How to invoice if you are a freelance psychologist in Spain?

Psychology is a science in charge of the study and analysis of the psyche and the processes that are part of it. But it is also a profession that requires great effort, perseverance and dedication, being the figure of the psychologist that of a professional whose services imply an economic reward.

Many professionals work for the public administration or manage to be hired by a company or psychology institute, but the truth is that the vast majority of psychologists will have to establish themselves as self-employed professionals in order to survive, and for this they must be able to bill their services. How to invoice if you are a freelance psychologist in Spain? We are going to see it throughout this article.

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Requirements to start billing as a freelance psychologist

Before starting to deal with patients or users and being able to make invoices, it is necessary to meet a series of prerequisites. And it is that To be autonomous and be able to invoice as such, it will be necessary to carry out a series of previous steps.

In the first place, in order to work as a psychologist it is essential to register in the first place, said registration being a legal requirement to be able to practice. In addition to this, it will be necessary to be registered with Social Security.

Once this is done and as long as we have the necessary titles to practice, we must register as self-employed in the Social Security and in Treasury, taking a census in the Tax on Economic Activities or IAE and filling in form 037 for registration of self-employed (with the epigraph 776). Once this is done, we can start billing.

From then on we will have to pay the self-employed monthly fee, as well as presenting the quarterly form 130 of payment in installments of the IRPF and the 303 of VAT in the event that your professional activity is not exempt from this (also quarterly). It will also be necessary to have a fiscal address, necessary to be able to carry out the invoicing and to fill in the previous forms.

However, in the first place it must be taken into account that if we work as an employee hired by a company, we do not it will be necessary to carry out the billing procedures since we will receive a salary from the company in question. We will only need to invoice if we offer our services as self-employed or freelance.

However, being linked to a company is not the same as being hired: It is common for companies to employ self-employed professionals who bill their services, in which case you would be working on your own and it will be necessary to do so.

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Other requirements to work in the clinic

In the case of working in the field of the clinic, it will also be necessary to obtain authorization as a health center (even if carry out the professional activity in our own home), something that includes another series of procedures linked to the center and to the activity itself professional. The specific procedures will depend on whether we establish ourselves or create a company.

Focusing on the first case, we will have to have a book of income and expenses, the opening or activity license, the registration in the waste, the quarterly rent statement (model 115 in the Treasury) and if we hire someone we must also fill out model 111, also quarterly.

As for the center, it will be necessary to obtain, as we have said, the sanitary registry. For this, it will be necessary to make an application request addressed to the "Servei d'Autorització i Registre d'Entitats, Centers i Serveis Sanitaris", pay the fees, possess and submit a rental contract for the property or a copy of the deeds, the DNI, and the technical project signed by a technician (including technical report and functional)

It will be necessary to have a space enabled and free of architectural barriers, an office of at least 8 square meters. It can only be shared by other professionals with the same activity and must be accessible from a space public, having a reception and waiting area, consultation and having a service for patients and companions.

We must also be registered with the Spanish Agency for Data Protection (AGPD) in order to communicate and record the type of data with whom we will work, provide us with security measures for the treatment of patient data, have data sheets claims and an informative sign in this regard, carry out occupational risk prevention and have liability insurance civil.

Make your own bill as a psychologist in Spain

Per se, Invoicing is relatively simple, being only necessary to take into account the different elements that must be included.

First of all, it must be made clear that the document we are making is an invoice, and it must appear visibly in the header. After that, we must incorporate the invoice number that we are issuing, in such a way that they can be ordered sequentially over time.

We must also incorporate the date of issue of the invoice in question. It may also be advisable to include the time, especially when we have several invoices from the same date.

Next we must indicate the basic data of both the issuer and the recipient of the invoice, with the issuer being the professional himself and the receiver being the client or patient.

In the case of the issuer, we must put our name and surname, DNI (or CIF in the case of being a company) and tax address including town, province and postal code. In the case of the recipient, the name and surnames, ID and address or tax domicile must be included (also including town, province and postal code). If the recipient is a company, instead of the DNI, the CIF will be necessary, as well as the company name.

After these identification data, we will proceed to briefly describe the services for which we are charging as well as the number of units of said service that we have provided (for example, we have given you three therapy sessions) and the unit price or price of each of said services. It is also possible to indicate what we consider a unit, such as an hour of therapy. We will indicate below the subtotal or the tax base, that is, the total gross price charged.

Now we must go on to indicate the taxes that are going to be charged from said invoice: VAT and personal income tax. Now, it must be borne in mind that the amount and percentage of these taxes can vary greatly. These withholdings must be subtracted from the taxable amount on the invoice itself, indicating both the percentage and the total amount in € withheld. After that, we will record the Total of the invoice, which will be what we will receive once the relevant withholdings have been subtracted.

Finally, we must record the ownership of the data file indicating who is responsible, the use that will be given and a brief list of user rights. Besides, in the case of being exempt from withholdings We must also mention it on the invoice, indicating which law obeys said exemption.

VAT on billing: exemptions

One of the main taxes that most professionals must take into account when invoicing is the Income Tax. Value Added or VAT, having to calculate and pay the percentage corresponding to the professional activity itself in each of the bills.

However, it must be borne in mind that Certain professional activities are not taxed by Value Added Tax or VAT, being the professions of the health field (as long as they are recognized by the administration) exempt from said tax in their billing.

And it is that according to article 20.3. of Law 37/1992 on Value Added Tax, assistance to people by medical or health professionals is exempt from VAT, including the figure of the psychologist in said consideration. This means that if you are a psychologist specializing in clinical psychology or a general health psychologist (either for having completed the PIR oppositions, having studied the Master's Degree in General Health Psychology or having received authorization) and your professional performance is based on health performance, you will not have to invoice VAT.

This also extends, according to point 20.9 of the same law, to activities related to the education of children and youth, including school and university education or professional training. In other words, if in the same context your economic activity leads you to carry out some type of training related to the field of health, this is also exempt from VAT.

However, the fact that these activities are exempt from VAT does not imply that in the rest we should not pay taxes, It is necessary to take into account that if we carry out another type of activity, we must include VAT on the invoice. In any case, even if we are exempt, we must indicate both the percentage and the total amount of money withheld (in this case, 0).

The case of personal income tax: are there always withholdings?

The other great tax to take into account when billing is Personal Income Tax. As in the case of VAT, in this tax we can also find exemptions. And it is that any invoice that has a non-autonomous individual as recipient will not require the withholding of Personal income tax, so if the invoice is made to a particular patient we will not have to subtract it from our bill.

In the event that our services are offered to a company, institution or self-employed person, the invoice will be recorded by personal income tax, and it is necessary to indicate the percentage withheld and the amount. In general, 15% is usually applied, although the first three years it is possible that the withholding is only 7%.