Job Discussion Forums

[booty]

I am thinking of coming back to Madrid for a second year. I've heard that most teachers go autonomo in their second year as they can earn more money and have more freedom. However, I am aware of the fact that one has to pay 250E a month and is also responisible for tax and NIE contributions. After paying all this is going autonomo really worth the aggravation? Also, what about cancellations?

[El_Che]

in madrid, barcelona and valencia, i'd say autonomo is the way to go. these are cities where demand far outstrips supply. just look at the salaries on offer at schools.

in cities and towns where work is harder to find, then maybe the security of a contract with a school is the better option.

[Moore]

I think it depends on what you do: basically, if your only activity is teaching then I wouldn't bother.

If however you want to do translating, freelance writing, or teach directly for the client then you'll need to be able to bill for those things as well, so then it's worth it.

As an example, if you are being paid 20 euros per hour as an autonomo, you need to pay 7% IPRF (social security) on everything you earn during the first 2 years. Then you have your monthly autonomo fees to pay at the end of every month, which is another 250 or so. Let's say you do 100 hours per month on a nice average month.

So, the calculation is 100 x 20= 2000 euros. Minus the 7% IPRF makes 1860 euros. Then you take off your 250 autonomo charge, that leaves 1610.

Most decent schools will pay you at least 16 euros per hour after tax (make sure they're deducting at least 12% at source though, so that's your net salary), so you're really not much better off unless you are also billing people for other freelance activities.

Being an autonomo means you can deduct certain expenses from your tax bill too, such as your mobile phone, transport etc., but again, if your school is paying you at a proper rate, then your annual tax bill should be pretty much zero.

There are also certain academies/schools/agencies who will only hire autonomos, so that would be opened up for you too.

The big bonus is if you can find a client to teach directly to (ie cutting out any middle-man academy): this is not an easy thing to manage, but if you do then you can easily charge 30 euros per hour and still be cheaper than any academy.


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