In November, Social Security will begin the process of regularizing the new self-employed contributions according to their real income, explain social dialogue sources. This is the adjustment of the 2023 contribution, which can be settled with a collection or a refund of money, and which results from the final earnings of the workers last year. The calendar begins in November, with several phases that will last until March or April, depending on the case.
2023 was the first year in which the self-employed began to contribute in sections according to their earnings (which are usually called “real income”), thanks to the new contribution system that the Government approved in the last legislature and that is being implemented little by little. . For now, the quotas for the years 2023, 2024 and 2025 have been established.
The self-employed had to start contributing according to their earnings forecast, for which the system allows the contribution base to be changed up to six times a year, with the intention that workers can adjust to their current situation.
However, of the total of more than three million self-employed workers, very few chose to modify their contribution. Just 10%. As reported this Monday by Social Security, only 400,000 self-employed workers made an adjustment to their contributions, “two thirds to increase their contribution and one third to reduce it”, data that has remained unchanged since last year.
From November to April
The Ministry headed by Elma Saiz has communicated this Monday the planned schedule for regularization to the main self-employed organizations (UATAE, ATA and UPTA), as well as to the unions and majority employers’ associations. In the meeting held this afternoon, Social Security has indicated that the data has not yet been cross-referenced with the Tax Agency to verify what the real income of the workers was, which is expected for “the next few days or weeks,” they explain. sources of social dialogue.
In total, the regularization process reaches “3.7 million workers” who were registered at some point during 2023 in the self-employed system, the Ministry has reported. “This procedure, of notable technical complexity, is being developed during these months and will culminate in the first part of 2025,” they added from Social Security.
The forecast is that, in November, Social Security will inform the Authorized Network of the self-employed (who interact with the organization for the contribution procedures) of what the workers’ contribution should have been according to their earnings. It will be a first informative act only, to anticipate to the self-employed what the adjustment will be, although “not yet binding”, they explain from the social dialogue.
Between the month of November and December, Social Security will formally notify the regularizations, with data on the collection or refund of money that corresponds to the self-employed worker.
First, self-employed workers will be notified that they have not changed their quota since December 2022, but are entitled to a lower contribution. They must inform Social Security if they choose to maintain their higher contribution before January 31, 2025. Thus, this group would maintain their contribution above their real income and would not be entitled to a refund of contributions. After this group, the rest of the group of self-employed workers will be contacted.
In the next step, between January and March 2025, Social Security plans to notify the agency’s resolution to all workers who are entitled to a refund for their contributions, because they have been contributing above their real income.
Finally, it will end with the Social Security resolutions on the claim of contributions. That is, in which workers are required to pay more, because they have been contributing below their earnings. “In March 2025, all self-employed workers will have perfectly defined the financial amounts that they have overquoted or underquoted,” said Eduardo Abad, president of UPTA at the end of the meeting.
As Minister Elma Saiz pointed out, the regularization will conclude in the first quarter of 2025. “Before April 30, it is expected that all fees will have been returned,” explains Antonio García, UATAE technician.
Before the meeting with the Ministry, UPTA and UATAE had expressed their expectations to address some of their demands, such as the improvement of unemployment for the self-employed (cessation of activity), as well as the inclusion of the self-employed in unemployment protection for the elderly. 52 years old. These issues were not addressed at the meeting, although Social Security has stated that the parties have been summoned to address the cessation of activity “soon.”
Source: www.eldiario.es
