Barcelona.

In today’s entry, I will be unashamedly getting up on my soapbox and expressing political opinion. You have been warned!

If you’ve been following Spanish politics recently, you’ll know that president Rajoy has recently brought in a controversial new abortion law, which restricts women’s ability to be granted an abortion. I won’t pass comment, but you can read more about the new abortion law here.

Rights v. Responsibility

With right comes responsibility, and the burden of responsibility of the “right to life” enforced by this law will doubtlessly be shouldered in disproportionate part by women (let’s face it, it takes two – as well as a lack of proper information about sex education, failing contraception etc. – to make a baby, yet in the majority of cases when just one is left holding it, it’s the woman).

Some of the burden of this responsibility could be taken on by society. If women have the responsibility of enforcing the pro-life choice, don’t they also have a right to increased support to do so?

Sadly, Rajoy doesn’t seem to see it this way. Time was, female freelancers were entitled to not have to pay crippling social security flat payments for a period of twelve months after returning for work. In the latter part of 2012, however, the PP government did away with the discount. You can find more information about this in this (spanish language) article.

Keeping women in the home

What conclusions are we meant to draw from this? If I were a suspicious type, I’d say that the combination of the two factors seems to imply that Rajoy is trying to keep Spanish women in the home. What do you think?

Text and photos by Penelope

Categories
Tax

Tax returns: filling in Modelo 303

Before you read on, you might like to check out my updated version of filling in Modelo 303 with examples.

“Modelo 303” is a VAT return form which all self-employed people in Spain must do every quarter to declare their earnings and pay tax. If you’re going self employed in Spain you will definitely come across it at some point! The exception is if you’re in the “Regimen Simplificado” (if you are you’ll probably know about it), in which case you have your own special forms to fill in (modelos 309 and 310). Fortunately, it’s not (too) difficult to fill in, and if you have your electronic signature can even be done online by following this link (and clicking on “Presentación Modelo”).

The Modelo 303 must be filled in before the 30th January, 20th April, 20th July and 20th October each year for the past trimestre (in January, fill in for Oct-Dec during the past year, in April fill in for Jan – March etc.)

Paying tax in Spain: Modelo 303

I’ve included a PDF file of my own Modelo 303, and here I’ll talk you through it.

  1. First, fill in all your details. “Ejercicio” refers to the year the form is being filled in for (2014, 2015…)
  2.  The “IVA Devengado” box is where you fill in the VAT you’ve yielded from your trimester’s worth of business. In “Base imponible”, write how much your earnings were before VAT was included. In the next box, write which VAT percentage you charge (in most cases and if in doubt this is 21%) and then the total amount of VAT charged on that item of work. There are several boxes in case you charge different VAT rates. Add this up.
  3. In “IVA Deducible” (my favourite box), write down all the VAT you’d like to claim back for purchases you’ve made which you needed for your business. Unless you have investments or assets (currently defined as anything worth over €600), this will all go in the box marked “Por cuotas suportodas en operaciones interiores corrientes”. Be careful! This is the box the tax inspectors like to check most carefully. If in doubt, leave it out.
  4. In the next box, work out the difference and write down if you have any VAT money left over from the last tax return you did. Add in any services you’ve exported to companies who don’t have a base in Spain here, as although these don’t incur VAT the government likes to keep track of them.
  5. If the total difference is positive, you can either pay online or go to a bank and ask to pay in your trimestral VAT. Mark this in “importe efectuado”.
  6. If the total difference is negative (i.e. you’ve spent more in VAT on purchases for your business than you’ve accumulated to hand in), mark either the box which says “a devolver” (“To return” – only advisable if you don’t mind having a lot of questions from the Hacienda) or “a compensar” (to save and use up to pay off your next VAT return).

And that’s it! Best of luck with paying taxes in Spain.

Next: annual VAT declarations – Modelo 390.

Categories
Business culture in Spain

Websites where you can find new clients online

This picture is actually from London. Slow exposure.

An important part of business of anyone going freelance, in Spain as much as anywhere else, is finding new clients and advertising your services. Fortunately, there’s plenty of free business websites where you can do this which operate in Spain. As always on the web, keep your guard up, but you can have lots of success with finding new clients online.

Nubelo was developed in Barcelona (it’s won awards from Barcelona Activa) and is a great place for freelance workers to find new clients. It specialises in tech professionals – developers, designers and marketers – but caters for a far wider reach, too. I’ve found it particularly useful for finding work as a translator in Spain, as well as other projects like writing for the web. Nubelo works via an escrow system, where bank transfers is made before the project begins, so you can guarantee payment for your work. Charges 8% commision.

LinkedIn operates just as much in Spain as it does anywhere else. Employers normally have to pay to put jobs up, so it’s mainly used for professional, full-time jobs. I’ve found some good part-time work as a freelancer on here too, however – in fact, my main client is a LinkedIn contact.

Loquo is like the Spanish version of Gumtree. It lists plenty of part-time jobs, but the quality of the listings often isn’t great – look out for plenty of jobs as a “masseuse”/escort on here. However, it has a wide reach and I’ve found work on here before. Teachers rate it for picking up extra private classes. It also has the advantage of being the only website featured where you don’t have to upload a CV using the website’s own protocol.

InfoJobs is the largest Spanish website for finding work, and has an extra section for freelance workers, too. Again, the quality of adverts isn’t always great, but there are plenty of genuine people around, and you can definitely find a few new clients online here. In comparison to Loquo, possibly a better choice for those who offer their services to businesses rather than individuals. Charges 8% commision.

If you know any other Spanish business websites (or at least, ones which cover Spain) where you can find new clients, I’d love to hear about them – particularly ones which cover finding translation work, as this is often asked for.

Text and photos by Penelope