Before you serve the first coffee you have to choose a legal form, and the decision weighs on you every month. As a self-employed person (autónomo), registering costs practically nothing in paperwork, but you're liable for debts with all of your personal assets and you're taxed under income tax (IRPF), with marginal rates reaching 45-47%. With a limited company (sociedad limitada, SL) you protect your personal assets and pay 25% corporation tax (15% in the first two profitable years), but setting one up and keeping it running costs more.
The practical rule: when starting out, with low turnover and doing the work yourself, going self-employed usually wins. The SL starts to pay off once net profit tops 40,000-50,000 EUR a year, when you want to shield your personal assets or when partners come on board. One important caveat: an SL won't save you if you personally guarantee the lease or a loan -common enough for new coffee shops- or in cases of gross negligence.
The self-employed scheme (RETA) works in bands based on your net earnings. The minimum contribution is around 205 EUR a month and rises as income grows. The good news for those just starting out: the flat rate (tarifa plana) keeps the contribution at 80 EUR a month for the first twelve months, extendable for another twelve if earnings don't exceed the minimum wage. And several regions (Madrid, Andalusia, Valencia, Murcia, the Balearics...) have a "Zero Contribution" (Cuota Cero) scheme that reimburses that amount and brings it down to 0 EUR in the first year.
Watch out if you set up an SL and you're a shareholder-director: in 2026 the minimum contribution base for company self-employed (autónomo societario) rises to 1,424.40 EUR a month, pushing the minimum contribution up to around 449 EUR a month, nearly 1,620 EUR a year more than an ordinary self-employed person. It's a fixed cost worth building into the plan from the outset.
A coffee shop falls under group 672 (cafeterias) or 673 (cafés and bars) of the IAE business-activity tax, but that doesn't mean paying it. All individuals are exempt, as are companies turning over less than one million euros, plus the first two years of activity. In practice, you register the heading on the modelo 036 form before you start -tax registration is compulsory- but you don't pay any IAE. And remember: hospitality charges VAT (IVA, at 10%) and isn't on the equivalence surcharge (recargo de equivalencia) scheme.
There's no single national hospitality collective agreement: wages are set by provincial or regional agreements (convenios), so the same role costs a different amount depending on where you open. A qualified waiter (Level III) earns a base salary of around 1,195 EUR a month in Madrid, but roughly 1,607 EUR in Barcelona, which has the most expensive agreement, already signed through to 2028. Valencia adds its own quirk: it pays in 15 instalments instead of 14.
The classic mistake is budgeting only for the gross salary. On top, the employer has to add Social Security contributions, which in 2026 run to around 31-33% of the base. The quick rule: employer cost ≈ gross salary × 1.30. A full-time waiter in Madrid, including transport and meal allowances, comes to around 25,600 EUR a year for the employer; in Barcelona it's closer to 32,000-33,000 EUR. That's why it's wise to budget on the order of 25,000 EUR a year per full-time person, more in the major cities.
Staff costs should sit between 28% and 33% of sales; above 40% the business has a structural problem. A sizing tip from an experienced coffee shop owner: sometimes two part-timers work out better than one full-timer, and the best hires come through recommendations, not job boards.
Taking on your first employee brings new obligations: occupational risk prevention through an external provider (300-900 EUR a year plus medical checks), a compulsory time-recording system, and rebates that can ease the contribution depending on the profile you hire. On top of that comes public liability insurance -usually required for the licence itself- at 150-400 EUR a year, and the monthly accountant. None is large on its own; together they form the fixed floor of the business.
In our practical guide to opening a coffee shop in Spain we detail the tax registration step by step, the collective agreement and the 2026 labour costs with worked numerical examples by city, so that your tax and staffing structure fits your real turnover from the very first month.