Starting a business in Barcelona - 10 simple steps to success!

Good day entrepreneurs all over the world, feeling a bit creative today? In that case, I guess it's time for some informative yet necessary stuff if you want to know the steps of starting a business in Barcelona. Spain is one of the most beautiful countries and has a lot to offer so, as knowledge is power, this blog will be providing you with all the info that needs to be considered in order to have your magical $$$ making pond here (oh and we've made it so that starting a business in Barcelona is easy).

Starting a Business in Barcelona Step#1: Getting the famous NIE

NIE, or Numero de Identificacion de Extranjero (Foreigner Identification Number) is a document without which you cannot undertake any commercial action in Spain. The whole procedure on how to get it can be found here. The NIE can be used for other purposes as well, such as paying taxes or buying a property.

Starting a Business in Barcelona Step#2: Other preliminary documentation

Make sure you have the following paperwork ready and valid: passport and Certificado de Empadronamiento (Community Registration Certificate), details for which you can find by clicking here. You will need these in order to proceed to Starting a business in Barcelona Step #3.

Starting a business in Barcelona Step#3: Certificacion negativa de la denominación social

Certificacion negativa de la denominacion social means certifying the uniqueness of the proposed company name, which will officially provide you with complete rights on the actual name of the company and will be reserved for 6 months after you've chosen it. In order to obtain it you will have to go to the Central Commercial Registry (Registro Mercantil which can be found here), it costs 16.25€, and usually takes around 2 days.

Starting a business in Barcelona Step#4: Pay the Impuesto de Actividades Económicas

Next step is to pay the Impuesto de Actividades Economicas, which literally translates into Tax for Economic Activities. Practically it's the tax that you have to pay to the Government to let you undergo a commercial action. It can be done in the Delegacion Especial de Economia y Hacienda, map right here. It is different, depending on the business. After you've done that, you will get the Codigo the Identificacion Fiscal (CIF) - tax identification code. This tax ranges from 150€ to 300€, depending on the amount of share capital deposited.

Starting a business in Barcelona Step#5: Open a corporate bank account

Why do you need a corporate bank account? Well, for several reasons. Firstly, it's the place where your income will go when people make payments in exchange of your goods or services. Secondly, this where the government will be deducting the taxes from, so it's kind of mandatory for you to have one. It takes about one day to create one and it's free of charge. Note that you have to be pretty much a morning person, as banks here only work from 9am until 2pm (with an exception on Thursdays when they work 9am-8pm). Also bear in mind that you need to make deposit of a minimum 3005.06€ representing your intial start-up capital.

Starting a business in Barcelona Step#6: Make an appointment with a notary

You're almost done with the paperwork. With the documents mentioned above you will now have to schedule a meeting with a notary in order to get them officially signed and stamped with the purpose of being presented to the Starting a business in Barcelona Step #6. Brace yourselves, as you're going to be paying a little high price for couple of stamps - around 500€, depending on the operation complexity.

Starting a business in Barcelona Step#7: Find your operating site

The next logical step is to know where your operations will be taking place. Accordingly, you will need the documents that prove that you either own or are using a rented office, restaurant, warehouse etc. (obviously depending on the area of your business). With these, you will then proceed to Starting a business in Barcelona Step#8.

Starting a business in Barcelona Step#8: Obtain the Licencia Municipal de Apertura from the Ayuntamiento

Now it's time for you to register your place of operations with the Ayuntamiento (City Hall) - here - with the papers mentioned above and apply for the Licencia Municipal de Apertura (Municipal Opening License) from the City Hall's Departamento de Urbanismo (City Planning Department), which basically means that you let the City Hall know you are starting your commercial activity in that specified site. Charges -> 350€.

Starting a business in Barcelona Step#9: Register for the social services

For 240€ a month worth of tax, you will be registered for the welfare and health social services, meaning that you are pretty much covered by the social insurance in case something bad happens while at work. You can benefit from some more options if you extra (around €25 a month).

Starting a business in Barcelona Step#10: Register your people

Unless you are a one man business, you are going to need some more human resources to run your thingy. Consequently every person you take on has to be registered at the Tesoreria General de la Seguridad Social (Social Security General Treasury) and then within 10 days time at the Instituto Nacional de Empleo (National Employment Institute).
And that's it! That's all you need to know about the process of starting a business in Barcelona. Now the hard part begins - the actual money making. From us here, we wish you the best of luck with everything involving your business and we are happy to have helped you! So...
Muchisimas gracias, Dragosh (El Dragon).