What is Import@ss?

What it is

The Social Security magazine (opens in a new tab) calls Import@ss the portal of the Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social, and says you can reach it from the Social Security electronic office, from the website, or from the app. Its guide to the self-employed alta (opens in a new tab) calls Import@ss an application of the Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social, and says the alta as a self-employed worker can be done from a phone. It says you identify in the app with Cl@ve, a digital certificate, or any valid method, then open Services, then Altas, bajas y modificaciones, then Afiliación y altas de trabajadores, then Alta en trabajo autónomo, and press "Solicitar alta". This page names that path. It does not repeat the clicks.

The Import@ss practical guide for self-employed work (opens in a new tab) is written for someone who already works on their own account or who is going to do an economic activity habitually and on their own account. It says that if you are going to start working on your own account you register as autónomo in Social Security through "Alta en trabajo autónomo", and you register for the tax on economic activities (IAE) with the Agencia Tributaria or the Hacienda Foral. The same guide says that, exceptionally, some groups do not have to register with Hacienda. It says the Social Security alta must coincide with the Hacienda alta, and that both must be done on or before the day the activity starts. If you do it later, the guide says you lose the right to benefits on the fee and a surcharge may be applied. It also says registering as autónomo is obligatory.

The same guide says that to register in Social Security you need your Número de la Seguridad Social (NUSS) or Número de Afiliación (NAF), an identity document (DNI or NIE), the start date, an estimate of monthly net income, the address of the professional activity, a mobile phone and an email, the IAE code and the CNAE code, and a bank account (IBAN) to pay the fee. What the number is, as a definition, is What is a NUSS?.

The alta service itself (opens in a new tab) opens with "Do you want to work on your own account? Check the requirements and register before you start the activity." The button is "Solicitar alta". The page says you must ask for the alta before you start, and that you can do it up to 60 days ahead. If you have already started, you still have to report the alta, and it is treated as out of time. It says you register if you are going to do an economic activity habitually on your own account, and you are 18 or over, a Spanish resident in Spain, or a foreigner with a work permit. That is the page's description of the service. It is not a statement that a particular reader meets it.

A separate Social Security page on affiliation in the self-employed scheme (opens in a new tab) says that from 1 October 2018 it is compulsory for self-employed workers to carry out their procedures online, through the services in the electronic office or through an authorised person in the RED system. Orden ESS/214/2018 (opens in a new tab) is the order that extends the RED system to self-employed workers in the special scheme. The name people still search for, modelo TA.0521, is What is modelo TA.0521?.

What is different in Euskadi

Import@ss is a state Social Security service. The practical guide says the IAE alta is with the Agencia Tributaria or the Hacienda Foral, and the magazine says the IAE registration is done beforehand with the tax agency or the foral agencies, depending on where you live. Those pages do not say which of the two applies in Álava, Bizkaia or Gipuzkoa. Which office that is, for someone living here, is Your Hacienda Foral. Import@ss does not replace that office, and this answer does not turn the magazine's sentence into an instruction to use the state tax agency for a Basque tax. The three territories share this Social Security portal. They do not share one tax website.

Where to read the steps

The apps, including Import@ss, are on Apps. The number the alta asks for is on Get your Social Security number. The alta itself is on Register with Social Security. The monthly fee, which the alta page says you are obliged to pay when you register, is on The monthly fee.