Your autónoma activity needs its own bank account
Part of the money in your business account doesn't belong to you. The sooner you treat that seriously, the less the quarterly tax bill will feel like a surprise attack.
If you are employed, the money that reaches your bank account is roughly the money that’s yours to keep. As a freelancer, you are in charge of your own money AND the money you are collecting on behalf of Social Security and the tax authorities.
This means: part of the money in your bank account does not belong to you. As an employee, it is your employer's responsibility to retain that specific amount. As a freelancer, this is part of your responsibility.
Or, in other words: you aren’t “just” a freelancer. You are a capable person running a legitimate business. And the sooner you treat your professional activity as a business, the faster you can grow it beyond yourself.
How to treat the money in your business account?
You are generating income with your activity. You have some expenses. And you have to live. That means your business account will be used to:
- Receive your client’s payments
- Cover your work-related expenses, including social security payments, VAT payments and quarterly income taxes.
- Pay your “salary”.
In general, it’s good practice to leave about 50% of everything that goes into your business account in there. Yes, that’s likely more than strictly needed, and also, that is exactly the point. You can use the surplus to start working on your savings & investments, to give yourself an extra boost once a year, or simply for peace of mind that no “trimestral” will ever faze you.
Paying yourself: invoice by invoice or every month?
If you have a limited number of clients, you can realistically forward 50% of their payments to your personal account (75% if you are just starting out and still benefit from the heavily reduced first-time autónoma rate). This way, your personal account will always reflect the current health of your business. For some people, this is really motivating, for others, this feels super scary.
The slightly less scary version is to check all incoming money at the end of the month, and transfer 50% to yourself of this month’ variable salary. Still slightly unpredictable, but at least it’s only once a month.
Once your income is stable (either because you have recurring revenue coming in, or you are generating enough sales every month to reasonably forecast the future), you can also set yourself a “fixed salary”, basically acting as your own employer.
How to choose the right bank?
Almost any checking account will do, as long as it gives you a debit card (for your business expenses) and integrates with the Spanish tax system.
That means that some of the so-called neobanks/fintech solutions like N26 or Revolut might not be the best choice (as of May 2026). Use those for your personal finances (I certainly do), and choose a “recognised” bank for your business needs.
You can find the full list of Hacienda-approved banks here: Entidades adheridas al pago de autoliquidaciones con cargo en cuenta (the second drop-down on the page).
If you want a specific recommendation, I’d probably point to Triodos, because I like my money to contribute to a sustainable future, though they have a limited number of IRL offices, so if face-to-face banking is important to you, factor that in.
Connect your account to your accounting software
Now that you have your business and your personal finances neatly separated, you have unlocked another advantage: integrating your account with your accounting software.
Your asesoría is probably (hopefully) already using a Verifactu-approved accounting software, and, hopefully, they are using a collaborative tool that allows you to create/upload your invoices and have them reviewed just in case by your accountant.
[It’s not that I don’t trust you to create correct invoices. I’ve simply seen enough “almost correct” invoices to know that a second pair of eyes can save you from a lot of headache further down the line.]
Connecting your business bank account (which, remember, is a simple checking account reserved for your autónoma-related bank movements) with your accounting software makes it so much easier to remember which expenses still require justification, and which invoices haven’t been paid yet. It’s not strictly necessary, and it does make life so much easier.
And that’s why we encourage our clients to set up their second account sooner rather than later. Because we want you to focus on growing your business, keeping the details as manageable as possible.
