With the coming into force on 1 January 2023 of Royal Decree-Law 13/2022 of 26 July 2022, a new contribution system for self-employed workers and improved protection in the event of cessation of activity is established.
The main aspects of this new contribution system are shown below.
SOCIAL SECURITY QUOTA BASED ON NET RETURNS
All self-employed persons pay social security contributions on the basis of their net annual income obtained in the exercise of all their economic, business or professional activities.
Persons who are members of a religious institution belonging to the Catholic Church will not pay these contributions.
For the purposes of determining the contribution base, all the net income obtained in the calendar year of their different professional or economic activities will be taken into account, regardless whether the activity is carried out individually or as partners or members of a company, with or without legal personality and as long as they do not have to be registered as regular employees under the General Regime or Asimilated General Regime.
The net income for each of the activities will be calculated in accordance with the provisions of the Annual Income tax regulations.
HOW TO CALCULATE THE NEW SOCIAL SECURITY QUOTA
For this calculation, you must take into account all the net income obtained from the different activities you carry out as a self-employed worker, to which you will have to add the amount of Social Security contributions paid.
Of the resulting amount, 7% will be deducted as general expenses.
The deduction is reduced to 3%, in the following cases:
• Company directors that hold at least 25% of the company shares.
• Shareholders that hold at least 33% of the company shares.
For the application of the percentage of 3%, it will be sufficient to have been registered in the self-employed regime at least ninety days.
Please note that self-employed directors and shareholders will be obliged to declare a minimum contribution base of €1,000, irrespective of their expected income. Based on the monthly average of this net annual income, we can determine the Contribution base that corresponds to this net income, and the social security quota that is payable.
By adjusting your contribution base to your real income, you will avoid an annual regularization of the social security quota at the end of the year. For this purpose, the social security office will use as reference of income, the information declared on your Annual Personal Income tax declaration (From 100).
Each year, the General State Budget Act will establish a general table and a reduced table of contribution bases that will be divided into consecutive tranches of net monthly income amounts to which, for each tranche, maximum and minimum monthly contribution bases will be assigned. The following table shows these new income brackets and their corresponding contribution bases for the next three years:
TABLE OF NET INCOME AND CONTRIBUTION TABLE – REDUCED TABLES
| TABLES OF NET INCOME 2023 | Contribution base MINIMUM | Contribution base MAXIMUM | Social security quota | ||
| Euros/Month | Euros/Month | Mimimum | Maximum | ||
| Table 1 | <= 670 | 751,63 € | 849,66 € | 234,51 € | 265,09 € |
| Table 2 | > 670 y <= 900 | 849,67 € | 900,00 € | 265,10 € | 280,80 € |
| Table 3 | > 900 y <1.166,70 | 898,69 € | 1.166,70 € | 280,39 € | 364,01 € |
TABLE OF NET INCOME AND CONTRIBUTION TABLE – GENERAL TABLES
| TABLES OF NET INCOME 2023 | Contribution base MINIMUM | Contribution base MAXIMUM | Social security quota | ||
| Euros/Month | Euros/Month | Mimimum | Maximum | ||
| Table 1 | > 1.166,70 y <= 1.300 | 950,98 € | 1.300,00 € | 296,71 € | 405,60 € |
| Table 2 | > 1.300 y <= 1.500 | 960,78 € | 1.500,00 € | 299,76 € | 468,00 € |
| Table 3 | > 1.500 y <= 1.700 | 960,78 € | 1.700,00 € | 299,76 € | 530,40 € |
| Table 4 | > 1.700 y <= 1.850 | 1.013,07 € | 1.850,00 € | 316,08 € | 577,20 € |
| Table 5 | > 1.850 y <= 2.030 | 1.029,41 € | 2.030,00 € | 321,18 € | 633,36 € |
| Table 6 | > 2.030 y <= 2.330 | 1.045,75 € | 2.330,00 € | 326,27 € | 726,96 € |
| Table 7 | > 2.330 y <= 2.760 | 1.078,43 € | 2.760,00 € | 336,47 € | 861,12 € |
| Table 8 | > 2.760 y <= 3.190 | 1.143,79 € | 3.190,00 € | 356,86 € | 995,28 € |
| Table 9 | > 3.190 y <= 3.620 | 1.209,15 € | 3.620,00 € | 377,25 € | 1.129,44 € |
| Table 10 | > 3.620 y <= 4.050 | 1.274,51 € | 4.050,00 € | 397,65 € | 1.263,60 € |
| Table 11 | > 4.050 y <= 6.000 | 1.372,55 € | 4.495,50 € | 428,24 € | 1.402,60 € |
| Table 12 | > 6.000 | 1.633,99 € | 4.495,50 € | 509,80 € | 1.402,60 € |
From 1 January 2023, self-employed workers will be able to declare their expected income through the services that will be available on Importass, the Social Security General Treasury’s website for online services and procedures.
For self-employed workers who register after this date, this information will be requested in the registration process carried out through Importass.
If the self-employed worker is already registered, they can modify their contribution basis to adjust it to the forecast on the monthly average of their annual net returns through the service Contribution basis and returns.
Self-employed workers who on 31/12/2022 were paying contributions on a higher contribution basis that would correspond to them in view of their estimated income, may maintain this contribution base in 2023, even if their returns determine the application of a lower contribution basis.
CHANGE OF CONTRIBUTION BASE IF INCOME VARIES
If a change in net income is expected in the course of 2023, it will be possible to select a new contribution basis every two months and thus a new payment rate adapted to it, with a maximum of six changes per year. This modification will be effective on the following dates:
- 1 March 2023, if the application is made between 1 January and the last calendar day of February.
- 1 May 2023, if the application is made between 1 March and 30 April.
- 1 July 2023, if the application is made between 1 May and 30 June.
- 1 September 2023, if the application is made between 1 July and 31 August.
- 1 November 2023, if the application is made between 1 September and 31 October.
- 1 January 2024, if the application is made between 1 November and 31 December.
The monthly Contribution base chosen each year shall be provisional until the annual regularization of the contribution is carried out.
- At the end of the calendar year, the Tax Administration shall provide the Social Security Office with information declared on the Annual Income Tax Returns. If the contribution chosen during the year is lower than the declared in the tax declarations, the self-employed will be notified of the difference. This amount will have to be paid the last day of the month that follows the month in which the notification with the regularization is sent and collected.
- If, on the other hand, the contribution is higher than that corresponding to the maximum base of the bracket in which the income is included, the Social Security Treasury will reimburse the difference before 30 April of the following year the regularization corresponds to.
BENEFITS FOR NEW SELF-EMPLOYED
From 2023 until 2025, new registered self-employed will be able to apply for a reduced quota (flat rate) of 80 euros per month for the first 12 months of activity. The application will be made at the time of registration.
All self-employed, who were registered before December 31st, 2022 and were benefitting from the “flat rate”, also have the obligation to communicate their annual net income before end of October 2023, although their quota will not vary until the established period is due.
New Self-employed persons who have not been registered in the two years immediately prior to the effective date of the new registration, or three years if they have previously benefited from this deduction, may benefit from these conditions.
After these first twelve months, a reduced contribution fee can be applied for the following twelve months, to those self-employed workers that estimate that their net annual income will be less than the Minimum Annual Salary (Salario Minimo Interprofesional)
Self-employed persons with a disability equal to or greater than 33 %, victims of gender violence or victims of terrorism, may request the application, at the time of registration, of a reduced fee of 80 euros for the first 24 months.
Likewise, at the end of this period, if their expected net income is equal to or less than the Minimum Annual Salary, they can request the application of a reduced fee of 160,00 euros for the following 36 months.
NEW BENEFITS FOR SELF-EMPLOYED WORKERS
- Self-employed workers who cease their activity due to the birth of a child, adoption, guardianship for adoption, fostering, who wish to return to self-employment within the two years following the date of termination, they will be able to benefit of a bonus during the 24 months of 80 per cent of the contribution.
- Self-employed persons who are beneficiaries of the benefit for the care of minors affected by cancer or other serious illness will be entitled, during the period of the benefit, to 75% reduction of the contribution for common contingencies.
