If your annual profit is under €60,000 and you withdraw most of it personally, autónomo is cheaper and simpler. Above €70,000 net profit, with some money you can leave inside a Sociedad Limitada (SL), the SL starts paying for itself, often by €5,000 to €10,000 a year. Below that, the extra accounting and registry costs eat the saving.
That is the verdict. The rest of this guide is the working: head-to-head on tax, social security, liability, setup, and admin, plus the break-even maths and what changes when you switch.
The gap in the middle (€60k to €70k) is where it depends on how much you withdraw and how much liability protection is worth to you.
You register as an individual on Modelo 036 with the Tax Agency and on Modelo TA.0521 in RETA with Seguridad Social. The whole alta runs through Import@ss and AEAT online and takes a few working days end to end.
Income tax is IRPF on net profit. The 2026 state brackets are 19% up to €12,450, 24% to €20,200, 30% to €35,200, 37% to €60,000, 45% to €300,000, 47% above. Each autonomous community adds its own scale on top, so the effective top can run a couple of points higher in Cataluña or Comunidad Valenciana, lower in Madrid.
Social security cuota in 2026: €88 a month in year one (€80 base plus 0.9% MEI), then between €200 and €590 plus MEI from month 13 onwards, scaled to your real net rendimientos. You file Modelo 130 quarterly for IRPF, Modelo 303 quarterly for VAT, and Modelo 100 once a year. Read autónomo taxes 2026 for the full filing rhythm.
The big constraint: every euro of profit goes to your IRPF return whether you spend it or keep it in the business account. There is no way to retain profit without paying personal tax on it.
The SL is a separate legal person. You are a partner (and usually the administrator), but the company owns the activity, the contracts, and the bank account. The company pays Corporate Tax on its profit. You only pay personal tax on the money you actually take out, as salary or dividends.
Setup is heavier: name reservation at the Registro Mercantil Central, share capital deposited (€1 minimum since 2022, with reserve rules until you cap up to €3,000), notarised escritura pública de constitución, NIF for the company, and registration at the local Registro Mercantil. Add Modelo 036 for tax, Modelo 600 for the operations tax (currently 0%), and the social security alta for the administrator. Budget two to four weeks and €1,000 to €1,500 once you include the notary, registro fees, and a gestor.
Corporate Tax is a flat 25% in 2026. New companies pay 15% on their first two profitable years. Read more in the full SL guide.
The administrator (you) usually pays into RETA as autónomo societario, with a minimum cuota base higher than the standard autónomo minimum. In 2026 the autónomo societario minimum base is around €1,000 a month, which translates to roughly €310 per month before any tarifa plana reduction.
Annual obligations: full double-entry accounting, books legalised electronically each March, annual accounts filed at the Registro Mercantil by 31 July, Corporate Tax (Modelo 200) by 25 July, and quarterly VAT and withholding declarations. Plan for a gestor at €60 to €150 a month.
The headline tax difference is the marginal rate above which the company beats the individual.
If your business profit lands above €35,200, every extra euro you keep inside an SL is taxed 12 percentage points lower (37% vs 25%). Above €60,000, the gap widens to 20 points (45% vs 25%) on the slice over that threshold.
That is the gross saving. The catch is that to actually pocket the post-tax cash from the SL, you have to either pay yourself a salary (taxed under IRPF, just like autónomo), or distribute dividends (taxed at savings income rates: 19% up to €6,000, 21% to €50,000, 23% to €200,000, 27% to €300,000, 28% above). Either route adds a second tax layer.
The SL only saves money if you keep some profit inside the company and reinvest it. If you pull every euro out the same year, the IRPF + corporate tax double-take roughly cancels the rate advantage.
Both structures pay RETA. The difference is the minimum.
Over a year, that is €1,300 to €1,500 of extra cuota purely from being the director of an SL versus a low-band autónomo. On a €60,000 profit business, that gap is part of the calculation.
Autónomo means you and the business are the same legal entity. Any business debt or judgment can reach your personal bank account, your home, your car. Spain's general protection of habitual residence (Ley 14/2013) only kicks in under specific autónomo de responsabilidad limitada conditions and does not cover all situations.
An SL caps liability at the share capital you contributed. If the business owes €200,000 and the company has €5,000 in assets, creditors get €5,000. Your personal balance sheet is untouched, except for any debts you personally guaranteed (banks usually ask for personal guarantees from solo founders).
The image effect is real. Larger Spanish clients, public-sector tenders, and most banks treat an SL as a more credible counterparty than an autónomo invoicing in their own name. If your sales pipeline includes corporate procurement, the SL pays for itself in deals you would otherwise lose.
Autónomo costs nothing to register and ~€600 to €1,200 a year of gestor support if you outsource the filings.
SL setup is roughly:
Annual SL admin: €700 to €1,800 of gestor / accountant support, plus €60 to €120 of Registro Mercantil fees for the annual accounts deposit. Books must be legalised electronically every March. Corporate Tax (Modelo 200) is filed by 25 July.
Net of social security and gestor differences, an SL costs roughly €1,500 to €2,500 a year more to run than an autónomo at the same activity level. That is the floor the tax saving has to clear.
The simple model:
Three worked scenarios on €100,000 of net profit:
Below €70k of profit, the maths almost never favours the SL purely on tax. Above €70k with at least 30% of profit retained, the SL pulls ahead. Above €100k with retained earnings, the gap is real money.
renn handles autónomo registration online end to end if you want the alta in days.
The new-company 15% Corporate Tax rate on the first two profitable years sweetens the SL case if you expect strong growth from year one.
Yes, and most autónomos who outgrow the structure do exactly this. The basic flow:
Done well, you can transfer the entire business as a "tax-neutral aportación de rama de actividad" so the change does not trigger personal income tax on the implicit gain. Done sloppily, you can trigger VAT, IRPF, and capital gains all in one move. Use a specialist for the conversion; the savings on a clean structure pay the fees back inside year one.
At what income does an SL beat autónomo? Around €70,000 of net profit, assuming you can leave at least 30% inside the company. Below that, the extra admin and social security costs eat the rate saving.
Can I be the only partner in an SL? Yes. A unipersonal SL (SLU) is legal and common. Same rules as a multi-partner SL, plus you must declare the unipersonalidad in the Registro Mercantil.
Do I still pay autónomo cuota if I run an SL? Yes, as autónomo societario, with a minimum base higher than the standard autónomo minimum.
Is the new €1 minimum capital safe? Legal but with strings: until reserves reach €3,000, you must keep 20% of net profit each year as a legal reserve, and partners are personally liable for the gap if the company is wound up insolvent. Most founders still capitalise at €3,000 to skip the reserve rule.
How long does an SL take to set up? Two to four weeks for the standard route. The Crea y Crece "fast SL" via PAE can be one week if all documents are perfect.
Can I keep tarifa plana if I switch from autónomo to SL? The autónomo tarifa plana ends when you re-alta as autónomo societario, but a separate tarifa plana for new societarios applies under specific conditions. Plan the switch month carefully to avoid losing both.
renn runs both numbers for your real situation: tarifa plana eligibility, projected IRPF on autónomo, projected Corporate Tax + dividend tax on the SL, the social security delta, the all-in admin cost, and the year-one and year-three break-even points.
If autónomo is right, renn handles the alta online and runs your filings from day one. If the SL is the call, renn coordinates the constitution and migrates your existing autónomo activity into the new vehicle on a clean tax-neutral path. Real accountants on the file, the platform handling the rhythm.
