How to invoice as a freelance translator in Spain, depending on where your client is

Scope

This guide is for freelance translators with their tax residence in Spain. The VAT Act sets out its territory in art. 3 and treats the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla separately (art. 69.Dos). This guide does not cover those territories. Nor does it cover self-employed social security contributions, the business activities tax (IAE) or quarterly income tax payments.

1. The obligation to invoice

• Businesses and professionals must issue an invoice and a copy for the services they supply in the course of their activity, including those not subject to VAT and those subject but exempt (art. 2.1 of the Invoicing Regulation, Royal Decree 1619/2012).
• An invoice must be issued in every case when the recipient is a business or professional acting as such (art. 2.2.a).

2. Minimum content of an invoice

Art. 6.1 of Royal Decree 1619/2012 lists these items:

• a) Number and, where applicable, series. Numbering within each series is consecutive. Corrective invoices go in a dedicated series (art. 6.1.a, point 2).
• b) Date of issue.
• c) Full name or company name of the issuer and of the recipient.
• d) The issuer's tax ID (NIF). The recipient's NIF is mandatory in three cases (art. 6.1.d): 1. exempt supplies of goods to another Member State; 2. when the recipient is the person liable for the tax; and 3. when the operation is treated as carried out in the territory where the tax applies and the issuer is regarded as established there.
• e) Address of the issuer and of the recipient.
• f) Description of the operation with all the data needed to determine the taxable base, including the unit price before tax and any discount or rebate not included in the unit price.
• g) The tax rate or rates applied.
• h) The tax amount charged, shown separately.
• i) The date on which the operations were carried out, or on which an advance payment was received, provided it differs from the date of issue.
• j) If the operation is exempt, a reference to the corresponding provisions of Directive 2006/112/EC or of the VAT Act, or a statement that it is exempt.

3. Deadline, currency, language and retention

• Deadline. The invoice is issued when the operation is carried out. When the recipient is a business or professional, before the 16th of the month following the one in which the tax falls due (art. 11.1). For services, VAT falls due when the taxable operations are provided, performed or carried out (art. 75.Uno.2 of Act 37/1992).
• Currency. Amounts may be expressed in any currency, provided the tax amount charged is expressed in euros (art. 12.1).
• Language. Invoices may be issued in any language. When it considers it necessary to check a tax position, the tax authority may require a translation into Spanish or another official language of Spain of invoices issued in a non-official language that relate to operations carried out in the tax's territory (art. 12.2).
• Retention. You must keep copies of the invoices you issue and the ones you receive for the period set by the General Tax Act, with their original content (art. 19).

4. VAT: where the service is treated as supplied

Act 37/1992 (the VAT Act) makes subject to the tax the services supplied within its territorial scope by businesses or professionals (art. 4.Uno). For services, art. 69 sets as a general rule where they are treated as supplied, without prejudice to the special rules in arts. 70 and 72:

• Recipient is a business or professional: where it has its seat of economic activity, or a permanent establishment or, failing that, its domicile or habitual residence (art. 69.Uno.1).
• Recipient is neither a business nor a professional: where the supplier is established, that is, in Spain if you are (art. 69.Uno.2).
• Express exception: translation, proofreading or typesetting of texts, and services provided by interpreters are not treated as supplied in Spain when the recipient is not a business or professional and is established or has its domicile outside the Community (art. 69.Dos.f).

The general VAT rate is 21% (art. 90.Uno, subject to the next article, which is not covered here).

What is treated as supplied in Spain is subject to Spanish VAT (art. 4.Uno); what is not, is not.

5. Personal income tax (IRPF) withholding

• Who must withhold. Under art. 76.1 of the Personal Income Tax Regulation (Royal Decree 439/2007), those obliged to withhold when paying income subject to withholding are: legal entities and other entities (a); taxpayers who carry on economic activities, when they pay income in the course of their activities (b); non-residents operating in Spain through a permanent establishment (c); and non-residents operating without a permanent establishment, only in respect of the employment income they pay and other income subject to withholding that is a deductible expense for obtaining certain income (d).
• Rate. When the income is consideration for a professional activity, the rate is 15% of the gross amount (art. 95.1).
• Starting out. The rate is 7% in the tax period in which the activity starts and the following two, provided no professional activity was carried on in the year before it started. The taxpayer must tell the payer, who must keep the signed notice (art. 95.1).
• What counts as professional activity. In general, the activities included in Sections Two and Three of the IAE tariffs (art. 95.2.a). Art. 95.2.b.1 expressly lists, among professional income, that of authors or translators of works arising from intellectual property.

6. Business clients in another Member State: register and return

• Register of Intra-Community Operators (ROI). It comprises the businesses or professionals who supply services that, under the place-of-supply rules, are treated as supplied in another Member State when the recipient is the person liable for the tax (art. 3.3.d of Royal Decree 1065/2007). The application for inclusion is among the data in the census registration declaration (art. 9).
• Recapitulative statement. It must be filed by those who make "intra-Community supplies of services" (art. 79.1.3 of Royal Decree 1624/1992). These are the ones that meet all of the following: they are not treated as supplied in the territory of the tax; they are subject to and not exempt from tax in another Member State; their recipient is a business or professional with its seat, establishment or domicile in that State (or a legal person that does not act as such but has a VAT identification number from that State); and the recipient is the person liable for the tax.
• Content. The identification data of the recipients of the services and the total taxable base of the operations with each of them (art. 80.1.1).
• Deadlines. In general, for each calendar month, during the first twenty calendar days of the following month (except July, which may be filed in August and the first twenty days of September). Quarterly if neither in the quarter nor in the four previous ones did the accumulated total of these operations exceed €50,000, excluding VAT. The one for the last period of the year, during the first thirty days of January (art. 81.2 and 81.3).

What this guide does not cover

• European Directive wording. It does not include any mentions that Directive 2006/112/EC may require (for example, its arts. 196 and 226) or CJEU case law, because the official text could not be consulted when preparing the guide. Check it on EUR-Lex.
• Invoicing with computer systems. Art. 6.5 of Royal Decree 1619/2012 adds requirements (a QR code and, in some cases, a wording) to invoices issued with certain invoicing software. It is not developed here.
• Special place-of-supply rules for services (art. 70), which prevail over the general rules of art. 69 in the cases they list.
• Special schemes (equivalence surcharge, cash accounting, etc.), simplified invoices, exemptions and reduced rates.
• Which IAE heading corresponds to your activity, on which depends whether your activity is professional for withholding purposes (art. 95.2.a).
• Other tax obligations that depend on your situation.

This guide is not tax advice and no adviser has reviewed it. If in doubt, ask an accountant.

Sources and currency

Every article was read in the consolidated text of the BOE on 2026-10-15. It was checked that none has a modification later than the one shown, nor an announced future modification in its text.