Setting up a limited company does not take you out of the self-employed scheme. If you run your SL (sociedad limitada, the Spanish limited company) or work in it, are paid for it and control it, you stay in the RETA, the self-employed Social Security scheme: you are what is called an autónomo societario. You contribute like any autónomo according to your earnings, but with a higher minimum base, a different way of counting your income and a smaller deduction for expenses.
If you are still deciding whether a company makes sense for you, start with autónomo vs SL: when a limited company makes sense. Here is who must be in the RETA because of their company, how much they pay in 2026 and which income counts, with the article of the law behind each rule.
Who is an autónomo societario
The General Social Security Law (Ley General de la Seguridad Social) places in the RETA anyone who carries out management functions as a board member or director (administrador) or provides other services to a company, habitually, personally and directly and for profit, as long as they have effective control of it, directly or indirectly (article 305.2.b).
When you have control
- Always, if your shares add up to at least half of the share capital.
- It is presumed, unless proven otherwise, in any of these situations:
- At least half of the capital is held by shareholders you live with who are your spouse or relatives up to the second degree, by blood, marriage or adoption.
- You hold at least a third of the capital.
- You hold at least a quarter of the capital and have management functions.
- In all other cases the authorities can show by any means of proof that you have control.
If you run the company but do not control it
Board members and directors who carry out management functions, are paid for it and do not have control go into the general employee scheme (Régimen General) as assimilated to employees, without unemployment cover or the Wage Guarantee Fund (article 136.2.c).
If you are also self-employed on your own account
You have a single RETA registration even if you have several activities. You report them all in the registration request or, if they come later, with a change of details (article 46.3 of Real Decreto 84/1996).
How much you pay in 2026
As an autónomo societario you cannot choose a base below the minimum common contingency base of group 7 of the general employee scheme (article 308.1.a, rule 4). In 2026 that is €1.424,40 a month (articles 3 and 18.4 of Orden PJC/297/2026). At the 31,5% contribution rate, your minimum contribution is €448,69 a month, about €5.384,28 a year.
The 31,5% is made up of 28,3% for common contingencies, 1,3% for occupational contingencies, 0,9% for cese de actividad (the self-employed unemployment cover), 0,1% for vocational training and 0,9% for the intergenerational equity mechanism (articles 18 and 37 of the Orden). For comparison: the minimum contribution for an individual autónomo in 2026 is €205,88 a month, that of the lowest bracket of the reduced table.
Two details in the 2026 Orden (article 18.4):
- If you were already an autónomo societario in 2025, you can keep your 2025 provisional base during 2026.
- In the yearly adjustment, your final base cannot fall below that group 7 minimum, even if your earnings put you in a lower bracket. Being registered as a societario for 90 days in the year is enough for it to apply (article 308.1.a, rule 4).
Which earnings count
Your bracket, like any autónomo's, comes from your earnings for the year. In your case they include (article 308.1.c, rule 1):
- Earnings from your own business as an autónomo, if you have one.
- All your employment income from your activity in the company: your director's pay and anything you are paid for other work for it.
- Income from your stake in the company's equity, meaning dividends, from companies in which, on the date Corporate Tax accrues, you hold at least 33% of the capital (25% if you are a director). The law leaves the details of this calculation to the regulation.
From that total 3% is taken off for generic expenses, instead of the 7% for other autónomos (article 308.1.c, rule 2). The result is turned into a monthly average using your days of registration.
An example
Imagine that in 2026 your only income is €40.000 of employment income from your SL and that you contributed all year on €1.424,40. After the 3%, €38.800 remain. Your monthly average is €38.800 ÷ 365 × 30 = €3.189,04, in general bracket 8, whose minimum base is €1.437,91. You paid €13,51 a month too little, so the adjustment will ask you for €13,51 × 12 × 31,5% = €51,07. With lower earnings, up to general bracket 7, the group 7 base already falls inside the bracket and there is nothing to adjust. How that adjustment works is in the autónomo contribution adjustment.
The tarifa plana applies to you too
The reduced start-up contribution (tarifa plana) also applies to shareholders of companies registered in the RETA, if they meet the same requirements: first registration or two years without being registered (three if they had it before) (article 38 ter.9 of Ley 20/2007). You request it when you register and its first 12 months are not adjusted. On the amount: up to 2025 it was €80 a month and from 2026 the State Budget Law sets it, which has not been passed at the date of this article, so check the amount when you apply. All the details are in what the tarifa plana is and how to apply.
Your contribution and your taxes
If you pay the contribution yourself, it is a deductible expense from your employment income for IRPF (personal income tax), because the law lets you deduct Social Security contributions (article 19.2.a of the IRPF Law). If the company pays it for you, that payment is part of what you receive for your work there (article 17.1). How to draw a director's salary and what withholding it carries is in paying yourself as an SL director.
If the company runs into trouble
You are also covered by cese de actividad, with its own rule: you must leave the director's post or your work for the company involuntarily and the company must have losses or equity below two thirds of its share capital (article 334 of the General Social Security Law). We explain it in cese de actividad for autónomos.
If you are going to set up your SL
At Facturaz our team sets up your SL for €449 + IVA and registers you as a director in the RETA. It is all in setting up an SL with Facturaz. Once it is registered, the app keeps the company's accounts: with Empresa Go (€44 + IVA a month) you file the returns yourself with everything prepared. With Empresa Plus (€84 + IVA a month) our team files them, Corporate Tax included. Both plans come with 14 days free on pricing for SLs.
