A lot of people living in Spain and thinking of starting their own business are put off going self employed by the high fixed social security contributions.Anyone registering as “autonomo” with the Tax Office is also obliged to sign up for self-employed social security which costs a minimum of €250 a month.If you are starting a small business with uncertain revenues or if it is onlya minor concern where you know the income is going to be pretty minimal this is very offputting.
The situation is worse when you do not need the social security because, for example, your family has private health insurance or you do not need to make any more state pensions contributions (e.g. because you paid the maximum already in the UK).
There is a possible exemption which may make a small business viable in this position.If your are registered autonomo but this is not a full time regular income generating occupation then you can be exempt from joining autonomo social security (known as “RETA” or Regimen Especial Trabajadores Autonomo ).The law does not give a hard and fast definition of how an “occasional” autonomo should be classified but case law has suggested that, in the absence of any other factors, earning less than the annual minimum wage would suffice.
The minimum wage, or the “salario minimo” or “salario minimo interprofesional” (“SMI”), is €7,599.60 for 2010.It is most commonly referred to as a monthly amount ( currently 633,30), and is changed annually by the Bank of Spain.
Once someone earns more than this monthly amount they won’t be able to claim the exemption from social security. It should also be noted that they won’t be able to claim any benefits or benefits from social security while they are not making payments.
More information can be found at the new Autonomo page ofthe Advoco website which also includes a video guide to the autonomo.
In my previous post on the subject of Spanish driving licences (here) I referred to an apparent tightening of the rules when you swap a UK licence for a Spanish one - you have to produce a medical certificate, in Malaga at least, when you didn't have to before.
In fact everyone resident in Spain should have a medical before driving regardless of whether they use a UK or Spanish licence.
Now there are more changes to the rules on Medicals and for once they look like they are good ones.
The frequency with which you need to get a medical has been changed to:
Every 10 years (up to 65 years old)
Every 5 years (over 65)
Also you can renew your licence at the medical centre. Previously you had to take your certificate and old licence to DGT (Trafico) and make the change there. Now all the approved centres (called centros de reconocimiento de conductores or CRCs) are being linked up to the central trafico computer system. They will store the certificate information and you make your renewal application at the same time as you have the medical. You still have to provide new photos of course so that everyone can see just how much you have aged.
To find a CRC use google maps e.g. "centros de reconocimiento de conductores Estepona" or look here:
It's the nightmare scenario - you buy a house or apartment in Spain through a legitimate estate agent and hire a lawyer to do all the checks, but down the line you are faced with a demolition order. Your dream home is demolished without compensation because it was illegally built even though you appeared to have done everything possible to make sure it was legal. This has happened to a few people and thousands of other Spanish property buyers have been threatened with this outcome causing untold amounts of stress and worry. How can this happen?
It's a complicated tale but essentially if the local Town Hall has corrupt officials (many do) and they are prepared to give the go ahead to build on land where they shouldn't, it may appear that a development is legal only for the regional government to overrule the local decision and declare the build illegal at a later date. They often press for demolition even though the property owners are innocent and have no redress against the developer who has gone bankrupt or the officials who are in jail.
Is it possible to protect yourself from illegal build scandals like this? Yes, but you need a good lawyer who is prepared to go the extra yard to check whether a development is legal. Just seeing that the development was approved by the Town Hall is not enough. Did the Town Hall have the right to approve the development? To find this out you have to go to the area's land use plan called the PGOU (Plan General deOrdenacionUrbanistica) which sets out perhaps every 10 years (the duration of the plans varies) how the municipality's land can be used - areas that can be built on or industrialised and areas that must be left green.
Up until now Marbella has been a cesspit of problems of these kind due to super-corrupt politicians including the notorious Jesus Gil whose PGOU was never even agreed by the regional government in Seville and left up to 18.000 properties technically illegal. Finally after years of haggling a new PGOUMarbella was agreed at the end of January this year. This retrospectively legalises most of the illegal builds but leaves the status of a few hundred up in the air.
The significance from a future property buyer's point of view is that now we have a firm point of reference against which to test the legality of a developer. Good Spanish property lawyers should not need to be told to check back to the PGOU if any doubt whatsoever exists over the legality of a development but forewarned is forearmed, if you are buying in Marbella be sure to remember the four letters "PGOU" and ask your lawyer about them.
I have had my first go at producing a video - a two part guide to completing a Spanish residency application (see below). The videos are designed to allow anyone to make a Spanish residency application without having to employ anyone to help. They go through the process step by step and explain how to fill in the application form which, being in Spanish, is a major obstacle to many.
The guide only covers simple applications for EU citizens and dealing with Spanish police stations can still be daunting so we will continue to offer our full assistance service for NIE and residency applications here - http://www.advoco.es/home/22-latest/29-spanish-residency.html
I have previously posted on Spanish Driving licences - "Good reasons to get a Spanish driving licence" - but am returning to the subject as the system seems to have changed. I have had two clients in the last week who have been informed by the Spanish dept of motor vehicles ("Trafico") that they need to present a certificate showing they have passed the drivers' medical exam before they can pick up their new Spanish licence. This represents a tightening of the rules as previously you did not have to have the certificate - or at least present it (I think it was assumed you had it). When you renew your licence the certificate is always required. Both thse cases were in Malaga so I don't know if other Trafico centres are taking this new line.
Getting the medical certificate or "certificado medico carnet conducir" is reasonably straightforward but there is an expense. I rang one centre in Marbella where no appointment was necessary and you paid 35€
This is a link to Centros de Reconocimiento Medico where you can get one:
We've recently run a Facebook advertising campaign offering to change people's UK or other EU driving licences for Spanish ones (at the very reasonable price of 40€). Now being honest people we have put on the information page (Spanish Driving Licence) that it is not absolutely essential to change your licence even if you are resident in Spain, so we are not trying to win business by panicking people into changing their licence unnecessarily. However if you are resident in Spain and are driving around using your UK licence you should change it if:
- it's one of the tatty old paper ones which you should have changed over to a picture id one by now
- if you approaching 70. This is because your UK licence will expire on your 70th birthday and the DVLA will only issue you a new one if you are resident in the UK. You will thus have to either wangle one by using a false UK address which would be a bit dubious given that the DVLA are connected to other UK databases like the passport agency and social security OR take your test in Spain. Once expired you cannot exchange your UK licence for a Spanish one so do it when it is still in date.
The other problem with a UK licence is if it is lost or stolen. We had a client who couldn't get a replacement in the UK because he wasn't resident there and couldn't get one in Spain because all he had was DVLA letter saying he had the right to drive but not an actual licence. By all accounts the Spanish test is not much fun so maybe it does pay to get a Spanish driving licence.
In my previous post on the subject of Spanish driving licences (here) I referred to an apparent tightening of the rules when you swap a UK licence for a Spanish one - you have to produce a medical certificate, in Malaga at least, when you didn't have to before.
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