Bizkaia Tax Office or Spanish Tax Agency: what's the difference
Why in Bizkaia everything goes through the Bizkaia Tax Office.
In a nutshell
- If your tax address is in Bizkaia, your taxes go through the Bizkaia Tax Office, not the Spanish Tax Agency.
- It's because of the Economic Agreement (Concierto Económico): Bizkaia has its own income tax rules and manages VAT.
- Social Security is the same throughout Spain.
Many people look up tax information and find the Spanish Tax Agency's (Agencia Tributaria). If you live in Bizkaia, it almost never applies to you.
Why
Because of the Economic Agreement, the three provincial councils of the Basque Country each have their own tax office. In Bizkaia, the Bizkaia Tax Office (Hacienda Foral) manages your taxes and has its own rules for income tax, corporation tax and the returns of the self-employed.
What changes day to day
- You register and file your taxes on the Bizkaia Tax Office online portal.
- Some forms look like the national ones, but they're not the same.
- Income tax for the self-employed has its own rules, for example for prepayments.
- You invoice with TicketBAI and keep your records with BATUZ.
What doesn't change
Social Security, the self-employed contribution and the flat rate are the same throughout Spain.
What decides it is your tax address. Not where you work or where your clients are, but where you usually live.
Frequently asked questions
If I invoice a lot to other regions, does anything change?
For most self-employed people, no. Only with very high turnover can VAT be split between administrations.