The systems for starting and operating a business in Spain depend on which lawyer / accountant you decide to use. All the one´s in our area have different rates and even seem to know different things about the law. For instance what you are told is law by one, another seems to know nothing about. To our astonishment, we seem to be guinea pigs in this system and even have to pay the account when they don´t know the correct proceedures and advise us incorrectly. It is a very expensive, stressfull and complicated system which is forever changing (usually against ex-pats). But, don´t think that coming here and working illegally is an option - its not. Although alot of things in Spain used to be "black", the Hacienda are inforcing laws more and handing out fines, 600€ upwards (sometimes 20,000 and more). There are now alot of Spanish and expats coming out of the autonomo system and I believe that something will have to change soon. We keep our fingers crossed.