Self-employed workers in Spain spend an average of 226 hours per year dealing with bureaucracy, a study has found.

The National Federation of Self-Employed Workers’ Associations (ATA), has once again denounced the ‘unbearable bureaucratic burden’ facing more than 3.4 million autonomos.

According to the organisation, a self-employed worker now spends the equivalent of almost four and a half hours every week carrying out administrative tasks and complying with tax, employment and Social Security obligations.

ATA estimates the economic cost at around €15 per hour, meaning bureaucracy effectively costs the average autonomo €3,390 a year.

Across the entire self-employed workforce, the association calculates that this adds up to around 780 million hours and an annual economic cost of approximately €11billion.

‘More paperwork, less time creating wealth’

ATA says the burden has increased further in recent months due to uncertainty surrounding new obligations.

These include changes linked to Verifactu, developments around working-time registration and new EU rules relating to artificial intelligence.

Lorenzo Amor, president of ATA, said the situation is getting worse rather than better.

‘If in December we were talking about 200 hours a year, all the new bureaucracy has not reduced that figure,’ he said.

‘Quite the opposite. They don’t even let us reconcile work and family life or be at peace.’

ATA says the average self-employed person works around 47 hours per week, with at least four of those hours now being consumed by dealings with the administration.

Four tax returns instead of one

The organisation’s latest barometer found that 40.7% of autonomos consider reducing bureaucracy a priority.

Among the proposals raised is simplifying the current system of four periodic tax declarations into two – or potentially even a single annual declaration.

ATA argues that administrative obligations are becoming one of the biggest obstacles to running and growing a small business in Spain.

The burden can be even greater for autonomos with employees, who must comply not only with the obligations attached to their own self-employed status but also with increasingly complex rules as employers.

ATA estimates that the total time spent on bureaucracy by Spain’s self-employed workforce is equivalent to the weekly workload of around 317,000 autónomos.

‘The bureaucracy is suffocating autónomos’

Amor accused the authorities of failing to deliver meaningful administrative simplification despite the growing digitalisation of tax and employment procedures.

‘It is something that never becomes a reality because regulatory compliance keeps increasing,’ he said.

‘There are more and more rules that mean more procedures and more obligations.

‘Spain cannot continue at this pace because bureaucracy is drowning and suffocating autonomos.’

ATA says the consequences go beyond the direct financial cost.

Time spent dealing with paperwork is time not spent working, developing a business, resting or spending time with family.

‘Every day we spend more time on paperwork and less time generating wealth,’ Amor said.

‘Less work-life balance, less rest and a greater economic cost.’

He added that many self-employed workers were spending part of the summer reviewing paperwork and new regulations instead of taking time off, simply to avoid making costly mistakes.

ATA is currently working with Spain’s Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Administration on ways to reduce administrative barriers.

The organisation has also launched a reporting tool allowing autonomos to flag problems encountered in their dealings with public administrations, with the aim of identifying recurring obstacles and pushing for reforms.