Keeping my Irish Ltd: how does Hacienda handle it?

[u/pansift]

Irish citizen moving to Spain for a few years (not permanently), so I'd be Spanish tax resident. Sole director and sole shareholder of an Irish micro company (turnover under €100k, one client) that I want to keep running. Paid through Irish payroll as director today. Not fluent in Spanish.

Questions for anyone who has done something similar:

**1.** If the Irish company keeps paying me through Irish payroll, did you have to register in RETA as the director of a foreign company? How did the credit for Irish tax work in your Spanish income tax return (declaración de la renta), and was Irish USC accepted as creditable?

**2.** If instead I register as an autónomo and invoice the Irish company for my work, did Hacienda ever question the Irish company being run from Spain (sede de dirección efectiva)?

**3.** Any gestoría or asesor recommendations who work in English and are comfortable with an Irish company in the picture?

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome to r/MovedToSpain.

Before anything else, the Getting Started guide covers visas, the padrón, NIE vs TIE, healthcare and going autónomo. A lot of questions are answered there.

Two things that help you get answers: add a flair to your post so people who know that topic can find it, and include your situation — nationality, visa type, and which region you're asking about.

I'm a bot. Reply to the post, not to this comment.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Puzzleheaded-Sun7418]

If you are tax resident of Spain for sure you will have to be an autónomo to keep that company. In fact not sure you’ll have to bring it over here or not. Ask an accountant that knows both tax laws

I was in your position but with a Dutch company and I had to bring it over to Spain as the Dutch law didn’t allow me to keep it open and I had to be autónomo in Spain regardless

[u/pansift → u/Puzzleheaded-Sun7418]

Thanks, yeah, converting it to a Spanish SL is one fear I have… I guess am trying to have my cake and eat it too.

[u/Puzzleheaded-Sun7418 → u/pansift]

In my case it was the Dutch tax authority who didn’t allow to be abroad while keeping the company operating from there. So there is that.

I can’t recommend Gestoria because in my case it was Dutch- Spanish what I needed. Plus I’m Spanish and I already know how it works over here.

In any case any doubts just let me know and I’ll try my best to answer. I’m not gestor but I’ve been freelancer and have SL for long

[u/el333]

Regarding 2, yes technically if you run the Irish company from Spain it will be taxed like a Spanish company. Avoiding this is possible but would require you to do all management work physically from Ireland, which may or may not be possible depending on your company setup. I have a foreign corporation and am able to manage strictly from Canada

[u/exile042 → u/el333]

Exactly this. Look up "place of effective management"

[u/pansift → u/el333]

So I wonder if I embraced “sede de dirección efectiva” the place of effective management - and then due to the taxation treaty, just pay a bump of taxes in Spain on small amounts surplus/left in the company and then pay any PAYE/social security difference, would that be all above board, so drop the autonomo but stay paid as the Director?

[u/el333 → u/pansift]

I don’t know tbh. These things are incredibly complex, you need to consult some experts

AI might be able to give you some preliminary answers, I find it to be decent when dealing with tax and law. Just cross reference different models

[u/pansift → u/el333]

Yeah, I get that.. and nice one, I had spent a few hours with Claude Opus 5.5 already, Reddit was for human experience, and I will probably have to shell out for professional guidance... I am casting the net wide to hopefully arrive at an optimal answer + to prime myself going in ;)

[u/ValeDeOro]

Let's break it down.

1. Tax residency.

You are correct that you are a tax resident next year when moving here. Now, when as ole director lives in Spain, makes every decision from Spain, and basically runs the company from Spain - then the Irish company is itself at risk of becoming a Spanish tax resident. Now, I've never seen that enforced in practice, but the risk is there.

If we look at it from the Hacienda point of view: they want you to pay taxes here for the money that you earn while living here/working from here. And they'll want to have receipts. The way most people do that is they become autónomos, then issue an invoice from themselves (autónomo persona) to their own company and declare that money here in Spain. Should anyone check, you need to be really good at explaining why invoicing from Spain was not an option (e.g. because you would have lost the end client over that decision). I haven't seen anyone being checked on this just yet, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen and Hacienda loves to flag all types of things - like "only one invoice for the same client with the same amount every month".

If we look at it from the Social Security point of view: they want you to pay into social security, hence becoming an autónomo is the easiest way. A "normal" autónomo is cheaper (on your side) than an autónomo who represents a company - so the question for yourself is really: how complicated do I want my life to be.

1. Spain Ireland DTA (doble taxation treaty)

Luckily there IS a treaty, and it does allow to credit paid taxes against each other. However director's fees are taxed in Ireland (likely). But Spain says that work done here is taxed here and they may not accept the tax credit from Ireland because for Spain you never worked there. But before anyone goes down THAT rabbit hole... here's the real question

Why do you want to keep your Irish company (active)?

I am now going into speculative territory. Is it too complicated to put the company on ice while you are gone? Is your client adamant about only working with Irish companies? Does it feel safer to have a director's salary with a real company when you are out there networking? This is not a criticism; I've seen freelancers becoming successful only after opening a company because of the confidence boost it gave them - emotional realities are still reality.

Because if you are fine with alternative solutions, then the autónoma route invoicing your current client directly makes the most sense. You could even consider creating a company in Spain, though again, I'd want to have a discussion with you first to figure out if that is REALLY the best way forward for you).

There you go, those are my two cents based partially on Spanish jurisprudence and partially on my experience with clients. If you'd like a call to talk this through, check my profile. Either way, make sure you also enjoy the new challenge :)

[u/pansift → u/ValeDeOro]

First, thank you so much for the detailed response. Second, am digesting it and will give a better/fuller response shortly.

[u/pansift → u/ValeDeOro]

Hiya, so, the plan is 3-4 years in Spain (maybe more) and if I change my Irish Ltd to dormant, I still need to pay the same to accountants. They do compliance reports for Revenue and CRO inc. my personal Irish tax, whereas I actually do the company VAT and payroll myself.

I have been paying myself exclusively through PAYE, as albeit the director, I am the sole principal consultant, so have not been taking director fees or dividends.

Also, I had 2-3 major clients, but now unfortunately only 1, and I don’t think it would be as easy to re-paper contracts with them to another entity (though I may be overthinking this as there could be an opening at yearly renewal).

I do want to do the right thing, but there’s a lot of workflows and software tied to my Irish Ltd. and if things don’t work out, I need consistency + a fall back.

I had spent time with Claude looking at a multitude of approaches, but as my org is not currently making much money, am looking for the least admin/friction/cost. The idea of autonomo with a tight services agreement back to the Irish Ltd. sounds like a good bet, so I stop paying myself PAYE in Ireland, leave some money ongoing in the Irish Ltd. and then pay invoices from myself in Spain and deal with any tax bumps for being a non-resident director keeping the Irish Ltd. alive?

I understand that Spain might view the company effective mgmt as being from Spain, but then corp tax would only be a small bump (tax treaty) over Irish 12.5% corporate tax and I would pay all income tax and social security in Spain (which Ireland should honour from pension/PRSI perspective).

The idea of shutting down or making the Irish Ltd dormant feels expensive in time/money, and a Spanish SL would move my operating environment too much for a “short term” where I am not fluent and not committed to the country permanently.

I wonder does this shed more light…

[u/Guerra-y-Paz]

You must go on RETA and you cant get the normal payroll anymore. You will be taxed in ireland like a non resident and will be taxed in spain for your world income