Form 037: the simplified census registration versus form 036

No. Orden HAC/1526/2024, of 11 December, published in the BOE on 9 January 2025, abolished form 037 with effect from 3 February 2025. Since that date, the electronic headquarters of the AEAT (the Spanish tax agency) only accepts form 036 for registration, modification and deregistration in the Census of entrepreneurs, professionals and withholders.

The reason given by the order itself is that the new census assistance tools of the AEAT (the census informant, the activity search engine and the Censos WEB service) allow offering within form 036 itself the simplification that form 037 provided: you only fill in the sections that affect your specific case.

If you registered with a form 037 in the past, you do not have to do anything: your registration remains fully valid. The only thing that changes is the form with which you will communicate future modifications or deregistration, which will now always be form 036.

Form 037 was reserved for a very specific profile, defined in article 2 of Orden EHA/1274/2007: a resident natural person in Spain with an assigned NIF (tax identification number), who did not act through a representative, whose tax domicile coincided with their administrative management domicile, who was not a large company, who was not registered in the Registry of Intra-Community Operators nor in the monthly refund registry (REDEME), who did not make distance sales or non-subject acquisitions under article 14 of Ley del IVA (the Spanish VAT Act), who was not a taxpayer for Special Taxes or the Tax on Insurance Premiums and who did not pay returns on movable capital.

Today the question is no longer whether form 037 or 036 applies to you, but whether you are obliged to submit a census declaration. It must be submitted by those who are going to carry out business or professional activities in Spain and those who pay income subject to withholding, in accordance with articles 9 to 11 of the General Regulation on the Application of Taxes (Real Decreto 1065/2007).

The simple profile that previously used form 037 (resident autónomo, without intra-community operations or complex regimes) now submits the same form 036, but only completes the identification, activity, VAT and IRPF blocks. Managora reviews your case and only fills in what is applicable.

It is the procedure that communicates to the AEAT that you are starting an economic activity: it identifies the activity with its IAE heading, the start date and, if there is one, the premises where it is carried out.

The same form establishes your VAT obligations (general regime, equivalence surcharge, simplified, agriculture, cash basis or exempt activity) and IRPF obligations (normal or simplified direct estimation, or objective estimation, with their instalment payments on forms 130 or 131).

For the vast majority of autónomos, exempt from the IAE, the census declaration replaces the declarations specific to that tax: there is no need to submit form 840, it is enough to identify activities and premises in form 036 itself (article 4 of Orden EHA/1274/2007 and article 14 of Real Decreto 1065/2007).

It also serves to communicate the obligation to withhold (for payrolls, professional invoices or rental of premises) and to request registration in specific registries such as the Registry of Intra-Community Operators or the REDEME.

The start date: registration is submitted BEFORE the effective start of the activity, not after. If you are going to have prior expenses (purchases, works, equipment) before invoicing, there is a prior start communication that allows you to deduct the input VAT in that preparatory phase; if the wrong box is ticked, that deduction becomes complicated.

The IAE heading: each activity needs its correct heading, and the same person may need several. The activity search engine at the AEAT headquarters helps to locate it; Managora identifies it for you based on the description of what you do.

The affected premises: it is only declared if you truly allocate a premises or a specific part of your home to the activity. Declaring a premises that is not applicable is a mistake with consequences (it affects the IAE and the taxation of the home), just like omitting a real one.

The obligation to withhold: it is ticked only if you are going to pay income subject to withholding (employees, professionals, rental of business premises). Ticking it unnecessarily obliges you to submit empty withholding self-assessments; not ticking it when you should is an infringement.

The equivalence surcharge: it is mandatory for the natural person retail merchant who sells to the public without transforming the product. It is one of the most frequent oversights in registration and conditions how your suppliers invoice you.

Before 2025, as soon as an autónomo made the leap to certain operations, they had to abandon form 037 and switch to form 036: selling or buying from companies in other EU countries (registration in the Registry of Intra-Community Operators to obtain the NIF-IVA), requesting the monthly VAT refund (REDEME), operating with Special Taxes, making distance sales or paying returns on movable capital.

Today those situations no longer force a change of form, because there is only one: they are resolved by ticking the corresponding section of form 036 itself. For example, to invoice without VAT to a corporate client in another Member State you need to be registered in the ROI, and that registration is requested in the VAT block of form 036; the AEAT can carry out checks before granting it.

Be careful with imports from outside the EU: in addition to the census registration you will need an EORI number to clear customs, which is requested from the AEAT in a separate procedure and is not part of the census declaration.

Managora reviews your complete profile before submitting: if your activity is going to need ROI, REDEME or special sections, they are ticked from day one and you avoid a modification declaration a few weeks later.

You tell us about your activity in a guided questionnaire and send us your DNI or NIE (foreigner identity number). We identify the IAE heading, guide you on the VAT and IRPF regime that corresponds to your case and prepare the complete form 036.

We submit it on your behalf at the electronic headquarters of the AEAT and give you the submission receipt. The census registration has no tasa: you will only pay our fees, the updated amount of which you can see on the procedure's page.

If your situation changes later on, you can also entrust us with the modification declaration (change of address, heading or regime) or the deregistration, which have a deadline of 1 month: let us know as soon as the change occurs and we will submit it for you within the deadline.