With no invoice, your market is limited to brands willing to pay without a document. Which is to say the smallest ones, and the least regular.
Why the invoice decides your client base
That is the tipping point of the business.
A company cannot book an expense without a compliant document. With no invoice, a structured brand therefore simply cannot hire you, even if it wants to.
That excludes at a stroke the agencies, the distributors, the chains and most established brands, which is to say exactly the clients who pay best and most regularly.
The question is therefore not "do I have enough income to register", but "at what point does the absence of an invoice cost me more than it saves me".
What registration implies
Three obligations arriving together.
A registration with the tax administration, declaring the activity and its object.
An affiliation to the social regime for the self-employed, with a monthly contribution running even in months with no income.
And periodic returns, at fixed deadlines, independent of your actual activity.
The amounts, the thresholds and any reduced start-up rates change regularly. They are checked on the official sites or with an adviser, never on the testimony of a colleague who registered three years ago.
What your invoice must carry
Seven elements, and forgetting one makes it unusable for the client.
Your name and tax identifier, your address.
Those of the client, tax identifier included.
A series number and a date.
The precise description of the service, with the number of videos and the rights transferred.
The amount before tax.
The tax lines applicable to your situation, including the tax and, where relevant, the withholding applied by professional clients.
And the payment terms.
That last line often surprises: the amount transferred may be lower than the invoiced total, because part is paid to the administration by the client. It is not a discount, it is an advance on your tax. Check whether it applies with an adviser.
Clients outside Spain
That is the most frequent case in this line of work, and the worst handled.
A service invoiced to a company established in another country does not follow the same rules as a local service, and the required mentions change.
Three elements are checked before sending the first invoice: the client's country of establishment, the validity of their tax identifier, and any reporting formalities required for those operations.
It is half an hour with an adviser. It saves redoing a year of invoices.
What is set up in the first month
| Step | What it produces | When |
|---|---|---|
| Registration | The right to invoice | Before the first order |
| A dedicated account | Readable bookkeeping | The same day |
| An invoice template | A send in two minutes | Before the first client |
What is kept, and where
Issued invoices, proof of payment, signed contracts and expense records, in a folder by year and by month. Filing as you go saves a week of searching.
What to ask a professional
The applicable regime, the contributions, the filing deadlines and the treatment of foreign clients, to be confirmed with an accountant.
When to register
The signal is not an amount, it is a conversation.
The day a brand asks you for an invoice and you answer that you do not issue any, registration is already late.
Make an appointment with an adviser before that day, not after. The cost of a consultation is lower than that of a single lost job.
Sources
- Agencia Tributaria, Spanish tax authority
- Spanish Social Security, self-employed registration (RETA)
Checked on 26 August 2026. Thresholds and rates change: where this guide and the official source disagree, the official source is right.
