Employee or autónomo with €18,000 gross?
As an autónomo you keep €631 more a year.
A gross salary of €18,000 against billing €24,000, living in Cataluña. That is €53 a month.
What a €18,000 gross salary leaves you, and what you would need to bill as an autónomo to keep the same: €23,177 a year in Cataluña.
Where they break even
To match this salary, bill €23,177 a year.
That is €1,931 a month, or €105 for each of 220 working days.
After holidays and public holidays, about 220.
To match this billing, a job would have to pay €20,440 gross.
What the job costs the company
The company pays €23,787 a year for this salary: €18,000 gross plus €5,787 of employer Seguridad Social.
If it paid you that as an autónomo, you would keep €16,674 net, €468 more than as an employee.
Net pay at every income
Net per year when a company or client spends the same amount on you: as a salary plus employer Seguridad Social, or as your invoices.
- Employee
- Autónomo
Spent by the company or client per year
The lines cross at €16,000: above it, the employee keeps more.
Show the figures as a table
| Spent by the company or client | Employee net | Autónomo net | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| €15,000 | €10,613 | €10,777 | +€164 |
| €20,000 | €14,151 | €14,299 | +€149 |
| €25,000 | €16,387 | €17,415 | +€1,029 |
| €30,000 | €18,256 | €20,883 | +€2,627 |
| €35,000 | €20,824 | €24,193 | +€3,369 |
| €40,000 | €23,265 | €27,502 | +€4,238 |
| €50,000 | €28,135 | €33,556 | +€5,420 |
| €60,000 | €32,621 | €39,497 | +€6,876 |
| €80,000 | €41,425 | €50,662 | +€9,237 |
| €100,000 | €52,566 | €61,848 | +€9,283 |
€18,000 as an employee or as an autónomo
In Cataluña, a €18,000 gross salary leaves you €16,206 net a year, or €1,158 in 14 payments. The company pays €23,787 for it, €5,787 of its own Seguridad Social on top. To keep the same €16,206 as an autónomo with no business costs, you need to bill €23,177 a year: €1,931 a month, or €105 for each of 220 working days.
If the company paid you its full cost of €23,787 as invoices instead, you would keep €16,674: €468 more than on the payroll. The comparison at the top starts with these figures; change them to match your offer.
Billing that matches €18,000 in every region
From the lowest to the highest billing needed: from €21,408 in Ceuta to €23,177 in Cataluña. Single, 34, no children, no business costs.
| Region | Employee net | Billing to match | Per working day | Autónomo net, billing the cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ceuta | €16,826 | €21,408 | €97 | €18,359 |
| Melilla | €16,826 | €21,408 | €97 | €18,359 |
| Álava | €16,129 | €21,419 | €97 | €18,062 |
| Bizkaia | €16,129 | €21,419 | €97 | €18,062 |
| Gipuzkoa | €16,129 | €21,419 | €97 | €18,062 |
| Navarra | €16,482 | €22,265 | €101 | €17,486 |
| Extremadura | €16,301 | €22,266 | €101 | €16,959 |
| Comunidad de Madrid | €16,295 | €22,318 | €101 | €16,905 |
| La Rioja | €16,288 | €22,327 | €101 | €16,891 |
| Cantabria | €16,261 | €22,346 | €102 | €16,846 |
| Canarias | €16,238 | €22,366 | €102 | €16,805 |
| Región de Murcia | €16,206 | €22,396 | €102 | €16,751 |
| Galicia | €16,255 | €22,400 | €102 | €16,794 |
| Aragón | €16,206 | €22,432 | €102 | €16,718 |
| Illes Balears | €16,211 | €22,432 | €102 | €16,713 |
| Andalucía | €16,229 | €22,434 | €102 | €16,739 |
| Comunitat Valenciana | €16,293 | €22,435 | €102 | €16,805 |
| Castilla y León | €16,233 | €22,442 | €102 | €16,737 |
| Asturias | €16,283 | €22,447 | €102 | €16,772 |
| Castilla-La Mancha | €16,206 | €22,452 | €102 | €16,703 |
| Cataluña | €16,206 | €23,177 | €105 | €16,674 |
What the figures leave out
Net pay is only part of the choice. These are the differences that do not show up in the numbers above.
- Paid time off
- An employee gets at least 30 calendar days of paid holiday and around 14 public holidays. An autónomo bills nothing on those days, so the yearly billing has to cover them.
- Unemployment
- An employee who loses the job can claim paro. An autónomo pays for cese de actividad, but it is paid only in limited cases and for a shorter time.
- Sick leave
- Both are paid from the fourth day off, at 60% and then 75% of the contribution base. Many employers top this up to the full salary, and the autónomo's base is usually lower.
- Dismissal
- An unfair dismissal pays 33 days of salary per year worked. When a client stops paying an autónomo, there is no compensation.
- Pension
- The pension follows the contribution base. An employee contributes on the full salary; most autónomos contribute on a lower base, so their pension is lower.
- VAT and paperwork
- An autónomo adds 21% VAT to invoices, pays it to Hacienda every quarter, and files the modelo 130 and 303. Most pay a gestoría for this.
How it is worked out
- IRPF is the yearly tax, not the amount withheld from each payment or invoice.
- Individual tax return, no disability, no regional deductions beyond the minimums.
- The autónomo uses estimación directa simplificada, with 5% off for hard-to-justify costs, up to €2,000. The cuota bracket uses net income less a further 7%.
- Cuota de autónomo by income bracket for 2026, or €80 a month with the tarifa plana.
- Employer cost includes 1.50% for accidents at work, the rate for office jobs.
- Navarra and the Basque provinces use their own foral rules.