Get to know the tax advantages to establish yourself in Gran Canaria
The Economic Promotion Society of Gran Canaria has prepared a report on the tax regime and the advantages in this area that entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs will find in Gran Canaria. The document, prepared both in Spanish and in English under the umbrella of the Best in Gran Canaria initiative, aims to be a support to companies and entrepreneurs who are studying the possibility of settling professionally on the island.
The report 'Tax system and advantages in Gran Canaria' explains in detail the Tax Regime of the companies that operate in Gran Canaria and, within it, the specificities for the resident entities, the Corporate Income Tax and the retentions in the Canary Islands. It also pays special attention to the Canary Islands Special Zone (ZEC) tax regime, as well as to other types of taxes such as the Canary Islands General Indirect Tax (IGIC), customs duties (AIEM) and the Duty Free Zone.
The document also offers a wide explanation about the special taxes existing in the Canary Islands, given its status as a European customs territory, although not from the territory of
application of VAT. Thus, the report delves into the application of the Business and profesional activities Tax, as well as the Transfer Tax and the Stamp duty.
On the other hand, the document dedicates a chapter to the taxation of individual persons who move their fiscal residence to Spain, and another to Social Security, since all employers, employees and self-employed, etc. who work in Gran Canaria must be registered in the Spanish Social Security system.
The French studio Amuse opens in Gran Canaria the animation studio Birdland, which expects to generate 50 new jobs
The president of the Gran Canaria Island Council (Cabildo), Antonio Morales, and the president of the French Animation Studio Amuse, Arthur Lener, announced today the opening of a new animation studio named Birdland in Gran Canaria. Birdland expects to generate 50 new jobs in the next months, since it will be the main center of production of Amuse.
Birdland will execute the whole production chain from Gran Canaria and because of that it is searching designers, scriptwriters, artists of sound, translators, voice actors and other professionals. Lener hopes to start soon a new course for having the possibility to have the talent of Gran Canaria working in the new studio and making a good team of Gran Canaria workers.
Since its creation, Amuse has become a leader in producing and distributing kids’ content for the digital space and has contents in almost one hundred digital channels that count with more than 400 million visits in a month.
Going one step further, Amuse now decides to settle in Gran Canaria because “Gran Canaria is the best place in Europe” for setting up due to its tax and investment advantages and because it offers a privileged environment for business and a great climate.
The SPEGC publishes a support guide for remote workers and digital nomads looking to establish themselves in Gran Canaria
The SPEGC, through Best in Gran Canaria, has published a new support guide for remote workers and digital nomads looking to establish themselves on the island.
This guide published in English and in wiki format provides information for professionals looking to start up a professional activity in Gran Canaria, clarifying issues such as how to go about applying for a residence permit, how to look for accommodation, banks with experience dealing with expats, etc.
The guide also offers information for the constitution of companies on the island, including basic information on taxes and tax rebates, work spaces and agencies such as the SPEGC which facilitate the establishment process in Gran Canaria.
Professionals wishing to live on the island with their family will also find useful information such as a list of foreign schools and information on health care.
The guide is available here.
Remote workers have known the advantages of working and living in Gran Canaria
The initiative Best in Gran Canaria has participated in the third workshop of ‘Nomad City Gran Canaria’ to introduce the advantages of working and living in Gran Canaria to remote workers.
Gran Canaria has been introduced as the ideal place to thrive due to its tax and investment advantages and because it offers a privileged environment for business, owing to the great links with its port and airport, the safety of the destination, all the services on offer, whether to do with health or education, its great city and the world’s best climate. In short, it is the ideal place to work and live, an advantageous combination scarce to come by in this world.
Nomad City seeks to turn Gran Canaria into a leading work centre both nationally and internationally for teleworkers and has represented a fantastic opportunity to promote the island to the remote workers.
Atos Consulting Canarias S.A.U. moves to the Gran Canaria Technology Park and expects to generate 150 qualified jobs
Atos is a European leader in digital services. Serving a global client base, the Group provides Consulting & Systems Integration services, Managed Services & BPO, Cloud operations, Big Data & Cyber-security solutions, as well as transactional services through Worldline, the European leader in the payments and transactional services industry.
Atos will offer from Gran Canaria two different types of services, the first is called IDM, outsourcing of technical support, and the second is BPS, based on systems and software development integration. Atos will also create a Global Services Centre for providing services to potential customers.
Atos Consulting Canarias S.A.U. is expected to generate 150 qualified jobs in Gran Canaria.
