Can a UK company own a Spanish subsidiary outright?

Yes. A British parent can hold 100% of a Spanish sociedad limitada, and Brexit didn’t change that. What changed is the tax mechanism governing money moving between them, and the fact that your directors are now third-country nationals for immigration purposes.

Do our directors need to travel to Spain to set it up?

No. The tax identification numbers, the powers and the signature are handled through power of attorney and apostille, prepared in the UK. The real incorporation timeline shows what actually decides the date.

Do we need a Spanish bank account?

In practice, yes, and it is the part most likely to delay you. KYC on a British parent now takes longer than it did before 2021 and can be refused. We pre-validate the file before the company exists rather than after.

Can we keep our UK accountant?

Yes, and most of our British clients do. We handle Spain and report to them in the format they work in.

We already have a Spanish company set up years ago. Is anything likely to be wrong?

Possibly, and specifically if nobody reviewed it after 2021. The usual findings are an intercompany arrangement built on rules that no longer apply, a VAT position that assumes EU establishment, and posted staff without current certificates. We review it in three weeks, at a fixed price that is credited against your first months if you move to us.

Is Spanish employment law really as rigid as people say?

It is more protective of employees than UK law and considerably more predictable than its reputation suggests. The cost of ending a relationship is high but it is calculable in advance, which is the whole point. What catches British employers out is finding out afterwards rather than before.

Spain isn’t a harder country. It’s a differently shaped one.

Tax, payroll and employment in Spain for British companies — run by a Spanish firm that works in English and knows what your accountant back home needs.

Most of what British companies get wrong here comes from assuming the shape is the same and only the paperwork differs: hire someone, agree notice, file accounts, pay corporation tax. Close enough to feel safe, different enough to cost money.

Still deciding whether you need a Spanish company at all? Start with testing Spain before choosing a structure.

Talk to us How we price

United Kingdom Spain

Employer social security, on top of gross

≈ 15%

≈ 31%

Who sets pay, hours and notice

You do, in the contract

A sectoral agreement you never signed, covering ~92% of workers

Ending the relationship

Notice, then statutory redundancy

Up to 33 days’ salary per year of service, capped at 24 months

Accounts are filed with

Companies House

A Commercial Registry that behaves differently, with consequences for filing late

The tax authority writes

By letter, in English

Electronically, in Spanish, and the clock starts whether or not anyone opened it

Indicative. We calculate yours under the agreement that actually applies.

If you’re used to ICAEW-regulated accountants and SRA-regulated solicitors, Spain’s equivalents look unfamiliar. Here they are: we’re authorised by the Spanish Tax Agency to file on your behalf, by the Social Security Treasury to run your payroll, and our founder is admitted to the Madrid Bar. Every number is on our credentials page, and every one of them is publicly checkable.

Four classic assumptions

What a British company expects, and what’s actually true.

Expected

You set the employment terms.

Actually

A sectoral agreement you never signed sets minimum pay, hours, extra payments and notice for your team, chosen by your activity and your province.
Expected

Notice ends the relationship.

Actually

Here compensation does. Notice matters far less than the formula, and the formula is fixed by law.
Expected

Filing accounts is administrative.

Actually

They go to a Commercial Registry that behaves differently from Companies House, with consequences for late filing that catch most foreign parents once.
Expected

You’ll get a letter.

Actually

The tax authority writes electronically, in Spanish, and the response clock starts whether or not anyone has opened it.

The three figures a British finance director should see before hiring here.

Employer social security

≈ 31% in Spain · ≈ 15% in the UK

On top of gross salary. It is the single largest difference between budgeting a UK hire and a Spanish one, and it is the one most often left out of the first model.

Ending the relationship

Up to 33 days’ salary per year of service, capped at 24 months

Where a dismissal is found unfair. Where it’s accepted as objective, 20 days per year, capped at 12 months. Set that against UK statutory redundancy and the gap is not marginal — and unlike the UK, which of the two applies is often decided after the fact.

Who sets the terms

A collective agreement covering around 92% of Spanish workers

Chosen by your activity and your province, not by you. It sets minimum pay, hours, extra payments and notice for your team, and you are bound by it from your first employee.

Indicative figures for comparison. We calculate yours precisely, under the agreement that actually applies to you, before you make an offer.

How employment works here →

International reporting · foreign GAAP

Your parent’s numbers, in your parent’s language.

Spanish statutory accounts follow the Plan General Contable, which is not US GAAP and not UK GAAP, and the differences surface exactly where they hurt — at consolidation, in front of your auditor.

We keep the statutory books correctly here and hand your parent figures it can actually use: converted to your group’s basis, in your format, on your close calendar, in English. Where your group runs SAP, Dynamics 365 or Sage X3, we work inside it rather than emailing spreadsheets for someone to rekey.

It’s the reason some of our clients chose us, and it is the part of this job most Spanish firms do worst.

We work with your UK accountant, not around them.

Most British companies we act for already have an accountant they trust, and they’re not looking to replace them. We are not trying to. The job here is to keep the Spanish books correct and hand your UK adviser figures they can use without rekeying anything.

In practice that means: statutory books kept to Spanish standards, a reporting pack in your group’s format and on your group’s calendar, intercompany positions documented so they hold up on both sides, and a direct line between us and your UK accountant so you’re not in the middle translating.

Most companies come to Spain in stages. Some start with a first hire through an employer of record, some set up a Spanish company from day one, and some arrive with a subsidiary already running and an advisor they’ve outgrown. Each route has its own costs, and its own moment to move on to the next. We work with companies at every stage, and we’ll tell you honestly which one fits where you are now.

Five ways into Spain, and which one suits you →

What you’d actually be buying.

Someone who tells you before, not after.

Before you hire, before you restructure, before you let someone go — you see the number and the consequence while the decision is still yours to make. Most of what this firm does happens ahead of the thing, not in response to it.
Nothing filed from memory.

Every obligation your company owes is held by our own system, with the dates attached, checked daily. Deadlines here run whether or not anyone has opened the letter, so the letter gets opened.
One person, who knows your business better every year.

The same adviser, not a rota. They learn how your group works, what your parent asks for, which decisions you take quickly and which you don’t. That relationship is the thing that compounds — a firm that has run your Spanish company for four years is worth considerably more to you than one that has run it for four months.
A second person who knows it too.

So holidays, illness and busy weeks are our problem rather than yours.
Answers in English, filings in Spanish.

Your adviser works in your language. Your inspectors, your collective agreement and your Registry are dealt with in ours, by people who do it every day.

How we price →

What British companies ask first.

Can a UK company own a Spanish subsidiary outright?: Yes. A British parent can hold 100% of a Spanish sociedad limitada, and Brexit didn’t change that. What changed is the tax mechanism governing money moving between them, and the fact that your directors are now third-country nationals for immigration purposes.
Do our directors need to travel to Spain to set it up?: No. The tax identification numbers, the powers and the signature are handled through power of attorney and apostille, prepared in the UK. The real incorporation timeline shows what actually decides the date.
Do we need a Spanish bank account?: In practice, yes, and it is the part most likely to delay you. KYC on a British parent now takes longer than it did before 2021 and can be refused. We pre-validate the file before the company exists rather than after.
Can we keep our UK accountant?: Yes, and most of our British clients do. We handle Spain and report to them in the format they work in.
We already have a Spanish company set up years ago. Is anything likely to be wrong?: Possibly, and specifically if nobody reviewed it after 2021. The usual findings are an intercompany arrangement built on rules that no longer apply, a VAT position that assumes EU establishment, and posted staff without current certificates. We review it in three weeks, at a fixed price that is credited against your first months if you move to us.
Is Spanish employment law really as rigid as people say?: It is more protective of employees than UK law and considerably more predictable than its reputation suggests. The cost of ending a relationship is high but it is calculable in advance, which is the whole point. What catches British employers out is finding out afterwards rather than before.

Same language, one hour’s difference, and a person who answers.

Tell us what you’re planning in Spain and the date you’re working to. You’ll get an honest answer about whether it’s achievable, what it costs, and what your UK accountant will need from us.

Talk to us

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