Spain
Make employment in Spain easy. Let us handle payroll, benefits, taxes, compliance, and even stock options for your team in Spain, all in one easy-to-use platform.
- Capital City
Madrid
- Currency
Euro (€, EUR)
- Languages
Spanish, Catalan, Basque, and Galician
- Population size
47,329,981
Facts & Stats
- Capital City
Madrid
- Currency
Euro (€, EUR)
- Languages
Spanish, Catalan, Basque, and Galician
- Population size
47,329,981
- Ease of doing business
Very easy
- Cost of living index
$$$ (44 of 139 nations)
- Payroll frequency
Monthly
- VAT - standard rate
21%
- GDP - real growth rate
2.582% (2018 est.)
Spain (Spanish: España), officially the Kingdom of Spain (Spanish: Reino de España), is a country in Southwestern Europe with some pockets of territory across the Strait of Gibraltar and the Atlantic Ocean. Spain is a secular parliamentary democracy and a parliamentary monarchy, with King Felipe VI as head of state. It is a major developed country and a high income country, with the world's fourteenth-largest economy by nominal GDP and the sixteenth-largest by PPP.
Grow your team in Spain with Remote
Looking to employ workers in Spain? Companies hiring in Spain must either own a legal entity in the country or work with a global employment solutions provider, usually one that provides employer of record services.
Remote can employ your team in Spain on your behalf through our local legal entity in the country and handle payroll, benefits, taxes, and compliance for your Spain team. You can also pay contractors now in Spain with Remote.
Risks of misclassification
Spain, like many other countries, treats self-employed individuals or contractors and full-time employees differently. Misclassification of contractors in Spain may lead to fines and penalties for the offending company.
Employing in Spain
Employment law in Spain is not contained under a single law. Instead it is governed by statutory regulations codified in (among other laws) the Spanish Civil Code and the Spanish Workers' Statute. The Spanish Workers' Statute regulates legal and regulatory of Spain, the will of parties intended in employment contracts, local and professional customs and practices as well as collective bargaining agreements.
Spanish employment law provides strong labor conditions and protections for employees, so employing people will generally be an important investment and commitment.
Temporary agencies are popular options for more flexible workforce arrangements. For these and many other reasons, the following are only guidelines in the broadest sense, and professional legal services are recommended when employing in Spain.
Minimum Wage
€1,080 per month in 14 payments.
Payroll Cycle
For customers of Remote, all employee payments will be made in equal monthly installments on or before the last working day of each calendar month, payable in arrears.
In Spain, it is also mandatory to make 14 salary payments: 12 months of work and 2 additional allowances (a holiday payment and a Christmas payment). Remote allows the employee to choose whether they would like to be paid in either 12 or 14 allotments:
By choosing 12 months, the employee will get two extra months worth of salary prorated throughout the year.
By choosing 14 months, the employee will receive the 13th payment and 14th payments in July and December
It is customary that 12 payments are chosen in Spain, however, both payment options are possible. Remote allows the employee to change this once per year.
At Remote, Spanish employees will be paid 13th and 14th extra payments between the 15th and 20th of July and December.
Note that Spanish labor law allows the employer to decide how these extra payments should be paid.
Onboarding Time
We can help you get a new employee started in Spain fast. The minimum onboarding time we need is only 3 working days.
Our team ensures your employees are onboarded and paid as quickly as possible while keeping your business compliant with all local employment legislation. The minimum onboarding time begins after the employee submits all required information onto the Remote platform. The onboarding timeline is also dependent upon registration with local authorities.
For all non-nationals of the country of employment, the Right to Work assessment (if applicable) will add three extra days to the total time to onboard. There may be extra time required if we need to follow-up on the right to work assessment.
Please note, payroll cut-off dates can impact the actual first day of employment. Remote has a payroll cut-off date of the 10th of the month unless otherwise specified.
9 Public holidays
Competitive benefits package in Spain
Remote supports our clients by offering competitive benefits packages that will help you attract and retain the best talent across the globe! Our benefits specialists have done the research on norms and requirements in each local market and have crafted packages that will allow your employees to thrive, no matter what country they live in.
Our benefits packages in Spain are tailored to fulfil the local needs of your employees. Typically, our packages contain some or all of the following benefits:
Health Insurance
Dental Insurance
Vision Insurance
Mental Health Support
Pension or 401(K)
Life and Disability Insurance
Local market insights
In Spain, 80%* of employers offer supplemental health insurance to their workforce. (*based on 3rd-party market research from our partners)
Although the country has a public health system, supplemental health insurance provides employees with access to a wider range of options for providers and specialists, as well as significantly shorter wait times. Our plans also offer global coverage (excluding the US) to protect your employees when they are traveling outside their home country.
Our core benefits (which often include things like healthcare) are required in most countries where we hire. Because Remote is the employer of record, it’s important for us to offer the same core benefits to all employees in a country to ensure fair equity and non-discriminatory hiring practices, which protects your business and ours. Note that we do not add a markup on any benefits premiums or administration costs.
If you'd like specific information about our benefits packages in Spain, start onboarding your first employee with Remote today.
For more insight into fair equity and benefits best practices, download our Global Benefits Guide and share with the rest of your hiring team.
Taxes in Spain
Learn how employment taxes and statutory fees affect your payroll and your employees’ paychecks in Spain.
Employer Social Security contributions are capped monthly on a base of EUR 4139.40
23.60%
Common Contingencies
5.5%
Unemployment for permanent employees (or 6.70% for temporary employees)
1.65%
Occupational accident and professional disease contribution
0.6%
Professional Training
0.2%
Wage Guarantee Fund
Types of leave
All full-time workers are legally entitled to 23 days paid holiday leave a year. In addition, full-time workers have 14 paid public holidays a year.
Employment termination
Termination process
Spanish employers in general can provide any fair reasons for termination of an employee. Any dismissal from the end of the employer for an employee that has been employed longer than six months has to be "socially justified" by the following:
Dismissal of the employee without notice for disciplinary reasons, for example in case of theft or any other serious misconduct;
Ordinary dismissal with notice based on economic factors related to production, the organisation of work, the proper functioning of the business and redundancy; or
Notice period
The statutory notice period for an employer depends on the reason for dismissal and the collective bargaining agreement the employment contract is subject to. For dismissals due to economic factors related to production, the organisation of work, the proper functioning of the business and structural changes, the company has to provide 15 days prior notice.
Probation periods
The establishment of a probationary period is not mandatory under Spanish labor legislation. The applicable CBA includes the maximum probationary periods to be agreed with the employees. It is feasible that for the same professional category, you agree different probationary periods with employees if there is justified reason (as a matter of example: experience, training, languages, etc.) and provided that you respect the probationary periods limits established in the CBA.