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Your company needs to post a worker abroad. Will you still have to pay contributions in Spain? What happens if the posting is to a country outside the EU?
Within the EU and up to 24 months
Two years. If the posting is to an EU country - or to Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway - and the worker continues to receive a salary in Spain, your company must continue to pay contributions in Spain if the following two conditions are met:

  • In general, if the posting does not exceed 24 months. Note. If, in the case of a temporary posting, you foresee that this period is going to be exceeded (or it is detected once the posting has begun), you can apply to the Social Security to maintain your contribution in Spain.
  • If your employee has not been seconded to replace a previously seconded employee (the aim is to avoid filling a permanent post by repeatedly seconding different workers).

Notification. To request maintenance of the contribution in Spain, notify the Social Security beforehand, using form TA-300.
In the EU and for more than 24 months
Destination. If the 24 months are exceeded and you know that your employee is not going to return to Spain (for example because you have set up a subsidiary in Italy and your employee will stay there to manage it), you must pay contributions in the country of destination from the 25th month onwards. Note. For example, through a subsidiary or by registering with the Social Security there (irrespective of whether the employee continues to receive a salary from the Spanish company). In these cases:

  • You do not have to make any additional notification to the Social Security. You will simply have to deregister the person concerned.
  • However, it is not correct to pay contributions in both countries at the same time. Attention! If you do so and your employee receives a pension (such as a retirement pension), the Spanish social security system will exclude contributions that overlap with those in the other country.

Other countries
With agreement. If the trip is to a country other than those indicated, check whether there is a bilateral agreement between that country and Spain:

  • This agreement will tell you in which country you have to pay contributions and for which periods. Note. Thus, if the posting is to Mexico, you will be able to pay contributions in Spain if your employee is Spanish or Mexican and the posting does not exceed four years.
  • You must also submit form TA-300 to the Social Security and, additionally, a different form depending on each country (you will find it on the Social Security website, section "International" / "Forms for posted workers").

No agreement. If there is no agreement with the destination country, report the posting to the Social Security and continue to pay contributions in Spain (in this case, with no time limit). Attention! However, check whether the country in question obliges you to pay contributions (this is the case, for example, in some regions of China), because if so, you will have to pay contributions in both territories. In this specific case, however, when the worker retires in Spain, the overlapping contributions will not be excluded.
If the posting takes place to an EU Member State, or to Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway, and does not exceed 24 months, he/she must continue to pay contributions in Spain. If it is a different country, consult the bilateral agreement.