Overview
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Region | Europe |
| ISO 3166-1 | ES / ESP |
| Registry | Registro Mercantil |
| Last updated | 2026-05-06 |
Identifiers
Collect two identifiers from each business customer in Spain and submit them as strings on the application body.| API field | Local name | Issuer |
|---|---|---|
businessInfo.taxId | NIF | AEAT |
businessInfo.businessEntityId | NIF | AEAT |
Sector regulators
Banco de España · CNMV · DGSFP · SEPBLAC
Legal structures
| Local name | Abbreviation | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada | S.L. | The default SME vehicle; quota-based limited-liability company with transferable but restricted participaciones. Minimum capital €1 (Ley 18/2022). Closest US equivalent: LLC. |
| Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada Unipersonal | S.L.U. | Single-member S.L.; unipersonal status is noted on the Registro Mercantil extract and must be declared. Closest US equivalent: Single-Member LLC (SMLLC). |
| Sociedad Limitada Nueva Empresa | S.L.N.E. | Simplified S.L. variant created by Ley 7/2003 for entrepreneurs; up to five natural-person founders at formation, capital €3,000–€120,000. Still registrable despite reduced usage post-Ley 18/2022. Closest US equivalent: LLC. |
| Sociedad Anónima | S.A. | Public-facing or large corporate form; freely transferable shares and minimum paid-in capital of €60,000. Closest US equivalent: C-Corp. |
| Sociedad Anónima Unipersonal | S.A.U. | Single-shareholder S.A.; unipersonal status inscribed in the Registro Mercantil. Closest US equivalent: C-Corp. |
| Sociedad Anónima Europea | S.E. | European public limited-liability company registered in Spain under EU Regulation 2157/2001; minimum capital €120,000, shares freely transferable across EU. Closest US equivalent: C-Corp. |
| Sociedad Colectiva | S.C. | General partnership; all partners bear unlimited joint and several liability for company debts. Closest US equivalent: General Partnership (GP). |
| Sociedad Comanditaria Simple | S. Com. | Limited partnership with at least one general partner (unlimited liability) and one limited partner (liability capped at contribution). Closest US equivalent: Limited Partnership (LP). |
| Sociedad Comanditaria por Acciones | S.C.A. | Limited partnership whose limited-partner interests are represented by freely transferable shares; at least one general partner retains unlimited liability. Closest US equivalent: Limited Partnership (LP). |
| Empresario Individual / Autónomo | — | Sole trader operating under their own name or a trade name; no separate legal entity and unlimited personal liability. Registered in Censo AEAT (Form 036/037) and optionally in the Registro Mercantil. Closest US equivalent: Sole Proprietorship. |
| Sociedad Cooperativa | S. Coop. | Member-owned cooperative society governed by democratic control; registered with the Registro de Cooperativas (national or regional). Common in agriculture, housing, and worker-owned services. Closest US equivalent: Cooperative. |
| Sociedad Laboral | S.A.L. / S.L.L. | Worker-majority SA (S.A.L.) or SL (S.L.L.) in which employees holding permanent contracts own at least 51% of share capital; registered in the Registro de Sociedades Laborales before Registro Mercantil inscription. Closest US equivalent: Cooperative. |
| Agrupación de Interés Económico | A.I.E. | Economic interest grouping enabling members to coordinate activities without forming a separate profit-seeking company; members bear unlimited joint liability. Must be inscribed in the Registro Mercantil. Closest US equivalent: General Partnership (GP). |
| Comunidad de Bienes | C.B. | Joint-ownership arrangement in which two or more persons co-own assets and share revenues; no separate legal personality or minimum capital. Registered with AEAT only. Closest US equivalent: General Partnership (GP). |
| Sucursal de Sociedad Extranjera | — | Branch of a foreign company operating in Spain; no separate legal personality, parent company bears full liability. Must be inscribed in the Registro Mercantil. Closest US equivalent: Branch/Rep Office. |
How documents combine
For each evidence area, this table shows whether the listed documents are alternatives (any one of) or a bundle (all required). The artifact-by-artifact lookup follows below.| Evidence area | Documents needed |
|---|---|
| Legal Registration | Any one of: Nota Simple · Certificación Registral |
| Constitutive Documents | All required: Escritura de Constitución + Estatutos Sociales |
| Tax Registration | Any one of: Certificado de Alta en el Censo · Tarjeta NIF |
| Operating Permit | Any one of: Licencia de Actividad · Licencia de Apertura |
| Ownership Records | Any one of: Libro-Registro de Socios · Libro-Registro de Acciones Nominativas |
| Governance Records | Any one of: Certificación Registral · Nota Simple |
| Signing Authority | Any one of: Escritura de Poder Notarial · Acta de Junta o de Consejo con facultades representativas |
| Address | Any one of: Contrato de arrendamiento · Factura de suministros · Estado de Cuenta Bancario |
| Good Standing | Certificado de Vigencia |
Documents to collect
