Free checklist

Your first 30 days as an autónomo

Last checked: 2026-10-22

Work through the list in order. Amounts that appear here are the guide's checked figures. Where an amount or a date is missing, the line tells you which page to open instead of guessing.

Before you register

Confirm you are allowed to work as an autónomo. This list does not say which permit you qualify for.
- Start with Find your path and Check your right to work.
Register your address at the town hall (padrón). Where you live decides which Hacienda Foral you belong to.
- Register your address at the town hall.
Open a bank account and keep the IBAN. Social Security debits the monthly fee from it.
- The guide's bank page says a person living legally in the EU has a right to a basic payment account, and that this right is for private use. Ask the bank whether the account can receive client payments. Open a bank account.
Get a digital ID. BakQ, from Izenpe, is the Basque one. An FNMT certificate is the state one. You will likely need one of them for the Haciendas, and Cl@ve or the FNMT certificate for Social Security.
- Get your BakQ. Get your FNMT digital certificate. Register for Cl@ve. The Cl@ve page of this guide says the three Haciendas do not list Cl@ve, so treat it as extra, not as a replacement for BakQ or FNMT.
- Official: Izenpe (opens in a new tab), FNMT certificate request (opens in a new tab).
Get your Social Security number (NUSS) if you do not already have one.
- Get your Social Security number.
Choose your activity codes (IAE and CNAE) before the registrations. A wrong code is painful to undo.
- Choose your activity codes.
Read the Lanbide start-up grants before you register the activity with Hacienda.
- The grants page says you qualify only if you were unemployed and registered as a job seeker on the day before that registration. Confirm the current call with Lanbide. This list does not repeat the amounts. Check the Lanbide start-up grants first.
Decide whether you will file the forms yourself. Hiring a gestoría is optional. This site does not file them for you.
- Decide whether to pay a gestoría.

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Registration week

Pick one start date and use it at Hacienda and at Social Security. The guide's Hacienda page says a mismatch is a common reason Social Security writes to you.
File the census registration with the Hacienda Foral of the territory where you live, not with the Spanish tax agency (AEAT). The form is not the same in every territory: see the territory section below.
- Register with your Hacienda Foral and Find your Hacienda Foral.
File the IAE form as well when your territory asks for it on its own. Álava and Gipuzkoa do. Bizkaia can take an exempt activity inside the modelo 036. The thresholds differ: use the Hacienda page, which states them, rather than a number from memory.
Register with Social Security (alta en el RETA) with that same start date. The guide's Social Security page says you can register on the day you start, or up to 60 days before, and that a registration after the start date is late.
- Log in to Import@ss: Alta en trabajo autónomo (opens in a new tab) with Cl@ve or your FNMT certificate. Choose your Hacienda Foral as the tax office, not the AEAT. Register with Social Security.
Ask for the flat fee (tarifa plana) on that same form if you qualify. The guide's checked figure for the first 12 months is €88.64 a month, which is €80 plus the MEI. The monthly-fee page says you qualify if you were not registered as an autónomo in the last 2 years, or 3 years if you had the flat fee before. Confirm it before you rely on it.
- Understand your monthly fee. Official: Social Security guide for autónomos (opens in a new tab).
Choose a mutua (the body that covers work accidents) and enter the IBAN for the direct debit.
Download both receipts and check that the start dates match.

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Your first month

Set up TicketBAI before the first invoice. The guide's TicketBAI page says every invoice in Euskadi has to go through it, including the first one. The free app depends on your territory.
- Set up TicketBAI invoicing. Official overview: TicketBAI (opens in a new tab).
Issue invoices only from TicketBAI software your Hacienda accepts. What to write on the invoice, including VAT and any withholding, depends on the client. Do not copy a rate from memory.
- Issue your invoices.
Keep a record of income and expenses from the first sale. In Bizkaia the guide's records page says the record book (LROE) is online, through Batuz. In Gipuzkoa and Álava you keep your own books.
- Record your income and expenses.
Put the filing dates in your calendar. This list does not copy them. A weekend or a public holiday moves the deadline, and each territory publishes its own calendar.
- Check your 2026 tax deadlines.
Araba / Álava: calendar feed (2026 deadlines, with reminders a week and a day before)
Bizkaia: calendar feed (2026 deadlines, with reminders a week and a day before)
Gipuzkoa: calendar feed (2026 deadlines, with reminders a week and a day before)
After the Social Security registration is in place, you can ask for the health card if you need one.
- Get your health card.

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Where the three territories differ

The steps above are shared. These are the parts that change. Phone numbers and appointment links are on the pages linked here, so this list does not repeat them.

Araba / Álava

Census form: modelo 037, online, before you start. Álava also asks for an IAE form, modelo 840 or 841, in the 10 working days before you start. modelo 037 (opens in a new tab). Steps and office: Register with your Hacienda Foral.
TicketBAI app: FakturAraba (opens in a new tab). The TicketBAI page of this guide says it has been mandatory for everyone since 1 December 2022.
Tax calendar: Álava 2026 tax calendar (opens in a new tab).

Bizkaia

Census form: modelo 036. The guide says you prepare it in BILA (opens in a new tab) and file it on eBizkaia (opens in a new tab), within 1 month of your start date. It also says the ROI, and the advance notice if you buy for the business before the start date and want to deduct the VAT, have to be filed before you start. Register with your Hacienda Foral.
TicketBAI app: Haz tu factura (opens in a new tab). The TicketBAI page of this guide says it has been mandatory for everyone since 1 January 2026.
Tax calendar: Bizkaia 2026 tax calendar (PDF) (opens in a new tab).

Gipuzkoa

Census form: modelo 036 in ZergaBidea (opens in a new tab), before you start. The guide says modelo 840 for the IAE is filed in the 10 days before you start. Gipuzkoa modelo 036 (opens in a new tab).
TicketBAI app: FakturaBAI (opens in a new tab). The TicketBAI page of this guide says it has been mandatory for everyone since 1 June 2023.
Tax calendar: Gipuzkoa tax calendar (opens in a new tab).

Common mistakes

A different start date at Hacienda and at Social Security.
Registering with Social Security after the start date. The guide's Social Security page says a late registration counts from the 1st of that month, you lose the flat fee, and back fees use a base of €950.98 a month in 2026.
Invoicing before TicketBAI is set up.
Filing the census form with the Spanish tax agency (AEAT) instead of your Hacienda Foral.
Forgetting the separate IAE form in Álava or Gipuzkoa.