The 'Talento Gran Canaria' network marks its 2nd anniversary reaching 1.000 members
The 'Talento Gran Canaria' network marks its 2ndanniversary this Summer celebrating the fact that it already has 1.000 members.
The network was started by the Corporation for the Economic Development of Gran Canaria (SPEGC) in the Summer of 2016 to bring together professionals from Gran Canaria who work across all continents, and for this purpose it created a professional group on LinkedIn which is the way they stay connected.
Two years after its creation, the network includes professionals who work mainly in Europe (89%) and to a lesser extent in America (8%), Asia (1.6%), Africa (1.1%) and Oceania (0.3%). Most have been abroad for over 5 years and, although many are not even thinking of returning, many others have considered the possibility of returning to their native island, provided they are able to have similar professional opportunities to those they currently have outside Gran Canaria. For this reason, the SPEGC is creating a support programme for those 'Talents' who wish to return to the island, in respect of which we will soon be announcing new developments.
Although these professionals work in numerous and very varied areas, the industries with the greatest representation on the network are services, information technology, education, strategies and operations consultancy, telecommunications, marketing and advertising. The vast majority of them hold degrees and masters, although many members also hold doctorates.
As well as the LinkedIn group, 'Talento Gran Canaria' also has a blog where it publishes news about the many initiatives and projects in which our 'Talents' are involved and also interesting stories about projects that are being developed in Gran Canaria.
To celebrate our first 1,000 members on the network we have made this video. We hope you like it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4NfuecVTBc&frags=pl%2Cwn
Gran Canaria will have the world's first High-Tech Marine Incubator boosted by the 1.6 million Euro backing of the Cabildo and Incyde
Gran Canaria will have the world's first High-Tech Marine Incubator and the only one aimed specifically at the blue economy, out of the 12 incubators for different areas in Europe. The director of the Incyde Foundation, Javier Collado, confirmed this to the president of the Gran Canaria Island Council, Antonio Morales, on signing the agreement that will make it possible to hold this infrastructure in 2020 that will position Gran Canaria "on the world map for blue biotechnology".
Raúl García Brink, who heads the Corporation for the Economic Development of Gran Canaria, SPEGC, explained that there will be an investment of 1.6 million Euros:in addition to almost 500,000 Euros from the Cabildo, Incyde (the Chamber Institute for the Creation and Development of Business) will provide 1.1 million Euros and its director congratulated the Cabildofor the quality of the project it presented which achieved the financing.
The High-Tech Marine Incubator, promoted by the Economic Development of Gran Canaria, will be located within the Experimental Area of Arinaga which will cover a surface area in excess of 70,000 m2and, benefiting from a 4.1 million Euro investment (including the 1.6 million for the Incubator), will have a capacity to house 20 businesses and create 60 direct jobs. The object is for the technology to be transferable to any business anywhere in the world. In addition, once those that set up business in the incubator become consolidated, they can move to a different space in the Area.
“This incubator does not belong to the Canary Islands, it belongs to Europe and is open to all of Europe", highlighted Mr Collado who, stressing the importance of the centre there will be in Gran Canaria, pointed out that Incyde represents over 80 Chambers of Commerce in Spain and helps SMEs with large projects funded by the EU.
The most advance technology, in Gran Canaria
Building this High-Tech Incubator will allow SMEs to access the most advanced technology developed the world over in the field of blue economy, "to incorporate it into their daily work, grow and create jobs", explained Javier Collado, as the idea is that high-tech "is not only for large businesses".
The president stressed that the Cabildois working to convert Gran Canaria into a world centre of reference in the blue technology sphere, and so an initiative was launched, Bioasis, (Blue Biotechnology and Aquaculture Platform) to which must be added the work carried out by research centres such as the Canary Islands Technology Institute or Ecoaqua, within the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and that done by the Spanish Algae Bank located in Taliarte, Gran Canaria, as combining efforts is key in the work to achieve this objective.
ICEX-Invest in Spain opens the third edition of Rising Startup Spain
ICEX-Invest in Spain opens the period for applications to participate in the latest Rising Startup Spain, a programme aimed at entrepreneurs in Spain who have a minimum 10% foreign participation.
Through this programme, ICEX-Invest in Spain seeks to promote innovative projects developed by foreign nationals or non-resident Spanish nationals who are going to set up a business in Spain or have done so in the last year.
