The September checklist for freelancers in Spain: six short blocks to restart your year. Numbers, clients, rates, offer, rhythm and unsent invoices.
September 2026 · 3 min read
There are four months left in the year, and they're the good ones. Everyone comes back when you do, wanting to close things before December.
That's why September beats January for restarting: you have around 80 working days ahead and budgets are still live. January starts slow, with the tax filing pile-up on top.
This is the checklist: six short blocks, none of them over an hour. Even one changes something.
What you've invoiced in the first eight months.
Your real earnings for the year at this pace.
How much is left to invoice before December.
With that figure, everything else almost decides itself.
Three past clients: "I'm back from the summer and thought of you".
Three contacts from previous jobs.
Four people in your network: tell them you have room this quarter.
None of them takes more than ten minutes.
New clients: new rate from today.
Current clients: tell them now, apply in October.
After a year without changes, 7-15% is an adjustment, not a hike.
The service that worked best: make it the first thing you offer.
The one that drained you or paid little: take it off the list.
No need to announce it. You just stop offering it.
Two mornings a week with no meetings.
The days off you want before Christmas.
One admin hour every Friday.
Go through the summer projects you delivered but never invoiced.
Whatever you send this week lands in October.
It's money you've already earned. It just needs asking for.
None of the six is hard. They're things you already know how to do, put in the order that works this week.
The third-quarter filing. The modelo 130 and modelo 303 for July, August and September are filed between 1 and 20 October. Setting up direct debit shortens that window by a few days.
Your contribution bracket. If it has ended up too low or too high, a request filed before 31 October takes effect on 1 November. You can change it for free on Importass, up to six times a year.
Expenses and pension plan. Any deductible expense from this year that isn't in your books lowers your final IRPF. And you can contribute up to 5,750 € to a pension plan with an IRPF reduction: 1,500 € individual plus 4,250 € in the simplified plan for autónomos.
The pile-up. The Q4 modelo 130 and modelo 303, plus the modelo 390, are all filed on the same day. Setting money aside from September turns that payment into routine instead of a hit.
In Cece, your estimated earnings for the year against your target are the first thing you see when you open the app. On the September return we tell you, using your real first eight months, how much is left to invoice before December. No drama, just the number.
And if you don't use it yet, the checklist still works. The numbers will just cost you a spreadsheet afternoon instead of thirty seconds.
None of this takes more than half an afternoon spread over two weeks. From there, the quarter is yours to run.
The year doesn't close in December. It gets decided in September.
Because your rhythm and the market's line up. You come back from August at the same time as your clients, with live budgets and paused projects they want to move. In January everyone is recovering from December, new budgets take weeks, and it coincides with the tax filing pile-up. From September there are around 80 working days until year end.
A request filed between 1 September and 31 October takes effect on 1 November. It's free and you can do it up to six times a year from your personal area on [Importass](https://portal.seg-social.gob.es/wps/portal/importass/importass/inicio), the Social Security portal. If you file from 1 November onwards, it takes effect on 1 January.
It's the most natural moment of the year. Clients expect news after the summer and last-quarter budgets can still be adjusted. If you haven't touched your prices in twelve months or more, a 7-15% increase is an adjustment. The usual approach is to apply it to new clients right away and tell existing ones in September so it starts in October.
Between 1 and 20 October. That modelo 130 covers July, August and September, and the modelo 303 for VAT for the same quarter is filed in the same window. Setting up direct debit shortens the window by a few days, so it's worth not leaving it until the 20th.
The fourth quarter brings together the modelo 130 for IRPF and the modelo 303 for VAT, plus the modelo 390 annual summary and the modelo 349 if you have intra-EU operations. All are filed by 30 January, with a few days less if you set up direct debit.
Ran into a tax word? Here they are, explained clearly, one by one.
Cece takes care of what weighs on your day-to-day (projects, payments, proposals, tax calculations) and surfaces the numbers that matter, so they stop weighing on you and you can get back to what counts.
