Key points:
- Where they live: IAE epígrafes are part of the tariffs approved by Royal Legislative Decree 1175/1990, which you can read in consolidated form in the BOE, Spain’s official gazette.
- Three sections: section 1 (business activities) has ten divisions, numbered 0 to 9; section 2 (professional activities) has nine, numbered 0 to 8; and section 3 (artistic activities) has five groupings.
- How a code reads: in sections 1 and 2, the first digit is the division, the first two the grouping (agrupación), the first three the group and the decimal, where there is one, the epígrafe.
- Official lookup: the Spanish Tax Agency’s activity finder shows each group or epígrafe with its CNAE 2025 code.
- Shortcut: the first table on this page brings together a selection of codes for retail, hospitality, trades and the professions.
Filling in the census registration has one awkward moment: the box that asks for your activity code. The official list of IAE epígrafes runs to hundreds of entries, with numbers such as 673.2 or 849.9 and names written for an official gazette, not for someone who just wants to start invoicing. That is why so many people look for a list of IAE epígrafes that is ordered and easy to scan.
This page is that list, built on one rule: every name is copied from the text of the tariffs published in the BOE, not from third-party summaries. First you will find a table of the most common codes; then the full map of sections and divisions and the rules worth knowing before you choose. What an epígrafe is and how to use the finder step by step is covered in our article “IAE epígrafe in Spain: what it is and how to choose yours”.
Table of common IAE epígrafes
This list of IAE epígrafes gathers a selection of entries that tend to matter to small businesses and self-employed people. It is neither a closed list nor a recommendation: each row shows the section, the code and the literal Spanish name in the tariffs, so that you can check it against the official text.
| Activity | Section | Code | Name in the tariffs (Spanish) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clothing shop | 1 | 651.2 | Comercio al por menor de toda clase de prendas para el vestido y tocado |
| Bookshop and stationery | 1 | 659.4 | Comercio al por menor de libros, periódicos, artículos de papelería y escritorio, y artículos de dibujo y bellas artes |
| Mail-order selling | 1 | 665 | Comercio al por menor por correo o por catálogo de productos diversos |
| Bar | 1 | 673.2 | Otros cafés y bares |
| Taxi | 1 | 721.2 | Transporte por autotaxis |
| Road haulage | 1 | 722 | Transporte de mercancías por carretera |
| Plumbing | 1 | 504.2 | Instalaciones de fontanería |
| Painting of premises and homes | 1 | 505.6 | Pintura de cualquier tipo y clase y revestimientos con papel, tejidos o plásticos y terminación y decoración de edificios y locales |
| Advertising agency | 1 | 844 | Servicios de publicidad, relaciones públicas y similares |
| Letting a home | 1 | 861.1 | Alquiler de viviendas |
| Language school | 1 | 933.9 | Otras actividades de enseñanza, tales como idiomas, corte y confección, mecanografía, taquigrafía, preparación de exámenes y oposiciones y similares, n.c.o.p. |
| Hairdresser | 1 | 972.1 | Servicios de peluquería de señora y caballero |
| Lawyer | 2 | 731 | Abogados |
| Economic advice | 2 | 741 | Economistas |
| Programming | 2 | 763 | Programadores y Analistas de Informática |
| Translation | 2 | 774 | Traductores e Intérpretes |
| Physiotherapy | 2 | 836 | Ayudantes Técnicos Sanitarios y Fisoterapéutas |
| Journalism | 2 | 863 | Periodistas y otros profesionales de la información y la comunicación |
Before you settle on a row, open the full entry in the official text. Many entries carry notes (notas) that set out what they cover. The note to 861.1, for example, explains that it includes renting, with or without an option to buy, any kind of property used as a home. These notes often answer more questions than the name itself. In the physiotherapy row, the spelling “Fisoterapéutas” is the BOE’s own.
How to read an IAE epígrafe code
IAE epígrafe codes follow a positional logic. Take 673.2 in section 1: the 6 is the division “Comercio, restaurantes y hospedaje, reparaciones” (trade, restaurants and accommodation, repairs); 67 is the grouping “Servicio de alimentación” (food service); 673 is the group for cafés and bars; and 673.2 is the epígrafe “otros cafés y bares” (other cafés and bars). The more digits, the more specific the activity.
Not every group goes down to a decimal. In section 2, the one for professionals, the classification stops at the three-digit group, such as 763 for programmers. And because each section numbers its entries on its own, the same number can appear in two of them with different meanings: whenever you note down or look up a code, always give its section.
