Payroll in Spain

Employment is highly regulated in Spain, and labour inspections do occur. It can be very expensive for you to fire an employee in Spain if you haven't followed the proper procedures. We recommend that you read our guide to hiring employees in Spain.

Some reasons to use Strong Abogados for your payroll service in Spain:

• Online access: All payslips, employment contracts, social security communications, and tax forms filed for your company will appear in your online client area.
• Service in English: Hiring and firing in Spain can be difficult to understand for a foreigner. Our support team speaks English and our forms and guides are in English. We're used to explaining the ins and outs of the Spanish system.
• Simplicity: The Spanish payslip is one of the most complicated payslips in the EU. With many years of experience, we have developed the know-how to transform a complicated system to a simple-to-manage process. Our cloud software was designed specifically for international clients like yourself.

If you already have a payroll provider, we will take care of the transition at no additional cost.

Our payroll service in Spain includes the following tasks:

• Based on the employee's gross salary, calculate the amount to pay to the employee and to social security.
• Send a payroll statement to the employee each month.
• Draft the work contracts, as mandated by the SEPE (Servicio Público de Empleo Estatal)
• Register (or remove) employees in social security, and update their registration when needed.
• Fill out and present social security forms: RLC and RNT.
• Handle payments to social security.

For more information about our payroll service, please contact us.

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What corporate setup do I need to hire employees in Spain?

There are various alternatives:

• You can create a Spanish company. Once the company is registered for social security, you can set up the payroll for the employees.
• If you have a well-established business outside Spain, but you don't plan on having a physical office in Spain, then you should consider our service to register your foreign business with the social security office. With this setup, you can hire employees.
• If your business is just starting, a less expensive alternative to forming a company is for the prospective employee to get set up as self-employed (autónomo).

As an employer in Spain, how much will I pay to social security?

Note that these percentages only apply up to a maximum gross salary of roughly 36,000€. In other words, 14,000€ is about the maximum you will pay in social security per employee per year.

What the employee pays is included in the gross paycheck; what the employer pays is not. So the employer can calculate the total cost of an employee as the gross paycheck + 31,6% (assuming a simple payslip where the base amount for social security is equal to the gross paycheck).

What are the holidays in Spain?

There are national, regional, and local holidays. We recommend calendarioslaborales.com for the full list of holidays in Spain.

(In the government's Social Security site, you can search for "Calendario laboral", but this list no longer shows local holidays in Spain.)

We are a Swiss company and we are going to open a call center in Barcelona to serve our European (non-Spanish) clients. Can we apply our Swiss labour laws to our non-Spanish employees?

If you have a functioning office in Spain, even though your clients are non-Spanish, you must register in Spain as a resident entity (such as a branch or SL). Also, your Spanish company must obtain an employer social security number in order to hire your employees. Keep in mind that Spanish labour laws apply, even if your employees are non-Spanish.

I work for a UK company. I plan to move to Spain and continue to do consulting for the company. Can I be self-employed (autónomo) in Spain, and send the company invoices for my work?

The problem with this is that you must include withholding on your invoice. The final amount on the invoice is reduced, and the company pays the amount withheld to the Spanish tax office as withholding for the personal taxes you will pay to the Spanish tax office. But a UK company has no means of paying this amount without being registered in Spain. If your company agrees to the time and expense of getting registered in Spain, then you can ask a representative of the company to contact us, and we can handle this.

In Spain, can employees can be transferred using Form E101?

Yes, employees may be transferred filing Form E101. Once the employee is here, we can handle all the employment and tax issues in Spain.

I am a foreigner working in Spain. My company is paying into the Spanish social security system. Can this be transferred into my native country's system?

Yes. The amount that you have accumulated in the Spanish system can be transferred to any other EU country and any country that has a treaty with Spain. Go to Spain's Social Security site, and see "Información útil -> Internacional -> Convenios bilaterales" for a list of countries.