Taxes

I Bill 40,000 Euros a Year as a Freelancer: This Is What I Actually Keep (2026)

May 28, 2026

Note: the “I” in the title is an example, not a real person. This article works through a hypothetical case —a typical freelancer billing 40,000 euros (net of VAT) a year— so you can follow the numbers step by step using the official contribution and tax figures in force.

When someone asks how much you earn as an autónomo (a self-employed worker / freelancer) and you say “I bill forty thousand a year”, the next question should be: “yeah, but how much do you actually keep”. Because between billing forty thousand and having forty thousand in your pocket there’s a chasm that only those who live it understand.

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Your first quarter as an autónomo: a fiscal survival guide

May 18, 2026

Nobody explains this to you when you register as an autónomo (self-employed worker). They tell you to fill in form 036, to sign up for the RETA (the self-employed Social Security scheme), to take advantage of the tarifa plana (the flat-rate Social Security contribution for new freelancers) if you can, and little else. Three months later your first quarterly return arrives and the question is always the same: “And now, what exactly do I do?”.

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What happens if you file your quarterly taxes late

May 10, 2026

You’ve missed the deadline. The 20th came and went, and you didn’t file the modelo 303 (the quarterly VAT return) or the 130 (the quarterly IRPF instalment). Or maybe it was 30 January and the fourth quarter went unfiled. First of all: it’s not the end of the world. Second: every day you let pass without filing it, the situation gets a little worse. So let’s look at the consequences and what you can do right now to minimise the damage.

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Modelo 303: what it is, who files it, and how to fill it in step by step

May 8, 2026

The modelo 303 is the quarterly VAT self-assessment that every autónomo (self-employed worker) with VAT-liable activity has to file, and out of its sixty-plus boxes, most of them will never affect you. The real worry usually isn’t “what is it”, but what happens if you get something wrong: a wrong box is fixed with a supplementary return, and the sooner you file it, the less it costs — see what happens if you file late. And if the result comes out negative, that balance isn’t lost: it carries over to the next quarter, as we cover in VAT to offset from previous quarters.

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Quarterly IRPF for the self-employed: what modelo 130 is and when you don't have to file it

April 30, 2026

Modelo 130 (the quarterly IRPF prepayment) is the second big quarterly form for the self-employed, alongside the modelo 303 for IVA. Unlike IVA (the Spanish VAT), which you settle on behalf of the State, modelo 130 is a payment on account of your own annual tax: the IRPF (Spanish personal income tax).

The most common confusion is thinking it’s an additional tax. It isn’t. It’s an advance on the IRPF you would pay anyway in your annual tax return. The difference is that, instead of paying everything in June of the following year, you pay it in four instalments throughout the year.

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How to Calculate Your Quarterly VAT Without an Accountant

April 18, 2026

The modelo 303 (the quarterly VAT return) is the form you use to declare VAT every quarter. For many autónomos (self-employed workers) it’s the first tax obligation they face, and also the one that causes the most confusion at first. Not because it’s especially complex, but because nobody explains exactly what you need to fill it in or how the calculation works underneath.

The good news is that the calculation itself is simple. The tricky part, if there’s anything tricky at all, is having your data well organized before you sit down to fill it in.

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