Section 1: epígrafes for business activities
Section 1 covers what the tax’s Instruction calls business activities: mining, industry, trade and services. It is the longest part of the IAE epígrafes, and it is also where companies register when they carry out a professional activity. Its ten divisions, with the names used in the BOE, are these:
| Division | Name in the tariffs (Spanish) | In English |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Ganadería independiente | Independent livestock farming |
| 1 | Energía y agua | Energy and water |
| 2 | Extracción y transformación de minerales no energéticos y productos derivados. Industria química | Extraction and processing of non-energy minerals and derived products; chemical industry |
| 3 | Industrias transformadoras de los metales. Mecánica de precisión | Metal-processing industries; precision engineering |
| 4 | Otras industrias manufactureras | Other manufacturing industries |
| 5 | Construcción | Construction |
| 6 | Comercio, restaurantes y hospedaje, reparaciones | Trade, restaurants and accommodation, repairs |
| 7 | Transporte y comunicaciones | Transport and communications |
| 8 | Instituciones financieras, seguros, servicios prestados a las empresas y alquileres | Financial institutions, insurance, business services and rentals |
| 9 | Otros servicios | Other services |
The next sections go through divisions 5, 6, 8 and 9, which hold construction, trade, hospitality and much of services. The law leaves farming, dependent livestock farming, forestry and fishing outside the tax, and the tariffs do not classify them; the Tax Agency’s finder gives them codes of their own.
Retail and hospitality
Division 6 starts with wholesale trade (grouping 61) and moves on to food retail (64) and retail of non-food industrial products (65), home to 651.2 for clothing, 659.4 for books and stationery and 659.9, which covers “otros productos no especificados en esta Agrupación” (other products not specified in this grouping). Group 665 covers retail by mail or catalogue, and grouping 66 also includes selling outside a permanent establishment, such as street markets and occasional markets.
Hospitality is split between grouping 67, “Servicio de alimentación” (food service), and 68, “Servicio de hospedaje” (accommodation). Restaurants are classed by forks (671.4 “De dos tenedores”, two forks; 671.5 “De un tenedor”, one fork), cafeterías by cups, and bars have group 673, with 673.1 “De categoría especial” (special category) and 673.2 for the rest. A useful rule: paying the quota for wholesale trade also entitles you to sell retail and to import and export, and the quota for retail trade entitles you to import the products you sell.
Business services and rentals
Grouping 84, “Servicios prestados a las empresas” (business services), holds many office-based businesses. It includes 843.1 for engineering services, 843.2 for architecture and town planning, 843.9 “Otros servicios técnicos n.c.o.p.” (other technical services), group 844 for advertising and public relations, 845 for electronic data processing for third parties, 849.7 for administrative management services and 849.9 “Otros servicios independientes n.c.o.p.” (other independent services).
Property rentals sit in grouping 86. 861.1 is for letting homes and 861.2 for “locales industriales y otros alquileres n.c.o.p.” (industrial premises and other rentals); group 862 is for rural property.
Construction and personal services
Division 5 has a single grouping, 50, “Construcción”. It runs from 501.1, the complete construction, repair and upkeep of buildings, to specific trades such as 504.1 for electrical installations, 504.2 for plumbing or 505.6 for painting and decorating buildings and premises. Always read the notes: some entries in this division set limits on the size of the works.
Division 9 brings together non-regulated teaching (933.9 includes languages and exam preparation for public posts), sport (967.1 for sports facilities and 967.2 for sports schools and coaching services) and the personal services of grouping 97, such as 972.1 for hairdressing, 972.2 for beauty salons and aesthetics clinics or 979.9 “Otros servicios personales n.c.o.p.” (other personal services).
Section 2: IAE epígrafes for self-employed professionals
Many IAE epígrafes for the self-employed sit in section 2, the one for professional activities. Its nine divisions group professionals by the sector they relate to:
Divisions 7 and 8 contain many professional IAE epígrafes linked to services. Division 7 includes, among others, 722 for administrative agents (gestores administrativos), 723 for property managers, 726 for labour relations advisers (graduados sociales) and 751 for advertising and public relations; division 8 includes 826 for teachers of various subjects, 839 for masseurs, dieticians and nursing assistants, 864 for writers and scriptwriters and 887 for make-up artists and beauticians.
Rule 3 of the Instruction reserves section 2 for individuals. When a company or other entity carries out the activity, it registers under the corresponding or similar activity in section 1. Advertising shows this double presence: it is group 751 in the professionals’ section and 844 in the business section.
Section 3: artistic activities
The shortest section is section 3, with five groupings: film, theatre and circus (01), dance (02), music (03), sport (04) and bullfighting (05). It often surprises people that professional sport appears here, but that is how the text reads: 041 is for football players and coaches and 048 for referees of sporting events.
In music there are separate groups for conductors and music directors (031), instrumentalists (032), singers (033) and composers, lyricists, arrangers and adapters (034). In film and theatre, 011 is for directors, 013 for actors and 015 for film, television and video camera operators.
n.c.o.p. entries: when your activity is not listed
Many divisions end with an entry marked n.c.o.p., short for “no clasificadas en otras partes”, not classified elsewhere. Rule 8 of the Instruction sets out how they are used: an activity the tariffs do not list is classified, provisionally, under the n.c.o.p. group or epígrafe closest to it in nature. If even that does not fit, they go under the entry of the most similar activity.
