Tomás Ruiz was self-employed in Murcia as a photographer until 31 March 2024. Then he found a job at an agency and deregistered. In his first spell, which began in 2022, he already paid the reduced contribution for starting an activity. Now, in September 2026, the agency has closed and he wants to go back to working for himself from 1 November. An acquaintance has told him that "since two years have gone by" he is entitled to the tarifa plana (the flat-rate contribution for new self-employed people) again. That is not so, and the reason lies in a single sentence of article 38 ter of the Self-Employed Workers' Statute Act (LETA).
What the reduced contribution is exactly
The so-called tarifa plana is a reduced contribution for common and occupational contingencies during the twelve full calendar months following the effective date of registration. During that period the self-employed person does not contribute for cessation of activity or for vocational training. Article 38 ter.6 adds an important nuance: in those twelve months the contribution is not regularised with actual earnings, even if you earn much more than you expected.
The amount is not in the self-employment act. The fifth transitional provision of Royal Decree-law 13/2022 set it at 80 € a month for 2023 to 2025 and referred to each year's State Budget Act from 2026 onwards. That is why it is worth confirming the amount in force at the time you register, in the Tesorería's own procedure (the Tesorería is the Social Security treasury), before doing your sums.
Two years, or three
The right arises for people registering in the RETA (the Social Security scheme for the self-employed) for the first time, or who have not been registered in the two years immediately before the effective date of the new registration. Paragraph 4 of the same article extends that period to three years when the self-employed person already enjoyed the reductions in their previous period of registration.
| Your situation | Period without registration required |
|---|---|
| You have never been in the RETA | None: it is a first registration |
| You were registered, without the reduced contribution | The two years immediately before |
| You were registered and enjoyed the reduced contribution | Three years |
The years are counted backwards from the effective date of the new registration, not from the application.
Tomás's dates, step by step
- Deregistration from the RETA: 31 March 2024.
- Planned new registration: 1 November 2026.
- Time without registration between the two dates: two years and seven months.
- Tomás enjoyed the reduced contribution in his previous registration, so three years are required, not two.
- Three years from 31 March 2024 take us to 31 March 2027.
- With registration on 1 November 2026, he does not meet the requirement.
If Tomás put off his start until April 2027, he would meet the period. But delaying registration only makes sense if he also delays the activity: working earlier without registering in order to wait for the date is precisely the situation described in registering late, with back contributions and surcharges that would far outweigh the saving.
Article 38 ter.3 requires the reduced contribution to be requested at the time of registering in the RETA. It is not a benefit applied automatically, nor can it be claimed months later if you forgot to tick the box. Nor should you assume it will be granted: the Tesorería checks previous periods of registration and the other conditions, and the outcome is shown in the registration decision.
The second year: earnings below the minimum wage
Once the first twelve months are over, article 38 ter.2 allows another reduced contribution for a further twelve months, but only if annual net earnings, calculated as for ordinary contributions, are below the annual SMI (salario mínimo interprofesional, the national minimum wage) for that period. If the second period spans two calendar years, the requirement must be met in each of them.
This extension also has to be requested, before it begins, together with a statement that expected earnings will be below the minimum wage. Unlike the first year, here there can be a regularisation: if in any of the years concerned earnings exceed the minimum wage, the reduced contribution for that year is regularised using the proportion of earnings corresponding to the months with the reduction.
| Period | Earnings requirement | Is it regularised? |
|---|---|---|
| Months 1 to 12 | None | No |
| Months 13 to 24 | Below the annual SMI | Yes, if the SMI is exceeded |
| Afterwards | Ordinary contributions | Yes, like any self-employed person |
The ordinary contributions that come afterwards are explained in how much the contribution is.
The company director can apply for it too
Article 38 ter.9 extends the reductions to partners in capital companies and in employee-owned companies (sociedades laborales), and to working members of cooperatives, who are covered by the RETA, provided they meet the same requirements. This is a significant change from earlier periods, when the authorities and the courts argued for years about whether the company self-employed (the autónomo societario) were entitled. With the wording in force since 2023 the text says so expressly. The other features of their contributions are covered in the company self-employed.
Who is left out even if they meet the time limits
Paragraph 11 excludes relatives of the self-employed person up to the second degree, by blood, marriage or adoption, who join the RETA as family collaborators, and members of institutes of consecrated life of the Catholic Church. A daughter who starts working in her father's business as a collaborating self-employed person does not get the reduced contribution by this route, even if it is her first registration.
In the other direction, paragraph 7 makes clear that hiring employees after registering does not lose you the reduction, and paragraph 10 extends the periods to 24 and 36 months for people with a disability of 33 % or more, victims of gender-based violence or victims of terrorism.
What happens if you deregister during the tarifa plana
Article 38 ter.4 is categorical: the right to the reductions ends if you deregister from the RETA during any of the periods in which they apply. It is not "frozen" to be picked up later. If a self-employed person on the reduced contribution deregisters in month eight to accept a temporary contract and registers again three months later, they lose the remaining months and, in addition, on coming back they will not meet the period without registration that the article requires.
This affects practical decisions such as accepting a short-term cover job or waiting for the first year to end. There is no single answer, but there is a comparison to make beforehand: how much losing the reduction costs against what the contract brings in. If you are also receiving unemployment benefit, the alternatives change, and they are set out in the guide on how to combine unemployment benefit and self-employment.
Checking your case before you apply
Get your vida laboral (the Social Security record of your working life), identify your last deregistration from the RETA and find out whether you had the reduced contribution in that registration. With those three facts you can tell whether the required period is two or three years and from what date it is met. The guide on who qualifies for the tarifa plana goes into the less common cases.
If you would rather we reviewed it before you file, send your vida laboral and the planned start date through the self-employed registration form. The conclusion will depend on what appears in the Tesorería's records, since it is the Tesorería that decides.
The reduced contribution concerns Social Security, but the activity is also registered with Hacienda (the Spanish tax office), and the dates of both procedures must match. At Salama Tax we prepare the tax registration and note in the file when each reduction period ends, so that the application for the second year does not miss its date.