Bookkeeping

A Year Without a Gestoría: What You Learn Doing Your Own Bookkeeping as a Freelancer

May 30, 2026

Last June, a freelancer we know told his gestoría (a tax/accounting firm) he wasn’t renewing. He’d spent four years paying 150 euros a month for a service that consisted of: he sent them the invoices, they filed his returns, and if he asked something they answered in 48 hours in a language that needed translation.

Eighteen hundred euros a year. For the IVA and the IRPF of each quarter, the annual IVA summary and the income tax return. It’s not that they did it badly: it’s that, for his case (a fiscally very simple activity), he felt he could handle it himself.

The Mandatory Record Books for Autónomos in Estimación Directa Simplificada (and How to Stay Sane With Them)

April 8, 2026

If you’re an autónomo (self-employed worker) under the estimación directa simplificada regime (simplified direct assessment), the Spanish Tax Agency (Agencia Tributaria) requires you to keep four record books of your economic activity. They’re not optional, and they’re not meant to be tucked away in a drawer. They’re documents that the Agencia Tributaria can request at any time, and they have to be filled in correctly.

That said: keeping them doesn’t have to be complicated. The usual problem isn’t technical complexity but not knowing what goes into each one, or letting months pile up without updating them. That’s what turns something manageable into chaos.

Personal finances and freelance work in the same bank account: the mistake that costs you money and time

April 4, 2026

When someone starts freelancing for the first time, there’s a decision almost nobody makes consciously: whether to open a separate bank account for business, or just use the one they already have.

Most people go with the second option. It’s the easiest thing to do. Just to get started, to try things out, to keep it simple. And for the first few months, it works well enough.

The problem comes later. When it’s time to file your quarterly taxes, when your accountant asks for invoices, when you try to figure out how much money you’re actually making as a freelancer. That’s when having everything mixed together turns into a financial archaeology project nobody enjoys.