Penalties for self-employed workers for making mistakes before the Treasury or Social Security can reach up to 3,000 euros.
The procedures for self-employed workers must be carried out in a timely manner, otherwise they face fines that may vary depending on the severity.
Self-employed workers, when working on their own, are responsible for notifying their registration, cancellation, any variation or for presenting the tax obligations that their activity implies. Although the procedures may be complicated and tedious, it is important to carry them out in a timely manner, since otherwise you may face sanctions that will vary depending on the seriousness of the facts. Below we review some of the main infractions that self-employed workers can commit and what the expected fines are.
First of all, the first requirement to be able to operate as a self-employed person on a regular basis is to be registered in the Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers (RETA). According to the regulations, any person who bills regularly must register with the RETA. If this procedure is not carried out, the self-employed person is incurring a serious infraction that implies a fine of between 300 and 3,000 euros.
To this sanction will be added the claim for unpaid contributions since the Administration considers that the activity began. Specifically, a 20% surcharge will be applied for paying late, along with the interest linked to the previously contracted debt.
Regarding Social Security, the self-employed have another obligation: the payment of the monthly fee. Although once registered as self-employed, this payment is direct debited, it may happen that it is executed because there is no money in the account. If this amount is paid late, Social Security applies a surcharge of between 10% and 20%, depending on whether it is paid after one month or after the second month. Of course, if it is the Social Security that notifies it, the surcharge will be 20% if it is paid within the period given by the Administration, or 35% if the stipulated period elapses.
Up to this point we have reviewed the obligations with Social Security, but the self-employed must also regularly pay the corresponding taxes, taking into account that these workers must submit their declarations quarterly. In this sense, one of the main infractions that can be committed is to submit the forms corresponding to these declarations late, whether it is form 303 for VAT or 130 for Personal Income Tax. In that case, the fine also varies depending on the time it takes to settle the tax. Specifically, a surcharge of 5, 10 or 15% will be applied if three, six or twelve months pass, respectively. Once the year has passed, the surcharge will be 20%.
Tax violations
Beyond the deadlines for paying taxes, the Treasury also sanctions when the liquidation causes damage to the Administration or is produced fraudulently. This will occur when it is the Tax Agency that notices an error and therefore urges it to be corrected.
The regulations sanction cases in which tax obligations are not paid, unlike previous surcharges, this time it is the Treasury that demands payment, the declarations are not completely submitted or refunds are improperly obtained. In these cases, the sanctions are the same, but will vary depending on the severity of each case.
Thus, for a minor violation the sanction will be a proportional fine of up to 50%, for a serious violation from 50 to 100% and for a very serious violation from 100 to 150%. The penalty will be applied to the amount that has not been deposited or to the amount returned when it was obtained irregularly.
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