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badgecko
Community Member

Invoicing and declaring work done in upwork in Spain

Hi, I am a spanish freelancer and would like to talk to other Spanish freelancers working in upwork.  Although I have checked with 2 accountants and with Treasury department how I should declare the work I do here, everybody gives me different answers.   I am not sure if the invoices upwork send to my clients are valid to declare or I should invoice upwork for the ammount of my earnings, according to what I found in some forums. Upwork support is not very helpful about it, I was told to contact a local advicer, but unfortunatelly I haven't found anyone that  is sure about the procedure. So I would really appreciate some insight about it from other Spanish that have been declaring work from Upwork for a while.  I would pay for the advice if necessary.

 

Thanks a lot

41 REPLIES 41
vakhton1
Community Member

Hi.

I've started working with UpWork recently, and I'd like to know - what is the best method for payment for a person living in Spain? My bank charges 20 euros for incoming transfers outside of EU. So what should I choose, in your opinion - payoneer, paypal, some other method? Thanks in advance.

PayPal is the best method for a lot of freelancers and I have used this method since day 1.  It always arrives on time and never any hassles.  Another benefit of this is may be eligible for the PayPal Access Card which acts just like a bank card.

Thanks!

And how long does it take to make PayPal card? And what are the fees?

Hi Vasilii V,

 

Local banks may have steep charges for withdrawals especially if international. View the Select How You Get Paid article to see what other options you have for accessing your earnings.

 

Creating a PayPal is really quick and easy. There's even an option from the Settings > Get Paid > Add Method to set up a PayPal account. Read more about the fees involved and guidelines in using PayPal through this article.

 

- Aaron
Untitled

Aaron, thanks. But what's the difference between linking your PayPal with your bank card and transferring directly to bank? E.g. if my bank charges 20 euros for any incoming tranfer from outside of EU will this rate be applied to Paypal+my card? Sorry if stupid question, I'm new here.

AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Vasilii, 


This is still dependent on the fees Paypal charges to transfer money to your local bank, and the fees charged by your bank for direct transfers from Upwork. 

 

The cost per withdrawal from Upwork direct to you local bank is $0.99. For Paypal transfers, Upwork charges a small per-transfer fee, and there may be additional costs on PayPal's side. You may read this help article to know the fees charged for each payment method. 


~ Avery
Upwork

20 € ???? Dude I'm Spanish and that's a robbery, you should checkout cards like revolut or n26, with those ones banks don't charge you ANYTHING with a limited number of withdrawals. I use it for travelling.

Good luck

I think PayPal is the best option 

mwiggenhorn
Community Member

At the top of the forum page, click on "More", then "groups", then "Regional Groups" and try posting there.  Maybe someone will be able to help.

badgecko
Community Member

Oooops thanks and sorry for posting in the wrong group. Cheers

Hi, I am a spanish freelancer and would like to talk to other Spanish freelancers working in upwork.  Although I have checked with 2 accountants and with Treasury department how I should declare the work I do here, everybody gives me different answers.   I am not sure if the invoices upwork send to my clients are valid to declare or I should invoice upwork for the ammount of my earnings, according to what I found in some forums. Upwork support is not very helpful about it, I was told to contact a local advicer, but unfortunatelly I haven't found anyone that  is sure about the procedure. So I would really appreciate some insight about it from other Spanish that have been declaring work from Upwork for a while.  I would pay for the advice if necessary.

 

Thanks a lot

Hi Sonia

 

Yeah, a lot of us are in the same boat. 

 

What I've been told by my gestor is that legally, we need to produce a factura with the name and address of the end client (not the name and address of Upwork).

 

Hope that helps!

Hi Mark! 

Do you include IVA on your facturas 

I have been a freelance for an international company outside of Upwork before. My invoices did not include IVA  as the model I was applied wasn't required for international companies, but I had to include the ID/EIN company number and the company adress. Do you have to add this information on your facturas of your clients from UPWORK?

Thank you, 

Andrea

The latest information I have is basically that Upwork is irrelevant here. Facturas have to be created in the same way as if you were dealing with the client directly, so IVA has to be charged where required (as does IPRF), the client needs to supply their NIF, etc. That means in the case of international clients, IVA is not required, but full details of the client need to be added to the factura, including the address. 

This is problematic, of course, as some clients do not wish to give these details directly to the freelancer. 

Hi Mark,

 

Thanks for the reply and sorry for my delay replying. There is a while I do not work through upwork because of this problem. A pity really, because I have not found a way to make the work through upwork legal at all.  Months have passed and I see lots of people with the same concern. The invoices issued by upwork are crap, you cannot do anything with them.

