How to find the self-employment rules and help for your area

Terms used

• Convocatorias — Convocatorias are official calls inviting people to apply for a grant or scheme, with set dates and rules.
• BDNS — The BDNS is the national subsidies database, where grants from all levels of government are listed.
• Bases reguladoras — The bases reguladoras are the written rules of a grant call, including who qualifies and how to apply.
• Sede electrónica — A sede electrónica is an official body's online office, where you file applications and procedures.
• BOP — The BOP is the province's official bulletin, where local ordinances and notices are published.
• RETA — RETA is the social security scheme for self-employed workers.
• Empadronado — Being empadronado means you are on your town hall's register of residents.

Key rules

• Where to look: Check your region's entrepreneur portal and gazette, then your town hall and provincial bulletin.
• Open call: A scheme is only usable if it is for the current year, its window is open and the budget remains.
• Each call's bases: The bases of each call set the exact conditions, so read them before you register or apply.
• Local version: If a town hall website and the provincial bulletin differ, the bulletin version is the one that counts.

The method in one line

Self-employment help in Spain is set by your region and your town, not only nationally. Work out where you are registered, search three places (your region's entrepreneur portal, the official gazettes and your town hall), then check that the scheme is open and that you qualify. The timeline and checklist below give the steps in order. This page explains how to use them.

Step 1: Fix your region and town

Write down your autonomous community and your town. Every community, plus Ceuta and Melilla, runs its own schemes. Many grants only count the place where your business is based or where you are registered as resident (empadronado). Which one applies is set in each call, so note both your home address and your activity address.

Step 2: Search your region's entrepreneur portal

Start on your region's main government website and open its entrepreneur section. Each community has an official support portal run by its economy or development agency. Look there for open calls (convocatorias) for the self-employed, and for guidance on local rules.

Then search your region's official gazette for the same calls. Calls are published there first. The directory below lists where to start, including the separate tax offices in the Basque Country and Navarra.

Step 3: Cross-check in the national subsidies database

Regional calls are also listed in the national subsidies database, BDNS. Search it for the call. It shows the opening and closing dates, the budget and the bases reguladoras, which are the rules of the call. Read the bases in full, because they decide who qualifies.

Step 4: Look up local rules at your town hall

Town halls set local taxes and fees and sometimes run their own help for new businesses.

• Open your town hall's website, usually its sede electrónica or transparency section, and look under "Ordenanzas y reglamentos" or "Ordenanzas fiscales". Fiscal ordinances set local taxes and fees.
• Search your province's official bulletin (BOP) by town and date. It carries the approved version of each ordinance and its amendments. If the website and the BOP differ, trust the BOP.
• If nothing is online, ask the town hall's secretary's office (Secretaría) or its registry for a copy.
• Larger cities such as Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia have their own search portals for local rules.

Step 5: Confirm the scheme is open

Before you spend time on an application, check all of this:

• The call is for the current year.
• The application window (plazo de solicitud) has not closed.
• The rules have not been amended and the budget is not used up.

If you still have doubts, contact the body that grants the aid. It files applications through its sede electrónica, so open the call's page there.

Step 6: Confirm you are eligible

Regional schemes for the self-employed often share these conditions, but each call sets its own:

• A new registration in the self-employed social security scheme (RETA), sometimes within a set period before or after you apply.
• No earlier self-employed period, or a gap of some years (often two) since your last one.
• Tax residence and activity in the region.
• Being up to date with tax and social security, and not barred from receiving subsidies.
• Staying in business for a minimum time, often 6 to 24 months.
• A business plan or proof the business is viable.
• Some calls target groups such as young people, women, the unemployed or rural areas.

Check each point against the call's bases before you apply. Registering at the wrong moment can make you ineligible, so read the timing rule first.

If your rules seem different

Your region can change some tax and registration details, and the Basque Country and Navarra have their own tax offices. The quick answers below cover the common questions.

Timeline and deadlines

Order of steps and timing

• Identify your region and your town: before you start

• Search your region's entrepreneur portal and official gazette for open calls (convocatorias): before you plan your registration date

• Look up the call in the national subsidies database (BDNS) and read its opening and closing dates, budget and rules (bases reguladoras): as soon as you find a call

• Search your town hall's website and your province's official bulletin (BOP) for local ordinances: while you compare calls

• Confirm the call is for the current year and its application window has not closed: before you prepare any paperwork

• Check whether the rules were amended or the budget is used up: just before you apply

• Check you meet the conditions: a new self-employed registration (often required within a set period before or after applying), often no self-employed activity in the last two years, and being up to date with tax and Social Security: before you register or apply

• Apply through the granting body's online office (sede electrónica): inside the application window, and within the time limit after registration that the call sets

• Keep your activity going for the minimum period the call requires: often 6 to 24 months after you receive the help

• Contact the granting body directly: if any doubt remains after these steps

Checklist

Find and verify the rules and help for your area

• Write down your autonomous community and your town, so you search the right level of government.

• Search your region's official gazette for calls (convocatorias) for the self-employed.

• Open your town hall's website and look under 'Ordenanzas y reglamentos' or 'Ordenanzas fiscales' in its online office or transparency section.

• Search your province's official bulletin (BOP) by town and date to read the approved version of any local ordinance.

• Check that the call is for the current year and the application window has not closed.

• Check whether the rules have been amended or the budget is used up.

• Compare the call's conditions with your situation: new self-employed registration, residence and activity in the region, tax and Social Security up to date, and any target group.

• Open the call's page in the granting body's online office, where the application is filed.

• Contact the granting body directly if you are still unsure the call is open or that you qualify.

Where to find regional help and tax offices

• Hacienda Foral de Bizkaia: Register your activity and file your taxes if you are taxed in Bizkaia. Use the electronic office on the Bizkaia provincial government website.

• Hacienda Foral de Gipuzkoa: Register your activity and file your taxes if you are taxed in Gipuzkoa.

• Hacienda Foral de Araba: Register your activity and file your taxes if you are taxed in Araba/Álava.

• Hacienda Foral de Navarra: Register your activity and file your taxes if you are taxed in Navarra. Use the electronic office of the Government of Navarra tax department.

• Your region's entrepreneur support portal: Look for business-start help, grants and calls. Each region runs its own through its economy or development agency; start from the entrepreneur section of your regional government's main website.

• Your region's official gazette: Check it for the formal calls and schemes your region publishes.

Check each office's current website and form numbers directly with it before you file anything.

Regional rules quick answers

Do I have to pay IAE as a freelancer?

No, as an individual freelancer you are exempt from the IAE, the local business tax. You still declare your activity in the tax census. Companies are exempt only if their turnover is under 1 million euros, and anyone in their first two years of activity is exempt too.

Does my region change my income tax?

Yes, in most of Spain your region sets its own part of the income tax scale and its own deductions, so the same income can mean a different total bill. What counts is where you live on 31 December. The rules for the activity itself are the same everywhere. Your region's tax department publishes the current scales.

Is registering as self-employed different in Catalonia or Madrid?

No, registration works the same way in Catalonia, Madrid and the rest of common-regime Spain. You register with Social Security and with the national tax agency. Regional one-stop shops can help with the paperwork but are optional. Some professions need a regional registry, and your town hall may ask for an activity licence.

Do I use the usual quarterly forms in the Basque Country or Navarra?

No, in Araba, Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa and Navarra you use your territory's own forms for quarterly income tax payments and VAT instead of the national models 130, 131 and 303. Quarterly deadlines generally fall in the first 20 days of April, July and October, with the fourth quarter by 30 January. Get the exact form numbers from your Hacienda Foral.