Here are some of those generic codes. IAE epígrafe 899 in section 2 covers other professionals linked to the services of that division, and 799 gathers other professionals in financial, legal, insurance and rental activities. In section 1 the same role falls to, among others, 659.9, 849.9, 979.9 and group 999, “Otros servicios n.c.o.p.” (other services).
Worth knowing: a code without its section can point to two different activities, and the short name of an entry does not always tell you everything it covers. Check the section and read the entry’s notes in the official text before you file the registration.
Where to check the official list of IAE epígrafes
There are two official sources, and they work together. The first is Royal Legislative Decree 1175/1990 itself in the BOE, whose consolidated version includes later amendments and shows every entry with its content, notes and quota. The IAE epígrafes for 2026 are the ones in that text in force: if someone offers you a different list, compare it with this one.
The second is the AEAT’s IAE epígrafe finder, officially the “Buscador de actividades y sus obligaciones tributarias”, on the Spanish Tax Agency’s online office. It lets you look up the groups or epígrafes in the tariffs and the codes of activities that have no entry, and it shows the matching CNAE 2025 codes next to each one. The Tax Agency lists it among its virtual assistance tools for the census and the IAE, which, it says, help you work out the IAE epígrafe of an activity and its tax and census obligations.
Adding or changing an epígrafe
Each entry covers what it describes and little more. Under the Instruction, paying the quota for one activity generally entitles you to carry out that activity only, apart from the extensions set out in the law, the tariffs or the Instruction itself, such as those for trade. If you start doing something different, you will usually need another epígrafe. Being on the tax register (matrícula) also does not replace any licence or requirement the activity needs.
The procedure depends on whether you are exempt from the IAE. According to the Tax Agency’s guide to economic activities, exempt taxpayers declare all their activities on form 036 and do not file form 840. Taxpayers who are not exempt report registrations, deregistrations and changes on form 840 (or the form approved by local authorities with delegated census management), as well as form 036, and for a change they have one month from the date it occurs. The law exempts, among others, individuals and companies or other entities with a net turnover below €1,000,000.
Several activities, payments kept in order with Vivid
When one person works under two or three epígrafes, keeping each activity’s money apart makes it easier to reconcile the books at the end of the quarter. In Vivid Business each pocket, the sub-account of the main account, has its own IBAN, and Spanish IBANs are unlimited on every plan. You can give the clients of each activity a different IBAN and receive their payments separately.
Vivid Money S.A. is an e-money institution with a branch in Spain. What it offers people who combine activities:
Vivid in brief: Vivid Business is a business account with a Spanish IBAN for the self-employed and companies. You apply online and opening it costs nothing. Each pocket has its own IBAN.
One IBAN for each activity
Open your Vivid Business account online, create pockets with their own IBAN and invoice from the same platform. For freelancers, the Standard plan at €0 a month; some services can carry a fee.
Frequently asked questions
What are the IAE epígrafes for 2026?
The ones in the tariffs of Royal Legislative Decree 1175/1990, in its consolidated version in the BOE. The Tax Agency’s activity finder also shows the CNAE 2025 codes that match each group or epígrafe.
How do I find out my IAE epígrafe?
Look up your activity in the Tax Agency’s activity finder, check the section (1 for business, 2 for professional or 3 for artistic activities) and read the content and notes of the entry in the tariffs before you put it on the registration.
Where is the full list of IAE epígrafes?
In the annexes to Royal Legislative Decree 1175/1990, published in the BOE: annex I contains the tariffs and annex II the Instruction for the tax. It is the official reference against any third-party list.
What is epígrafe 899?
It is group 899 in section 2, for other professionals linked to the services covered by that division. It works as a catch-all entry for professionals in division 8 without a specific group.
Which epígrafe covers letting a home?
861.1 in section 1, “Alquiler de viviendas”. According to its note, it covers renting, with or without an option to buy, any kind of property used as a home. Premises go under 861.2.
What is the difference between a group and an epígrafe?
The group is the three-digit level of the tariffs, such as 673. The epígrafe divides it with a decimal, such as 673.2. When a group is not subdivided, the activity is declared under the group itself.
Do I need an epígrafe for each activity?
As a general rule, yes, because the quota for an entry only entitles you to the activity it describes, apart from the extensions set out in the law, the tariffs or the Instruction. Each new activity is declared with its own code.
This article provides general information and is not tax advice. The entry names and rules quoted here are taken from Royal Legislative Decree 1175/1990, Royal Legislative Decree 2/2004 and the Spanish Tax Agency, and may change; classifying each activity is a matter for the tax authorities. Vivid Money S.A. is an e-money institution authorised by the CSSF (Luxembourg); its Spanish branch is registered with the Banco de España under number 6731.
