Work is work and Spain makes no discrimination between doing it in front of a computer or physically labouring say in a shop or a factory therefore if you plan to work in Spain then by definition you do not meet the reqiurements for the NLV, it's a simple contradiction.

Your only option, and it's a brief one now, is to become (or at least successfully apply to become) Spanish resident before Dec 31st. but even then you cannot work remotely and say nowt, work will still be work.

Beyond that as a non EU national you will need a visa and lying (by omission) to obtain a NLV would be extremely inadvisable.

Don't think the Spanish taxman won't catch you if you flaunt the rules, he will and when he does you could well find yourself expelled from the country and prohibited from return, and likely with a substantial fine as a parting gesture.

 

Work is work and Spain makes no discrimination between doing it in front of a computer or physically labouring say in a shop or a factory therefore if you plan to work in Spain then by definition you do not meet the reqiurements for the NLV, it's a simple contradiction.

Your only option, and it's a brief one now, is to become (or at least successfully apply to become) Spanish resident before Dec 31st. but even then you cannot work remotely and say nowt, work will still be work.

Beyond that as a non EU national you will need a visa and lying (by omission) to obtain a NLV would be extremely inadvisable.

Don't think the Spanish taxman won't catch you if you flaunt the rules, he will and when he does you could well find yourself expelled from the country and prohibited from return, and likely with a substantial fine as a parting gesture.

Thanks for the clarification Mata Mata.

How would I go about applying to become a resident before 31/12? What would I actually need to do, asides from be in the country?

And if this doesn't work, do you think that a freelance visa would be applicable in my situation?

 

I don't know about the visa side of things (although I suspect that an NLV will prohibit any kind of work, including remote work as Mata Mata says), but you need to make sure that your employer has taken professional advice also.

If you are an employee of a UK legal entity, will your physical presence (and hence tax residency) in Spain create a Permanent Establishment of that entity in Spain? Will they then be liable for corporation tax in Spain? If they suddenly find that you remote working in Spain costs them in unrecoverable taxes, they're not likely to be happy about it!

And what about Social Security? How will you be covered?

 

I don't know about the visa side of things (although I suspect that an NLV will prohibit any kind of work, including remote work as Mata Mata says), but you need to make sure that your employer has taken professional advice also.

If you are an employee of a UK legal entity, will your physical presence (and hence tax residency) in Spain create a Permanent Establishment of that entity in Spain? Will they then be liable for corporation tax in Spain? If they suddenly find that you remote working in Spain costs them in unrecoverable taxes, they're not likely to be happy about it!

And what about Social Security? How will you be covered?

Thanks for the reply.

I suspect my employers wouldn't want to set up a Spanish entity, but we do have people working for us in other countries as representatives - these individuals have their own companies set up and invoice my employer.

I'm wondering whether I might be able to do the same thing, on a freelance visa.

 

OK, here goes! I didn't want to open this can of worms on the forum, but it fits nicely here:

Your company is obviously aware that it is better for them to have foreign workers (off-shore) as third party service providers rather than employees. If this is true for you also then you would need to be self employed in Spain, or set up a company to invoice the services provided.

There are many comments on this forum which allude to the fact that to be "autonomo" in Spain, you need to have more than one client. And whilst on the face of things this is true, the reason for this is to avoid the economic dependency through false self employed status, i.e. a cheat by Spanish employers to pass the burden of Social Security, holiday / sick pay, insurance etc down to the worker. This is understandably prohibited.

But if you are working as an "autonomo" for a foreign company, this principle of false autonomo doesn't exist, because the "employer" is not a Spanish entity and is therefore not "cheating" the state.

I would be interested to see if any autonomo in Spain has had to argue this point and what the outcome was, but I would like t think that a good lawyer could make this work, even with the single client set-up as long as the client is a foreign entity and the services provided to that entity for use outside of Spain.

It does raise the question of VAT though... what will happen with VAT on services invoiced from an EU country to UK after January? I really don't know the answer to that. Maybe even Boris doesn't either...

 

Do you not need to have started the process by 31st as opposed to just arriving? And I have a feeling that it doesn't mean that you take your time until June I think that is for people who have been delayed in the application procedure?

 

That's what I'm trying to ascertain, really. And how far in to the process do you need to be by 31st?

I'd register as soon as I was physically able, so the June deadline certainly shouldn't be a problem. But I do want to know whether there would be any other issues.

 

TBH it is difficult to say. One of the problems is that different offices seem to do things differently. I very much doubt that showing an air ticket will be accepted as proof you were living here. I would imagine they would want to see rental contracts, bank accounts, etc to prove you had settled. Some offices want to see 3 months of accounts before accepting you. Besides you only have around about a week and Spain is tightening restrictions within communities so everything is a bit more complicated.

 

Thank you. This is what I'd expected sadly.

It seems that the freelance visa is the only viable option. Do you know how this might work, with one (non-Spanish) employer?

I'd want to make the process as simple and attractive as possible for my employer, and I'd like to understand any obligations they'd have around tax etc. I don't mind Netting a little less in the Spanish system as my salary should still be a good one in Spain.

 

The 'June deadline' doesn't apply to Spain. Spain opeted for the 'Declaratory System' of registration, and you have to regsiter within three months of arrival. The 'June deadline' applies to countries which opted for the 'Constitutive System'.

You would need to prove that you were actively resident before the end of the withdrawal period. Arriving on Dec 31st isn't likely to be accepted. There are already people being refused when the powers that be doubt that they actually have been living here. We're hearing of people 'getting the ball rolling' & submitting evidence electronically via a gestor before coming to Spain. TPTB aren't stupid & are wanting evidence that people were here when the application went in.

Proving that you do live in Spain in theory should be simple enough, but without a Spanish bank account, being on the padrón before the end of the withdrawal period, etc., I suspect it would be an uphill battle - & a losing one.

 

The 'June deadline' doesn't apply to Spain. Spain opeted for the 'Declaratory System' of registration, and you have to regsiter within three months of arrival. The 'June deadline' applies to countries which opted for the 'Constitutive System'.

You would need to prove that you were actively resident before the end of the withdrawal period. Arriving on Dec 31st isn't likely to be accepted. There are already people being refused when the powers that be doubt that they actually have been living here. We're hearing of people 'getting the ball rolling' & submitting evidence electronically via a gestor before coming to Spain. TPTB aren't stupid & are wanting evidence that people were here when the application went in.

Proving that you do live in Spain in theory should be simple enough, but without a Spanish bank account, being on the padrón before the end of the withdrawal period, etc., I suspect it would be an uphill battle - & a losing one.

Thanks for the response.

Do you have any advice on working remotely with a freelance visa?

 

I have no idea about the freelance visa. Never heard of it. I would have thought that you would need the non-lucrative visa. Either way it basically would come down either you setting yourself up as autonomo or your company setting up some system to pay into the Spanish SS. However I imagine the main obstacle would be getting the 3rd country residency which would mean meeting the financial requirements etc which will be much higher than when we had free movement. Maybe you should talk with a Spanish lawyer and then your company to ascertain what is exactly needed.

 

Thanks Kaipa.

I definitely intend to consult with a Spanish lawyer and have asked for a consultation.

The problem I see with the Non-Lucrative is that it doesn't allow you to work and that you seemingly need to see out the whole year before you're able to switch to autonomo or another work visa.

I don't mind being out of work for a few months, but I think I'd go mad over a year.