The moment a client is outside Spain, the VAT question stops being "21 % or not" and becomes "where is this service taxed, and who declares it". We keep those rules straight, invoice by invoice.
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For most services sold to businesses, VAT follows the customer. That one sentence produces four different treatments on a Spanish freelancer's invoices:
| Your client | Spanish VAT on the invoice | What else it triggers |
|---|---|---|
| A business in another EU country | None: the client accounts for it | You must be on the EU VAT register; the invoice goes on form 349 |
| A business outside the EU | None | Reported on the VAT return in its own box |
| A private individual in the EU | Usually Spanish VAT | Digital services follow the customer's country above a yearly threshold |
| A private individual outside the EU | Depends on the type of service | Check before the first invoice |
The mistakes we correct most often are the mirror image of one another: charging Spanish VAT to a German company that should not have been charged, and sending a zero-VAT invoice to an EU business before being entered on the register that allows it.
To invoice EU businesses without VAT, you need a European VAT number, which in Spain means being entered on the register of intra-Community operators, known as ROI. It is requested on form 036 and the tax office may ask for evidence that the activity is real. Until it is granted, an invoice without VAT to an EU business is not correct.
Once you are on it, every invoice to an EU business is also declared on form 349, the recapitulative statement, and your client's number should be checked in the European VIES database. A number that is not valid there is a warning that the invoice may need different treatment.
Subscriptions and services bought from companies abroad (advertising platforms, software, contractors) usually arrive without VAT. The Spanish freelancer then has to account for the VAT on them through the reverse charge. In most cases it cancels out in the same return, but it has to be declared, and leaving it out is one of the first things a review picks up.
The fee is the same as for any freelancer: €69, €92 or €115 a month, taxes included, according to the number of invoices. The EU VAT registration is included.
A developer in Barcelona invoices €4,000 to a company in Berlin. No Spanish VAT. The invoice carries a reverse charge mention and both VAT numbers. It is declared on form 303 as an intra-Community supply of services and on form 349. The developer must be on the EU VAT register.
A translator in Madrid invoices $2,500 to a publisher in New York. No Spanish VAT, because the business customer is outside the European Union. Declared on form 303, not on form 349. Recorded in euros at the rate on the invoice date.
A coach in Valencia charges €150 to a private client in Dublin for online sessions. A service to a consumer: Spanish VAT at 21 % in the ordinary case. If the service counts as electronically supplied and total sales of that kind to EU consumers pass the yearly threshold, VAT becomes due in Ireland instead.
A designer in Málaga invoices £3,000 to a company in London. The United Kingdom is a non-EU country for VAT. No Spanish VAT, not on form 349.
Work found through a freelance marketplace raises a question that matters for VAT: who is your customer? On some platforms you contract with the end client and the platform charges you a fee. On others the platform itself is the customer and resells your work. The invoice has to be addressed accordingly, and the platform's fee is a separate cost, usually invoiced from another country and subject to the reverse charge.
Payment processors are simpler. They are not your customers: they move the money and charge a commission. The invoice is for the full amount agreed with the client, and the commission is an expense supported by the processor's statement.
Since 2023, platforms operating in the European Union report sellers' income to the tax authorities. What you declare should reconcile with what they report.
Some countries require their businesses to withhold tax when paying a foreign supplier, particularly for royalties, licences and certain technical services. A freelancer in Spain then receives less than the invoice amount.
What happens next depends on the treaty between Spain and that country. If the treaty allows the withholding, the tax is credited against your Spanish income tax, within limits, provided you hold the foreign withholding certificate. If the treaty did not allow it, or allowed a lower rate, the excess has to be reclaimed in the other country, typically with a Spanish tax residence certificate. Providing that certificate to the client before the first payment often prevents the problem altogether. The treaties are explained under double tax treaties.
Each of these is easy to avoid at the time and tedious to correct a year later, because corrections ripple through VAT returns, recapitulative statements and the income tax instalments at once.
Answer a few questions on our accounting platform, Salama Tax. You will see which returns apply to you and the fee before you commit to anything.