Freelancer or SL in Spain: when switching is real

“Open a company and pay 25%” is the sentence that has cost well-doing Spanish freelancers the most money. The real comparison has more moving parts, and in 2026 one of them changed size. Our short answer, argued below: under a sustained 60,000 of profit that you take home in full, stay autónomo. Numbers, not slogans: our freelancer vs SL comparison runs them on your case; here is the map for reading it.

Why 25% is a mirage (if you take everything out)

Start with what corporate tax charges in 2026. The general rate is 25%, but a micro company billing under a million euros pays 19% on the first 50,000 of taxable base and 21% on the rest. Small companies between one and ten million pay 23%. A newly created company pays 15% for its first two profitable years (Ley 7/2024). Checked 2026-08-22 against Wolters Kluwer’s corporate-tax summary. Lower than the slogan says, then, for a small SL.

The mirage sits elsewhere: those rates only tax what stays IN the company. To live, you pay yourself a salary: that salary lands in YOUR income tax as always, and on top the company makes you a corporate-partner freelancer with their own Social Security bill. If you empty the company every year through salary or dividends (which add their own savings-scale tax), you have built a structure to pay about the same or more, with mandatory accounting attached.

What changed in 2026: the corporate floor

Since January 2026, a corporate partner cannot contribute below the General Regime group 7 base: 1,424.40 euros, roughly a 448-euro monthly quota no matter your profit. That is more than 5,300 euros a year of fixed floor the old math did not have. At modest profits, this floor alone buries the supposed saving.

When the SL genuinely wins

When you can LEAVE profit inside: you bill 120,000, live on a 45,000 salary, and the rest is taxed at 15-25% and stays invested in the business. Limited liability on big contracts, corporate clients that require a company, or partners also weigh in. It is a tool for accumulation and structure, not a pay-less button.

The practical rule

Below a sustained 60,000 of profit, stay as you are and re-run the comparison yearly. Above it, and only if you truly do not need to take everything out, sit down with an advisor carrying these numbers already computed: the conversation changes when you arrive with your case calculated instead of the 25% slogan.