Working in Tenerife

Perhaps the biggest challenge that faces most new arrivals in Tenerife is finding employment.  Limited opportunities, a language barrier, unrealistic expectations and competition can conspire to wear down your determination.  In many ways, it is the initiation ceremony to a life in Tenerife; get past it and you can look forward to a sunny future.  In the meantime, finding a job and making a living in Tenerife as an expatriate will require resourcefulness, adaptability and persistence.

The niche you eventually find might be working for a company, and you will sign a contract.  The terms of these vary, but there is a structure in place that defines your rights clearly.  Recent changes in law have also increased the rights of the self employed who get the majority of their income from one company, and in this position, self employed workers will sign another type of contract.  Understanding your payslips and tax contributions, or your invoices and tax retentions, is important if you want to avoid any nasty surprises when you do your tax return for the year.  The Tenerife Lifeline book is an invaluable guide to your rights and obligations as a worker in Tenerife, whether you are employed or elf employed.

The other important consideration is social security.  If you are self employed, then you will have to make your own payments into the system.  These will be deducted at source if you work for a company.  Though these contributions may seem a pain at the time, you may find yourself glad to have made them.  If you become unemployed, the benefits you can claim from the system are dependant on what you have put into it.  And if you do find yourself unemployed, then you will also find that Spain has some powerful laws that protect the rights of the employee.  Understanding at least the basics will put you in a better position to ensure you are treated fairly and the Tenerife Lifeline book will help to ensure that you know how to make the most of these benefits if you fall out of work in Tenerife.

There is also a newer category of Tenerife worker, those who work for companies abroad.  Using their computers and phones, they are as well connected to their companies as if they were in the office down the hall, but they are also able to enjoy a Tenerife lifestyle.  The tax issues of working ‘in’ one country and living in another opens up different possibilities for the worker, and good advice from an accountant is essential.

Unless you have private means, living in Tenerife is not just an extended holiday, and it is a serious mistake to think so.  Upon arrival on the island, with some savings or maybe the proceeds of a property sale behind you, it is so easy to get complacent.  Sun, beaches, restaurants and bars lure us into that holiday atmosphere and adopting a mañana attitude to job hunting.  Very soon that capital will be whittled away, and before you know it, your nest egg will be no more.  So many people have been caught in this trap and it has forced their repatriation amidst shattered dreams.  It need not be this way.

The key is to approach the problem of earning money with your eyes wide open and with no illusions.  If you understand what to expect and what opportunities are likely to be available, then you can plan accordingly.  Adapt your expectations, remove the rose tinted spectacles and you will be well set to embark upon your Tenerife working life.

B&G Mobile Accountants, Tenerife Telephone: 922 273 946 Address: You can arrange a meeting on your own premises with B & G Mobile Accountants or visit them in their offices in Calle Teobaldo Power, 2-4F, 38002 Santa Cruz Visit Website or Send an Email