Family collaborator
Check whether you are a family collaborator, and what it costs.
| Kinship within the 2nd degree | Yes |
| Lives in the household | Yes |
| Is financially dependent | Yes |
| Works habitually | Yes |
| Open to evidence to the contraryart. 12.1 LGSS | Yes |
- Your base cannot fall below the group 7 floor, because article 308.1.a) rule 4 names letter k) expressly.
- You keep the 7 % generic-expense deduction: rule 2 cuts it to 3 % for letters b) and e) only, and k) is not among them.
- Additional provision 10 of Act 20/2007 allows the owner to hire you as an employee, but it leaves unemployment cover out.
Educational estimate, does not constitute advice. Classification is decided by the Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social.
2026 figures: the group 7 floor is €1,424.40 a month (Order PJC/297/2026, art. 3) and band 1 of the general table, which article 35 ties the relief to, is €950.98.
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The conditions live in a different article
The article that puts you in the RETA does not say who goes in. Letter k) of article 305.2 names "the spouse and the relatives of the self-employed worker who, in accordance with article 12.1 and with paragraph 1 of this article, carry out work habitually and are not considered employees". Everything that decides the answer is one article away, which is why almost no guide lists the conditions correctly.
Four conditions, and all four have to hold
Article 12.1 says that the following shall not be considered employees, save evidence to the contrary: "the spouse, the descendants, ascendants and other relatives of the employer, by blood or marriage up to and including the second degree and, where applicable, by adoption, occupied in their workplace or workplaces, when they live in their household and are dependent on them". Four cumulative requirements, and one failing is enough for the presumption not to apply. The tool names the one that failed, because "no" is not an answer anyone can act on and "no, because you do not live together" is.
It is a presumption and it can be rebutted
The three words almost everyone skips are "save evidence to the contrary". Article 12.1 does not declare a cohabiting family member to be self-employed: it presumes they are not an employee, and it admits proof of the opposite. What follows in practice is that the classification is not a destiny: where the relationship really has subordination and dependence, there is something to prove to the Tesorería General.
A child under thirty has a second route, and it costs the dole
Additional provision 10 of Act 20/2007, echoed in article 12.2 of the Social Security Act, lets autónomos "hire, as employees, children under 30 years of age, even if they live with them", and states the price in the same sentence: "unemployment cover shall be excluded from the protection afforded to family members so hired". Past thirty the route reopens only on one of the three disability grounds the same provision lists. And it names children: a spouse or a parent of twenty-five has no equivalent route at all.
The floor does reach you and the 3 % deduction does not
Two rules of the same article 308 share out the consequences, and they do not share them alike. Rule 4 of article 308.1.a) expressly names "the family members … under article 305.2.k), as well as … letters b) and e)", so a collaborator’s base cannot fall below the group 7 minimum. Rule 2 of article 308.1.c) cuts the generic-expense deduction from 7 % to 3 % only "in the case of … letters b) and e)": k) is not there, and the deduction survives. Three letters in one rule and two in the other, fifteen lines apart.
The relief is not a percentage of what you pay
Here is the difference no page on this subject states. Article 35 of Act 20/2007 gives a new collaborator 50 % for eighteen months and 25 % for six more, but since its 2023 wording it computes that on "the common-contingency contribution corresponding to the minimum contribution base of band 1 of the general table of bases". Not on your base. Your base, meanwhile, cannot fall below the group 7 floor, which is far above that band 1. The result is a fixed discount against a contribution you do not choose, and the earlier wording did move with the payer: "the contribution resulting from applying the corresponding rate to the minimum base".
And the flat rate is expressly closed
Paragraph 11 of article 38 ter is literal: "The contribution reductions provided for in this article shall not apply to family members of self-employed workers by blood or marriage up to and including the second degree". The reduced rate every other first-time autónomo receives is not an option for a collaborator. The article 35 relief is what stands in its place, and they are neither the same thing nor the same amount.
The three lists of family members do not match
They are worth reading side by side, because each names a different group. Article 12.1 requires kinship to the second degree plus cohabitation plus financial dependence. Article 305.2.k) speaks of "the spouse and the relatives", and does not name a registered partner. Article 35 does name one, and asks for neither cohabitation nor dependence. So the list of who receives the relief is wider on one axis than the list of who enters the regime. What follows from that mismatch is not resolved here: the texts say what they say and none of them explains how a registered partner who is not a "relative" enters the RETA in the first place. Ask the Seguridad Social before you register.
Worked example
A 27-year-old daughter who works daily in her mother’s business, lives with her and depends on her. All four article 12.1 conditions hold, so she is a family collaborator under letter k), and the answer is open to evidence to the contrary. Her base cannot fall below 1,424.40 EUR a month, which at the 2026 rate of 31.50 % is 448.69 EUR of contribution, while an ordinary autónoma on the same 900 EUR of monthly income would contribute on 718.95 EUR and pay 226.47 EUR: 222.22 EUR more a month and 2,666.64 EUR more a year. She does keep the 7 % deduction. Paragraph 11 of article 38 ter shuts her out of the flat rate, and in its place article 35 gives her 50 % of the common-contingency contribution of band 1 of the general table, 269.13 EUR, which is 134.57 EUR a month for eighteen months and 67.28 EUR for six more: 2,825.94 EUR in all. And because she is a child under thirty, her mother could hire her as an employee instead of registering her as a collaborator, with the small print that such a contract carries no unemployment cover.
Frequently asked questions
Who counts as a family collaborator?
What if I work with my father but do not live with him?
Can an autónomo hire their own child as an employee?
Can a collaborator claim the flat rate?
How much is the relief for a new collaborator?
Why does my contribution not fall when I earn little?
Does my deduction drop to 3 % like a company owner’s?
What if I was registered as an autónomo three years ago?
Can a registered partner be a family collaborator?
Can I challenge the classification?
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Sources
- LGSS (RDLeg 8/2015), art. 12.1: las cuatro condiciones que deciden si un familiar es o no trabajador por cuenta ajena, y la prueba en contrario · Boletín Oficial del Estado
- LGSS art. 305.2.k): la inclusión del cónyuge y los parientes en el RETA, por remisión al art. 12.1 · Boletín Oficial del Estado
- LGSS art. 308.1.a) regla 4.ª y art. 308.1.c) regla 2.ª: el suelo del grupo 7 nombra la letra k) y la deducción del 3 % no · Boletín Oficial del Estado
- Ley 20/2007 del Estatuto del trabajo autónomo, art. 35: la bonificación del 50 % y el 25 % sobre la base del tramo 1 de la tabla general · Boletín Oficial del Estado
- Ley 20/2007 art. 38 ter, apartado 11: los familiares quedan fuera de la cuota reducida, y su disposición adicional décima permite contratar a los hijos menores de 30 sin desempleo · Boletín Oficial del Estado
- Orden PJC/297/2026, arts. 3 y 18.4: la base mínima del grupo 7 para 2026 y la opción de mantener la base provisional de 2025 · Boletín Oficial del Estado
- Trabajadores por cuenta propia o autónomos: alta y régimen aplicable · Seguridad Social
Author: Thorben Rasmus Idel · Reviewed by: Nahar Geva · Last reviewed: