A digital agent is someone in the Kit Digital catalog who cashes your voucher. Adhesion proves minimum billing, not quality: choose based on the contract.
A digital agent is a company or freelancer registered in the official Kit Digital catalog, authorized to collect the beneficiary's digital voucher. Adhesion proves minimum solvency and EU domicile, not design quality. You must choose based on the contract: ownership of the code, domain registration, and what happens in the thirteenth month.
First of all: we are an interested party
Aura Design is a design and development studio. We sell brands, websites, and software. This article is about how to choose someone who does the same work we do, so we owe you the full disclosure before the first piece of advice.
We are not an authorized digital agent. We do not collect Kit Digital vouchers and we will not process one for you. We are writing this because for years we have been collecting websites made with vouchers that arrive without a repository, without source files, and with the domain registered in a third party's name. The following advice is useful whether you hire us or not, and in various budget brackets, a digital agent is better for you than we are. We are telling you this here and not at the end.
That said: we are providing information about a program we do not charge for; we are not selling access to it.
What exactly is a digital agent
The role is not commercial: it is administrative. It was created by Order ETD/1498/2021, of December 29, which approves the regulatory bases for the Kit Digital program. An Authorized Digital Agent is someone who has registered in the official catalog and is empowered to sign a Digitalization Solution Provision Agreement with you and collect the voucher directly from the Administration.
You choose the solution from the catalog. The agent implements it. The Administration pays them, not you. That flow explains almost everything that follows: whoever invoices you does not depend on your satisfaction, but on justifying two milestones to Red.es.
For a freelancer without employees, the threshold drops to €70,000 accumulated over two years, or €35,000 in the previous year, according to the same article 10. It is also required to be up to date with the Tax Agency and Social Security, not be in crisis according to Regulation (EU) 651/2014, and maintain domicile and service centers within the European Union.
Read that figure for what it is. A billing threshold measures that the company exists and gets paid, not that they know how to trace a grid.
The industry norm: "We are a Government-approved digital agent." Adhesion is checked against minimum billing and tax obligations. No one checked your website.
Our criteria: Adhesion is a solvency requirement. Quality is checked in their previous work, in their contract, and in what they deliver to you on the last day.
The three deadlines that condition who you choose
The Kit Digital is not a purchase: it is a calendar. And that calendar changes the incentive of the person serving you.
- Six months from the notification of the grant to formalize the Provision Agreement with the agent (art. 21.5).
- Three months maximum for the first phase: installation and development of the solution (art. 22).
- Twelve months for the second phase: service provision, counted from the invoice date.
That long year is the part almost no one explains to you on the sales call. The agent collects in two installments and the second depends on having maintained the service for twelve months. That is good news: it guarantees they won't disappear in March. And it is the bad news: the thirteenth month is the cliff. That is where the legal obligation ends, and if you haven't agreed in writing what happens then, a renewal that no one negotiated begins.
Ask about the thirteenth month on the first call, not the last.
The voucher does not cover VAT
Here is the most repeated mismatch between what people understand and what the regulations state. Article 19.2 of the order expressly excludes VAT from eligible expenses, along with IGIC and IPSI.
Translated to the most contracted category, "Website and internet presence," with a maximum grant of €2,000:
| Concept | Amount (€) | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Tax base covered by the voucher | 2000 | Maximum for the category according to the order's Annex |
| 21% VAT, payable by you | 420 | The voucher does not cover it (art. 19.2) |
| Domain and hosting from month 13 | — |
If the budget they give you says "€0 for you," a line is missing. Ask for the VAT to be written down, not implied.
Eight criteria for choosing, in order of importance
None of these eight depend on whether the agent is authorized. They all depend on what you sign.
- Transfer of code and source files. Ensure the contract names them. In Spain, work-for-hire does not transfer rights by default: they are transferred in writing or they are not transferred at all.
- Domain ownership. In your name from registration, not the agent's. It is the most expensive error and the easiest to avoid.
- Repository access from day one. If you cannot see the commits while work is in progress, you won't be able to recover them later.
- Platform and lock-in. A proprietary page builder that only works with their license turns the thirteenth month into a forced renewal.
- What part of the catalog they really cover. An agent may be registered in ten categories and only execute one well.
- Verifiable previous work, not logos. Ask for three live URLs of their projects from the last year and open them.
- Who executes. Name and role of the person who will touch your project, not the salesperson who signs.
- Documented handover. A document that allows another team to continue without calling them. If it doesn't exist, the thirteenth month is already decided.
- The agreement names the code, source files, and design in the rights transfer
- The domain is registered in your name, with your tax data, and you have the credentials
- You have read access to the repository from the first week
- The price distinguishes base and VAT, and states who pays the VAT
- It is written what happens in month 13: continuity price, or transfer and to whom
- The name of the person executing appears, not just the company's
- You know if the solution ties you to a proprietary license and how much it costs per year
The red flag that sums them all up
There is one phrase you will hear that is worth translating: "We handle the voucher process, you don't need to worry about anything."
Worry about two things. You submit the voucher application as the beneficiary, and for that, you need the Acelera pyme digital maturity level diagnostic test, required by article 8.2. And you cannot be both a beneficiary and a digital agent: article 7.4 expressly prohibits it.
The agent executes and collects. The responsibility for justifying remains yours. Delegating the management is fine; delegating the knowledge of what you have signed is not.
| What the pitch promises | What the regulations say |
|---|---|
| "Government-approved" | Registered in the catalog after proving minimum billing and tax obligations (art. 10) |
| "Free website with the voucher" | VAT is excluded from eligible expenses (art. 19.2) |
| "You will have it in two weeks" | Up to 3 months of implementation and 12 months of service provision (art. 22) |
| "We take care of everything" | The beneficiary is the one who applies, needs the digital maturity test, and cannot be an agent (arts. 8.2 and 7.4) |
The digital agent processes the voucher; the beneficiary signs, justifies, and answers. That part cannot be delegated.
The cited articles correspond to Order ETD/1498/2021, of December 29 (BOE-A-2021-21873), consulted on 08-27-2026. The status of Kit Digital calls and the availability of funds change by resolution: check deadlines and open segments at the Red.es electronic office before hiring anything, and be wary of anyone selling you a voucher as if the call were guaranteed.
Frequently asked questions
Is a digital agent the same as an agency?
|---|---| | A | No: a digital agent is an administrative status obtained by registering in the Kit Digital catalog. It is practiced by very different people, from design studios to consultancies and telephone sales companies. |
Frequently asked questions
Can I change my digital agent mid-project?
|---|---| | A | It is possible, but the Provision Agreement is redone and the process restarts, with the six-month deadline from the grant running against you. That is why it is better to spend two weeks choosing than six months correcting. |
Frequently asked questions
If the voucher covers €2,000, is the website free for me?
|---|---| | A | No: VAT is excluded from eligible expenses according to article 19.2, so you pay the 21% out of your own pocket. Domain and hosting after the thirteenth month are not included either. |
Frequently asked questions
Can I ask a digital agent for my website code?
|---|---| | A | You can and you should, but you will only have it if the agreement says so. Adhesion to the catalog does not mandate the transfer of intellectual property rights. |
Frequently asked questions
Can Aura Design be my digital agent?
|---|---| | A | No: we are not registered in the catalog and we do not process vouchers. If your project fits within the Kit Digital, you are better off with an authorized agent, and we will tell you that on the first call. |
An administrative seal proves that a company bills and pays its taxes. It does not prove that it will return your own domain to you. The catalog tells you who can collect the voucher, not who will deliver the code to you on the last day.
We do not collect vouchers, so here we can only put our own account on the table: we publish our rates including VAT, a brand website from €3,000, because the industry advertises the number without VAT and the invoice arrives 21% higher. No surprise hours and no surprise VAT. The segments under €3,000 that you see out there are the market, not our offer: our floor is €3,000.
If you already have a draft of the Provision Agreement, send it to us before signing. In a 30-minute introductory call, at no cost, we will point out the three clauses that decide your thirteenth month—domain, code, and continuity—and tell you if it is worth signing. We respond in less than 24 business hours.
Keep reading
- Legal obligations of a website in Spain: GDPR, cookies, and Kit Digital
- Kit Digital in 2026: what happened and who keeps the voucher
- Who owns my website code? Intellectual property and work-for-hire in Spain
- 18 questions to ask an agency before signing
- Repository access: why the client must have it from day one
Transparency note. Some of our own data in this guide is still being measured on real projects, with a single method. We will publish it with its sample size and date range once the sample is large enough; until then, every figure you see carries its source and date of consultation.
Sources
- https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2021-21873 — Order ETD/1498/2021, of December 29 (BOE-A-2021-21873): art. 10 (requirements for Authorized Digital Agents: €100,000 accumulated over two years or €50,000 in the previous one; 70,000/35,000 for freelancers without employees; not in crisis according to EU Regulation 651/2014; domicile and service centers in the EU); art. 21.5 (6 months to formalize the Provision Agreement); art. 22 (3 months implementation + 12 months provision from invoice); art. 19.2 (VAT, IGIC, and IPSI non-subsidizable); art. 8.2 (Acelera pyme digital maturity level test); art. 7.4 (an Authorized Digital Agent cannot be a beneficiary); art. 7.2 (segments I/II/III: 12,000 / 6,000 / 2,000 €); maximum of €2,000 for 'Website and internet presence' and 'Electronic commerce'. Consulted 08-27-2026.
- https://www.boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-2021-21873 — text of the same order used to verify beneficiary segments and maximum amounts per category. Consulted 08-27-2026.
- VAT Law 37/1992, art. 90 — general rate of 21% applicable to design and web development services (regulatory reference cited in the article, not an open source in this session).
Want to see this thinking applied to a real project?