 

Can you please confirm you are working from Spain and paying taxes here for the work done through upwork ? I would really appreciate advice from anyone that has found a working solution and not got into trouble with Spanish TAX authorities for crappy invoices.  I would really like to come back to work through here, got interesting clients here, but I am not finding the way. Would appreciate, even would pay for the right solution.

 

Cheers,

For what it's worth, yes, I am working on Upwork and declaring everything. I've not got in trouble, but of course that doesn't necessarily mean I am doing it right. 

 

Basically, I issue invoices as I would to any other client, all in accordance with the Spanish system. I ask the client for their NIF, business address, etc. and put it on my invoice. I know there are some clients that would not want to provide these details, but that's what we have to do. Upwork is not a system for hiring or working anonymously. We all still need to follow the rules in our country. 

 

 

Please note that I do not work with clients inside Spain via Upwork, so there's no issues with IVA/IRPF. Either they are located outside Europe or VAT registered. 

 

Hope that's of some use!

Hey guys!

 

just trying to revive this topic as I am going through exactly the same thing. I'm a registered freelancer in Spain (autónomo) and I'm still unsure how to declare my income from Upwork. So far, I'm creating my own invoices fro the same amounts as my Upwork jobs. I've been asking my clients for their info but some of them just don't want to give it to me (despite me being very open and clear, giving them links from the Spanish tax office, etc). So in those cases I really don't know what to do. Can I issue an invoice to Upwork? That would be much easier...

Also, I'm deducting Upwork's fees as expenses... is that the way to go?

How do you guys do it?

Or perhaps Upwork's team can weigh in on this?

Hope I'm not the only one still dealing with this....

 

Miguel

Same here. As i see, Upwork does not provide your client's ID Number. So the "invoice" they provide from the client isn't a valid one. Has the same value as a line in your notebook. Then i think you have to make a valid invoice. The question is who to "invoice" the client or Upwork. I think you have to invoice Upwork because its' the one managing the money. They make invoice for you and invoice for the client. In the other hand, Upwork fee invoices are  REAL invoices with all the right details ain ID numbers, that are expenses for you.

 

Im sure that the important thing is that you declare the amounts. But I would be happy if i get a more clear explanation.

Hey Luis Javier,

 

I've had it explained to me from various sources, and I'm sure Upwork will back this up, that Upwork is not the client, it's merely facilitating the freelancer's relationship with the end client (which is why you pay them a fee).

While it would be easier for freelancers if Upwork was the client, I'm afraid that it's necessary to get the client's details (address, ID, tax status) just like you would if you had found the client in another way, and were being paid directly. 

 

All the best

Hi Guys!

I've been working for some months with Upwork and now I got a Gestor to become an autonomo and do everything legally. But she asked me if Upwork had been doing any invoices because that could be a problem with hacienda. Do you guys have any idea about this? Or I just start doing invoices to my clients from now on, and the past is forgotten?

Gracias!

Hey there

 

You'll certainly need to create proper invoices if you want to delare the work you have done. The invoices produced by Upwork don't contain all the info required by the Spanish tax authorities. You'll need to get the clients' addresses and tax ID numbers, for example. If any of your clients are Europe-based, you may need to pay VAT and, if a business based in Spain, IRPF.

 

In other words, you need to treat Upwork clients just like any other client!

Hi all, I will do my first job here and dime doubts:

- Can I do a factura if I am not autónomo?
- It seems that I have to do the factura with the final client data, what if he don't give me his details?
- Do I have to declare it when the money is in my PayPal account or when I take out the money from PayPal?

Hi there

(Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer or a gestor or anything, just a fellow
autonomo!)

- No (not legally)
- You can't issue a (legal) factura without the end client's details.
- If you are autonomo, you'd declare any earnings quarterly based on when
you issued the facturas.

Hope that helps!
d_alcala
Community Member

Hi! Did you find the way to declare in Spain? I'm now in the same situation you were and it is still not easy to find proper advice.

Diego, as per my previous comments here, in which explain how I'm doing it based on my gestor's advice, Upwork clients are in no way special, they have to be treated in the same way as any other client. Your facturas need to contain all the same info as if you were working with the client directly (address, fiscal identification number, etc.) If required, you need to include IVA/IRPF (I avoid Spanish and non-VAT registered European clients for this reason). 

 

Don't let any of this put you off, though. I've never had a problem with clients giving me the required details. I think they understand that even in a global marketplace, everyone has to follow their local regulations. 

