Going Self-Employed Abroad: Autonomo, Partita IVA and Auto-Entrepreneur Explained

Published on: June 18, 2026

Plenty of guides will help you get a digital-nomad visa and find an apartment. Far fewer tell you what happens next: once you are living abroad and earning money from your own work, you usually cannot just keep invoicing as if nothing changed. At some point your country of residence expects you to register as self-employed, pay into its social security system, and handle its taxes. This is the unglamorous operational step that catches relocators off guard.

This guide explains the self-employment regimes in three of Europe's most popular destinations, Spain, Italy, and France, and the questions to settle before you register.

This is general information, not tax or legal advice. Self-employment, contribution and tax rules are set by each country's government and change frequently, and the specifics genuinely require local professional help.

First, the question that comes before all the others

Before worrying about which regime to register under, settle where you are tax-resident. Tax residency is usually triggered by spending enough time in a country (often around 183 days, but the tests vary and include factors like your center of economic and personal interests). Once you become tax-resident somewhere, that country generally expects to tax your worldwide self-employment income and wants you registered properly.

Getting this wrong, assuming you can live somewhere full-time while staying registered and taxed only in your old country, is one of the most common and costly mistakes relocators make. It interacts with visa conditions, tax treaties, and social security agreements, and it is exactly where early advice pays off.

Spain: the autonomo

In Spain, a self-employed person is an autonomo. Registering generally involves two parallel steps:

• Register with the tax authority (Agencia Tributaria / Hacienda) to declare your activity, typically via the modelo 036/037 census forms, which also sets you up for VAT (IVA) where applicable.
• Register with Social Security under the special regime for the self-employed (RETA), which is what entitles you to healthcare and pension coverage and obliges you to pay monthly social security contributions.

Spain has moved to a system where self-employed social security contributions are based on your real net income, with reduced introductory rates for new registrants in their first period of activity (often referred to as the tarifa plana). The exact contribution bands, the flat-rate amount, and how long it lasts are set by the government and have been revised repeatedly, so treat any specific figure you read as something to verify with a gestor (the local administrative and tax agent Spaniards routinely use) rather than a fixed truth.

Italy: the Partita IVA

In Italy, working for yourself means opening a Partita IVA (literally a VAT number), which registers you with the Agenzia delle Entrate and identifies you as an independent worker. You also register for social security, generally through INPS (or the relevant professional fund for certain regulated professions).

Italy's headline attraction for many new arrivals is the regime forfettario, a simplified flat-tax regime for smaller businesses. Under it, eligible self-employed people pay a single substitute tax at a flat rate on a profitability-adjusted portion of their revenue, with a reduced rate often available in the first years of activity, instead of Italy's ordinary progressive income tax. It comes with eligibility conditions, including an annual revenue ceiling and other restrictions (for example, around prior employment relationships and ownership of certain entities). The rates, the revenue cap, and the eligibility rules are set by law and adjusted periodically, so the current figures must be confirmed with an Italian commercialista (accountant).

France: the auto-entrepreneur / micro-entrepreneur

France's well-known simplified status is the auto-entrepreneur, now formally the micro-entrepreneur regime. It is designed to make starting a small one-person business genuinely easy:

• You register (these days largely through the national business formalities portal), which sets you up with the relevant authorities including URSSAF, which collects social contributions.
• Under the micro regime, your social contributions are calculated as a percentage of your declared turnover rather than your profit, and you declare turnover monthly or quarterly. There is correspondingly a simplified income-tax treatment, with an option in some cases to pay income tax as a small percentage of turnover too.
• The regime has turnover ceilings that differ for service activities versus sales of goods; exceed them and you move out of the simplified regime into standard rules.

As with the others, the exact percentages and turnover ceilings are set by the French authorities and change periodically, so confirm the current numbers with a French accountant (expert-comptable) or directly with URSSAF.

What these regimes have in common

Across all three countries, the same pattern holds for a newly arrived self-employed resident:

1. Two registrations, not one, tax authority and social security, because being self-employed means funding your own social contributions.
2. A simplified starter regime exists for smaller earners (Spain's reduced new-autonomo rate, Italy's forfettario, France's micro-entrepreneur), usually with income or turnover limits.
3. Cross-border complications if you still have clients, income, or ties in another country, where tax treaties and social security coordination rules (such as those within the EU) determine where you actually pay, and getting this right is not a do-it-yourself job.
4. A local intermediary is normal, the gestor, commercialista, or expert-comptable is a standard, expected part of being self-employed in these countries, not a luxury.

If you are still planning the move itself, this pairs with our guides on the digital-nomad visa and property map, on the accidental tax-residency trap, and on registering as a resident abroad, country by country.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to register as self-employed if I moved abroad but my clients are back home?
Often yes. Once you become tax-resident in your new country, it generally expects you to register and pay tax and social contributions there on your self-employment income, regardless of where your clients are. Where you owe what is governed by tax treaties and social security rules, so confirm with a professional.

What is the easiest country to be a freelancer in, Spain, Italy, or France?
Each has a simplified starter regime (autonomo with reduced rates, regime forfettario, micro-entrepreneur). "Easiest" depends on your income level, activity type, and how the regime's limits and contributions fit your situation. Compare the actual numbers for your case.

Can I use my digital-nomad visa to avoid registering as self-employed?
Generally no. A visa governs your right to be in the country; it does not exempt you from that country's tax and social security obligations once you are resident. The two are separate questions.

Do I need a local accountant?
In all three countries, using a gestor, commercialista, or expert-comptable is the norm for the self-employed and is strongly advisable given how often the rules change.

A note from JanusHermes

We cover this because relocating and then working for yourself is the reality for a large share of the people who move abroad, and the "register as self-employed" step is rarely explained well. But JanusHermes is a cross-border real estate platform, not a tax firm, accountancy, or law firm, and this article is general information rather than tax or legal advice. Self-employment regimes, contribution rates, tax rates, and turnover or income limits are set by each country's government and change frequently; the descriptions here are a general orientation as of June 2026 and deliberately avoid quoting specific current figures, which you must verify locally. Before registering or relocating, consult a qualified local accountant or tax professional in your destination country, and where cross-border income is involved, an advisor familiar with the relevant tax treaty.

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Disclaimer. This article is provided for general educational purposes only and does not constitute tax, legal, accounting, or financial advice, nor does it create any professional or advisory relationship. Self-employment, social security and tax rules differ by country and change frequently; the descriptions here were believed accurate as of June 2026 but may since have changed. Always obtain advice from a suitably qualified, independent professional licensed in the relevant jurisdiction before acting. JanusHermes is a property information and listing platform, not a legal, tax or advisory firm, and accepts no liability for any action taken in reliance on this content.