The physical documents you’ll collect from your customer, with the evidence area each one proves. One document can prove multiple areas — for example, Brazil’s Cartão CNPJ covers both tax and business-registration proof, so it appears once with both areas listed.| Document | Proves |
|---|---|
| Nota Simple | Legal Registration, Governance Records |
| Certificación Registral (Registro Mercantil) | Legal Registration, Governance Records |
| Escritura de Constitución | Constitutive Documents |
| Estatutos Sociales | Constitutive Documents |
| Certificado de Alta en el Censo | Tax Registration |
| Tarjeta NIF (AEAT) | Tax Registration |
| Licencia de Actividad | Operating Permit |
| Licencia de Apertura (municipal) | Operating Permit |
| Libro-Registro de Socios (S.L.) | Ownership Records |
| Libro-Registro de Acciones Nominativas (S.A.) | Ownership Records |
| Escritura de Poder Notarial | Signing Authority |
| Acta de Junta o de Consejo con facultades representativas | Signing Authority |
| Contrato de arrendamiento | Address |
| Factura de suministros (≤90 días) | Address |
| Estado de Cuenta Bancario (≤90 días) | Address |
| Certificación Registral de Vigencia (Registro Mercantil) | Good Standing |
| Sector-Specific License | Autorización del Banco de España (entidades de crédito / servicios de pago), CNMV authorization (investment firms), Autorización DGSFP |
Collection notes
- Legal Registration: Obtain via sede.registradores.org. Nota simple is informational; Certificación is evidentiary. Provincial register for domicile; RMC for name/denomination index.
- Constitutive Documents: Paired: notarial deed (escritura) + statutes (estatutos). Both inscribed in the Registro Mercantil; confirmed by BORME publication.
- Tax Registration: Issued after Form 036 filing. NIF is provisional until notarial deed + Registro Mercantil inscription are provided. Definitive NIF confirmation letter from AEAT is the artifact to collect.
- Operating Permit: Issued by the ayuntamiento (town hall) of the premises municipality. Name varies by municipality; same substantive requirement.
- Sector-Specific License: Required only for regulated-sector customers.
- Governance Records: Administrator appointments inscribed in provincial Registro Mercantil; confirmed in extract.
- Signing Authority: Notarized POA most common. Board/members’ meeting minutes (acta) with express grant of authority also accepted.
- Address: Conduit universal policy: lease (no time bound) OR utility bill OR bank statement, with utility/bank dated within 90 days. Same evidence satisfies both registered-address and operating-address checks.
- Good Standing: Order via sede.registradores.org from the provincial Registro Mercantil where the company is domiciled. The Certificación (evidentiary) is the formal good-standing instrument and confirms the company is legally constituted, not dissolved, and free of registry-recorded restrictions. The Nota Simple is informational and reflects register state at time of issue but is not evidentiary. Banks typically require issuance within 30 days; cross-border use commonly 60-90 days.
Person roles
When you submit a person on the application body, set theirrole to one of Conduit’s canonical BusinessPersonRole values. Use this table to map a local corporate-governance title onto the right canonical role.
| Local role | Canonical API role | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Administrador Único | CONTROLLING_PERSON | Sole director with day-to-day executive authority in S.L. |
| Administrador Solidario / Mancomunado | CONTROLLING_PERSON | Joint or several director(s); operational authority. |
| Consejero Delegado | CONTROLLING_PERSON | Executive director delegated by the board; primary day-to-day officer in S.A. |
| Consejero (Consejo de Administración) | CONTROLLING_PERSON | Non-executive board member on S.A. governing board. |
| Apoderado / Representante Legal | LEGAL_REPRESENTATIVE | Holder of notarized power of attorney; authorized to bind the company. |
Additional fields
Country-specific fields you’ll need to collect during onboarding, beyond the document uploads.| Field | Applies to | Reason |
|---|---|---|
DNI (for Spanish nationals) or NIE (for foreign individuals) | shareholder | Registro Mercantil inscriptions and AEAT NIF filings require individual tax/identity numbers for all socios and administradores; notary refuses deed without valid DNI/NIE. |
Notes
- Single identifier: NIF serves as both the registry number and the corporate tax ID — collect one certificate; both
businessInfo.taxIdandbusinessInfo.businessEntityIdtake the same value. - The NIF is both the tax ID and the primary registry identifier — there is no separate “company registration number” distinct from the NIF in Spanish practice. Collect the NIF; it unlocks both the AEAT census record and the Registro Mercantil extract.
- Nota simple vs. Certificación: a nota simple is informational and lacks evidentiary value for legal or judicial purposes. For binding KYB use, request a certificación registral (signed by the registrar). The sede.registradores.org portal issues either form digitally.
- S.L. minimum capital of €1 (Ley 18/2022, eff. 2022-10-19): companies capitalized below €3,000 must reserve 20% of annual profits until capital + reserve = €3,000; partners bear joint and several liability for the shortfall in liquidation. Flag this risk tier in onboarding.