I have been looking for premises for my business and finding out about the NEI numbers, leases and visitng the town hall for business licences for the premises.
This has made me think?????
Obviously I know you need to have permission to open up a business in a particular building and a particular part of town etc... but in regards to the business licence.........
say for instance you were a painter and decorator with no premises just a mobile phone and a van........do you still need a business licence or do you just register as self employed for your NEI number?
Any info appreciated thanks

It´s a hell of a lot easier to set up business without premises if you can. You cut out a lot of the bureaucracy.

You just need to

a) register with the Social Security,
b) fill out the Modulo 036 at the Hacienda, and off you go!

Yes, but a lot of business,s need premises has does Peters,I will be interested to see how he goes on because we will need to set up a business when we move,If you obtain a commercial premises surley you would be able to obtain the licence. What if you find the right building to run a business from put down the rent and then get refused the licence? could you try to get the licence before you commit to premises This is going to be interesting........

We are going to be using a room on the front of our house as a salon. Does anyone have any advice about that? We will ask our solicitor, but it's always best to be a little forewarned. Also can anyone advise us about taxes and tax-deductibles in Spain? All advice is looked at and listened to, then added to the big picture before decisions are made.

I have learned a lot from here so far, and hopefully will be able to put some back when we are more au fait ourselves.

I think Fred James is the most informed person about these things...I´m sure he´ll be along.

Working from you own home would be a classic example of a business that would normally not be "legal". I´m sure all your clients will be paying you cash in hand and most of them will be regulars that come to you via word of mouth recommendations. It would be sooooo easy to stay under the radar. Anyway, that´s up to you!!

As for tax deductibles, what is it that you want to know?

Your mortgage (if you have one) is tax deductable. We also put our phone bill, electricity, water, etc through the books. I think, strictly speaking, we should only put a percentage of these bills though the books because obviously some of the usage is private and some is business related, but it is hard to draw the dividing line between the two. We´ve never had any problem putting the whole bills through the books though.

And very useful it is too, I am sure.

We are hoping to be 100% legal when we finally open for business, so we need to know a bit about the licenses and insurances that are required.

But it's good to know that there may be ways around various things. Tax deductible is one of my favourite phrases. If it's possible to deduct ANYthing from a tax bill it's worth a try. I like to practice avoidance, not evasion. That way I know that I *should* be safe from the howling pack of baying wolves that is the tax system. Because no matter where you are in the world, the taxman is the devil incarnate. Probably a necessary devil incarnate, but nonetheless...

Thanks for the reply, Keith

Hmmmmmmmm you sure about that ?? I dont know much about Spanish side of things but i know in the UK if you work from home you cant do that unless you keep the place as a business place , and if you sold it all profit on the house would be taxable !! Unless i am wrong

We were both driving instructors and worked from home. Had a room set aside as an office. Lots of things were tax-deductible and when we sold the house it was just a normal house sale, as it was still a residential property, albeit with a "study/office". The difference with this one is that we will have people coming into the front room of the house for treatments. When we leave, it will still be a fourth bedroom. Can you see why I asked for clarification? It seems to me that the difference may be in having people come into the house via the front door to get to the salon, rather than having a dedicated entrance.

How many businesses in Spain are "front room" businesses that you wouldn't know were there until you asked someone? And I've lost count of the number of times we have walked straight past some of them thinking they were closed when, in fact, there may have been the equivalent of the population of an entire Spanish mountain village in there buying their groceries.

We will obviously need to use our lawyer and a gestor, but we do need to find out if anyone on the board has "been there, done that" so that they can share their experience.

Thanks for the input - it has been taken on board and has certainly made us think.

I dont think you need a lawyer a gestor yes.
We are going to use our house a business premises, but it was a shop for many years, our friends have both a flower shop and a hairdressers in theres I am not sure what Licences they have but they do have a certificate on the door. I do know you have to have a loo !!!!! for some business and access for disabled people.
Keep us informed of all your findings we can share experiences I hope
Good luck
Sharon

Yes you can Big Pete you can off set your mortgage on any tax returns Good isnt it. Like the good old days in the UK .

I don´t think it matters where you work or what you do....I think regardless of your situation (employed/self-employed/work from home/work away from home) the mortgage in Spain is tax deductible.....would need someone to verify though.

We are self employed. We don´t work from home. Our mortgage is tax deductive.

Spain just gets better and better

ahhhhh the good old days hmmmmmm when Britain was Great That seems a king time ago now

Is there a site that tells you what licences are need for what businesses? That would be so handy.

Yes there is, but it was about four years ago that I last looked at it......I´ll have a search around and see if I can find it again.

Oh that would be good,Id be interested in having a look at that also,thanks.