Spain Freelance Billing Target Calculator
Spain · Self-employedBefore pricing your time or negotiating a rate, you need to know one thing: how much you have to bill each month in Spain to actually take home what you want, once business expenses, the self-employed (autónomo) social security contribution, and taxes are paid.
How is it calculated?
Required monthly net income before tax = net amount you want in hand ÷ (1 − tax rate/100) — this is the reverse of applying a tax rate: if you want 2,000 take-home and your effective rate is 15%, you need 2,352.94 in income before tax. The required monthly billing is that income plus the month's deductible expenses plus the self-employed contribution, because both come out of what you bill before the net income is calculated.
Examples
Want 2,000/month take-home, expenses 300, contribution 290, taxed at 15%
You need to bill 2,942.94/month (35,315.29/year).
Want 1,500/month take-home, expenses 150, reduced flat-rate contribution 80, taxed at 7% (new self-employed)
You need to bill 1,842.90/month (22,114.84/year).
How the billing you need is calculated
You need to bill your target net income divided by (1 − tax rate), plus the month's deductible expenses and self-employed contribution.
The result is the taxable base: the VAT you add to invoices isn't your income. With that target, calculate your rate with the freelance hourly rate calculator and the price of each job with the project price calculator.
Sources
- Spanish Tax Agency (Agencia Tributaria) — electronic office (personal income tax, VAT, and self-employed advance payments) — in effect since January 2024 · reviewed on September 27, 2026
- Spanish Social Security — self-employed (RETA) contribution brackets by net income — in effect since January 2023 · reviewed on September 27, 2026