To set up your own company in Spain can be a long and complicated task especially if you do not know the legal system or how to confront the peculiar Spanish bureaucracy. The prosperity of the whole business does not only depend on the internal factors (the business concept, management, etc.) but also in high degree on the external (and uncontrollable) factors such as the legal system and the Spanish bureaucracy.
Below you can find a detailed guide about how to set up a limited company, information about legal and fiscal aspects and about finding the right location to set up the business.

Legal Forms
As described in the previous section Business Ownership there are several different legal forms you can use to start-up a business in Spain. The legal form depends on the size of the company, the owners and a number of other factors. The most common form is the Sociedad Limitada (S.L.), which is similar to a limited company in other countries. The advantages of a S.L. are the minimal capital needed to start up the company (3010Eur) and the limited liability to the owners. In nearly all cases it can be recommended for foreigners who wish to set up their first business in Spain to choose the form of an S.L.

For a detailed guide about how to set up a limited company (Sociedad Limitada) in Spain click here.

Before you start to set up a new business it is critical to understand the legal requirements involved with starting up and running the business. For many businesses a special license is needed and the legal requirements can vary from region to region in Spain. We can therefore recommend to seek some kind of legal advice at this stage.
The same recommendation counts for fiscal advice. It can always be recommended to seek professional help. In many cases good fiscal advice can help you save money and will definitely save you a lot of troubles in the future.
If you do not seek professional advice initially you might spend a lot of time and resources and finally find out that your idea is not possible to accomplish because of legal barriers or that you could have saved a lot of money and time by getting the right fiscal advice.

Location
Finding the right location and property is also very important in the initial phase of starting a business. Fur further information about different areas of Spain see this travel agency (agencia de viaje).
When selecting the area to set up your future business factors such as knowledge of the location from previous visits or distance to your accommodation are important but not the only things to be aware of. Things such as the number of competitors in the area, the number of customers during the winter (and not only in the tourist season) or the taxes and legal requirements in the province are also very important to analyse and to take into consideration.
When you have found the right location you need to start looking for the property from where to operate your business (office, establishment, restaurant, etc). At this stage you have to take the decision to buy or to rent the place. Both options have advantages and disadvantages economically and fiscally depending on the type of business and a number of other factors.
Although you have decided upon a type of property for your business and the location we can still recommend to start looking at different possibilities to get a better understanding of the market in Spain (including prices, difference in quality, variation in price in different locations, etc.). If you need help we can provide you with a list and information about different business and properties for sale or for rental.

Before deciding upon location and the property we recommend to take into consideration whether it is an advantage (economically and timesaving) to buy an already existing business instead of starting from cero (see the section Buy an Existing Business for more information).