Administrative tasks for a Spanish company

In Spain the administration and formalities have a great deal more to say than in other countries. Thus, the responsible person of a Spanish company must take into account that administrative tasks related to the management require more resources.

Electronic communication

Notifications and correspondance between the company and Spanish public authorities, including tax authorities, social security and company registry must be done electronically.

Therefore, the company needs a Spanish digital certificate. And it is essential that the certificate is applied, that is, daily control of incoming notifications.

Annual and Company accounts

Company accounts must be up to date, and annual acounting must be carried out, both in accordance with Spanish (and not Danish) rules.

Accounting documents are to be kept in original  and annual accounting must be submitted to the Spanish company register, Registro Mercantil, where the company is registered.

Submission of the annual accounting is done electronicaly, provided the company has an electronic certificate, or done by the company’s lawyer, with the lawyer’s digital certificate.

A paper version of the annual accounting must be signed at all pages, by all board members, and kept for later audit.

Annual accounts Book-keeping VAT
Company administration Registry of employees Salery
Social security Tax Digital communication

General Assembly

Every year during the mandatory general assembly the annual accounting must be approved by the company owners.

The president and the board member acting as a secretary or the company’s lawyer, if the lawyer is acting as a company non board member secretary, must confirm that the general assembly has been held with its agenda, and that the annual accounting was approved by the owners.

Registry of employees

When an employee is recruited or dismissed the change must be registered with the Spanish authorities.

It is done by submitting a standard contract containing information about the company, the employment, and the employee.

Other employment related matters are also to be communicated, e.g. illness, pregnancy, work related accident or parental leave.

Salary

Each month the company must elaborate a salary slip for every employee, and salary must be paid to the employee from the Spanish bank account of the company.

Besides the monthly gross and net remuneration the salary slip contains information about withheld tax and social security fees.

Social security

A monthly calculation of the Spanish social security fee is mandatory.

The amount is communicated digitally through a specific form, with indication about how the fee will be paid.

Tax and VAT

The company must provide ongoing information about and pay tax and VAT, e.g. monthly, quarterly, and yearly submission of company tax information, including salary related tax, withheld tax related to invoices from self-employed, as well as in- and output VAT.

Different types of communication are submitted with different forms with different numbers.

Quarterly communication: 303, 111 and 115

Yearly communication: 390, 190, 180 and 347.

Other type of communication

Not only tax and VAT communications are to be submitted to the Spanish tax authorities. According to the activity of the company, the clientes and volume, the company must on an ongoing basis communicate a number of other pieces of information to the Spanish authorities, e.g. the form 123/193 about interests, 202 about company tax, and 349/360 about intra-EU-trade.

Company related matters

According to the company law, an ongoing administration and accountance must be carried out, and changes related to certain matters must be communicated every year before 30 March

Protocols:

  • The general assembly and company board protocol (libro de actas)
  • The shares protocol (libro registro socios)
  • The sole shareholder agreement protocol (libro contratos con el socio único)

Accounting:

  • Accounting entries (libro contable)
  • Invoice entries (libro registro IVA)

Non digital notifications

Not all communication is done digitally, but it does not mean that the notifications are not important.

If the electricity bill is not paid correctly the notification (of the closure of the electricity supply) will often be given in a normal letter.

If payment is not done correctly a fee is often applied, and lack of means on the company’s bank account will also trigger a fee.

Notification replies

Most times a short period is given to submit a reply to the notification, and a lack of reply may lead to important consequences

Zafo Law provides a “Global Corporate Management” packet service, taking care of the above issues according to mutual agreement.

 

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