In order to incorporate a company in Spain, such as the Sociedad Limitada (S.L.), the most common structure for small and medium-sized businesses, you will need to go through the following steps:

  1. Get your NIE number, the foreigner identification number needed for almost any formal transaction in Spain.
  2. Choose a name for the company and check its availability with a certificate of uniqueness (certificación negativa de denominación social) from the Registro Mercantil Central.
  3. Get the company's CIF, its tax identification number.
  4. Open a bank account in the company's name and deposit the share capital. The legal minimum is €3,000, though recent reforms allow an S.L. to be formed with as little as €1, provided a larger share of profits is set aside as legal reserve each year until the €3,000 threshold is reached.
  5. Set out who the shareholders are and agree the terms between them in a shareholder agreement.
  6. Sign the public deed of incorporation before a notary, prepared beforehand by a lawyer.
  7. Register the company with the tax authorities.
  8. Register the company with Social Security.

Each of these steps has its own paperwork and timing, and getting the order right avoids delays further down the line.