Hi everyone,

I had the same issue, and my accountant advised me that this income of course has to be declared but now I'm thinking, should I put the amount that the client has paid or the one I have received (after the Upwork commission?). Say client paid 25$ but I have received 20$ from it.
Thanks
Joanna

Thanks, Mark, for your answers.

 

Joanna, I think you should put the amount that the client has paid, and then you can declare Upwork commission as expenses. In "reports" / "Transactions history" you can download invoices for Upworks fees.


Diego A wrote:

 

I think you should put the amount that the client has paid, and then you can declare Upwork commission as expenses. In "reports" / "Transactions history" you can download invoices for Upworks fees.



Totally agree, that's what I do. So, Joanna in your example, you'd declare income of $25 and $5 expenses. Just keep in mind that it's the client who is paying you, and Upwork is just an intermediary who changes you a fee for the service they provide. 

Thanks so much guys! 

 

I have declared correctly then the full amount but only forgot about this 5$ expenses.

I will know for the future!

It is quite interesting also because I end up withdrawing different amounts as some of it I spend on submitting proposals and connects, but that doesn't change much in the eyes of Tax Office, right? It's sort of 'my spending' of this money? 🙂 

So If I am understanding it correctly, working through Upwork means the same problem as trying to work in Spain. You have to be paying the 290 montly euros tax of Autonomous, which makes it incredebly difficult (If you don't have plenty of savings) for starters who are going to make very little money in Upwork at the beginning.

Correct, Upwork doesn't allow you to avoid any local fiscal responsibilities, such as autonomo payments, IVA, IRPF, etc. 

Hi everyone!
I'm a designer freelancer working on Upwork having the same issues here..
I'm Argentinian, living in Italy, and soon I will be relocating to Spain. And I would love to have everything legal there ones and for all...
Also another doubt I always had is, how does clients declare these jobs on Upwork, cause no client ever asks me for any factura.
Does anyone have a good "gestor" for this stuff? How much can that cost per month?
Thanks everybody for your time!!

Spain is **Edited for Community Guidelines**, it has a dictatorial tax regime, get Honduran nationality and avoid all that, I don't have to pay taxes to my country or the US or the EU.

Hey everyone,

 

I work during the day for a company on contract I am not autonomo.

 

I have just recieved a job I am working that uses upwork and I am a little confused with the situation.

 

Do I have to declare myself autonomo if I wish to continue working for this company?

As If I do there would be no point in me continuing as I will ny make if lucky a few hundred a month.

 

Any info appreciated

 

Thanks

Hi Ian

As you say, there's no point in doing that, as you'd be paying more than you'd be earning. It's a major drawback of the Spanish system. It's pretty much all or nothing, which discourages a lot of people from doing it (or at least doing it legally). But if you want to do it correctly, that's what you have to do, AFAIK.

Hi everyone,

 

I'm not 100% sure yet about this situation. Despite that Upwork's "terms of use" say something different, we accept a service contract with Upwork to provide a "service" to a third-party:
"Services or Deliverables for Upwork Subscriber. UTG has contracted with the Freelancer to
provide certain services or deliverables to the Upwork Subscriber (the “Engagement”). Freelancer acknowledges
and agrees that the Upwork Subscriber is an express third-party beneficiary of this Agreement, having the right to
enforce this Agreement in accordance with its terms."

 

I will ask my tax advisor again but I think that they don't have in mind that there is a service contract between you and Upwork. For example:
https://e-autonomos.es/blog/2019/09/como-facturar-si-trabajas-con-upwork
"llegamos a la conclusión de que Upwork no realiza un contrato de servicios con el freelancer para que desarrolle el proyecto de la empresa"

 

It's not true. There is a service contract.

Hi Mark,

I would like to receive transfers or money into my Spanish account from a Spanish IBAN.

1. Can anyone confirm if one of the Upwork settlement methods is from a Spanish bank account

My Gestor tells me that receiving a transfer from outside Spain complicates autonomo, but I assumed that if the client is VAT registered I would create an invoice and get paid and the declaration for earnings and IVA would be the same as for national work.
Can anyone confirm if the payments from Upwork have created problems when they come from outside spain, or are they from a Spanish IBAN?

I  am honduran national and don't need to pay taxes to my country, the US or the EU, I think one thing you can do is get this Honduras nationality and work as Honduras citizen. 

I think that the best way to avoid this hassles is to get a nationality in a country like mine, Honduras, and then open an account as a Honduras national that way you don't have to declare taxes to either America or European Union your money will come clean to your PayPal, or Payoneer account. Of course this is not legal advice but that's the way I've been thinking about you can get tax-free money from your work.

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