Rising Startup Spain is the first official programme designed to help attract international talent and innovative business models that will contribute to enriching the fabric of Spanish business while also positioning Spain as one of the main centres in Europe for technology and innovation.
In the third edition that has just been opened, the services offered by the programme are: speeding up the process for obtaining a visa, free work space in Madrid or Barcelona, personal advice tailored to the needs of the project, a €10,000 grant per business, visibility in specialised media to advertise the business in Spain, attendance at events held in Spain and meetings with Spanish multinationals.
The deadline for entrepreneurs who wish to enter their applications for this third edition is 4thAugust 2018.
Further information and registration.
Meetings to make known the tax advantages in Gran Canaria to expatriates
Within the framework of the Best in Gran Canaria initiative, we held a gathering with expatriates who live on the island, and with those who had just arrived, to tell them about the tax advantages available in Gran Canaria.
This was the first of a series of gatherings that came about due to many expatriates and remote workers saying that they knew little about about the tax system in Spain and the Canary Islands.
During the event, Eduardo Sánchez Iglesias addressed the following points:
- Introduction to the special tax system in the Canary Island: ZEC and others.
- Establish your activity in Gran Canaria: should you start as a freelancer or company?
- Working from Gran Canaria with your company registered in another country: What should you know?
- The cost of being an Autonomo (freelancer) in Gran Canaria.
- Invoicing correctly. IGIC for clients in the Canary Island, Europe and other countries.
- Expenses you can write o as an Autonomo (freelancer).
- Diference between corporate taxes and personal taxes.
The Agency for the Economic Development of Gran Canaria (SPEGC) provides financial and consulting support to entrepreneurs and investors based in Gran Canaria.
Talento Gran Canaria gathers in Barcelona 60 professionals "proud" of the level of qualification of people from Gran Canaria
The initiative Talento Gran Canaria brought together in Barcelona 60 people from Gran Canaria who reside in the city and who were able to get to know each other and connect professionally in a relaxed environment at the 4th Afterwork gathering organised by the Gran Canaria Island Council (Cabildo) through the Corporation for the Economic Development of Gran Canaria (SPEGC).
Though many people from Gran Canaria work in Barcelona, most of those who attended had never met but many were "proud" of the fact that "there is so much talent from the island" in this city, where people such as Raúl Cabrera, in charge of the VIP areas and special clients of FC Barcelona, among others, works.
For Raúl it is "fabulous" to meet people who have moved away from the island and from such a wide variety of industries: A/V, telecommunications, law, banking, renewable energy and even health, represented by professionals such as Raúl himself, or Pedro Padrón, who has been in Barcelona for just over two years, and who is currently working as purchasing engineer for SEAT.
“When you meet other people from Gran Canaria you feel quite a strong bond”, according to Pedro, who was also able to meet, among those from Gran Canaria, possible future suppliers for the automotive company for which he works.
In this sense, the gathering, which had high female representation, met the expectations of the Cabildo and managed to connect very diverse profiles opening up the possibility for establishing future professional relationships.
Most of the professionals who attended the event in Barcelona left the island years ago to study or to work. Many hold positions and do work that cannot be easily found on the island, which means that despite "itching to return" they are not considering doing so in the short term.
This is the case with Taida Martínez, producer for Gestmusic Endemol, who after 18 years in Barcelona and having worked on programmes such as Boom, Tu cara me suena and Ahora caigo, is currently deeply involved in preparing the next edition of the programme Operación Triunfo. Despite the temptation, on various occasions, to look for professional opportunities in Gran Canaria, Taida says she will not make that move until she finds something "creatively and financially" similar to what she is presently doing in Barcelona.
Of the same opinion is María José Rodríguez, who has been living in the Catalan capital since 2010 and has been working in the communications and public relations department at Atrápalo since 2015: "I still want to continue growing professionally and the island for the moment does not offer this possibility", she explained, although convinced that "in a few years" she would again be able to "enjoy" Canteras beach.
Regardless of whether or not they want to return to the island, rendezvous such as this afterwork gathering do not just give rise to professional opportunities among the members of the network; they also bring about business opportunities in Gran Canaria, which also gives meaning to such events, aiming to encourage the exchange of experiences, contacts and synergies among people from Gran Canaria.
Rendezvous such as this are linked to the Uvas de Talento gatherings, which the SPEGC holds at its facilities in December, when people from Gran Canaria return to the island for Christmas, the purpose of which is to make known the view that professionals who work outside Gran Canaria have of the island.