This year is the year of the big change for the contribution of the self-employed, the step of choosing the basis of contribution to establish it, as it happens in the general regime, based on income. The new system came into force on January 1, although self-employed people have the possibility to adapt it throughout the year, with a final window still open until October 31. So far, half a million self-employed people have modified the contribution base, which represents 15% of the total of 3.3 million.
Of this million self-employed people who have changed the base, 330,000 have done so to increase it, and 183,000, to decrease it, according to data from the Ministry of Inclusion and Social Security. In other words, 66% have moved to a higher section. From the ministry, the pace of change in the contribution base is positive, and they add that they estimate that many self-employed workers are waiting to see how their income goes in order to adjust the base, and that seasonal issues can also influence it.
The self-employed have a total of six windows this year to adapt the contribution base to income throughout the year. Later, in May or June 2024, it will be the tax agency that will review whether the contribution is in line with the income and make the corresponding corrections, either in the form of a refund or a surcharge.
From the Unión de Professionals i Treballadors Autònoms (UPTA), the association linked to the UGT, they consider that the pace of adaptation is high and, in addition, they add that there was already a considerable number of self-employed people who made the change at the end of 2022. A figure they estimate at an additional 15%.
Its president, Eduardo Abad, estimates that many freelancers will make the change at the end of the year, when they have more precise data on what the amount of income will be and, therefore, in which section they have to contribute. He also adds that some will stop doing it voluntarily to, later, “be complicit in the uproar that will be formed, complicit in the noise”, with reference to potential protests when next year there is a surcharge on the self-employed who have paid in sections lower than what they would have been charged for their income.
On the other hand, Abad also criticizes the Ministry of Inclusion for not carrying out more active campaigns, also with letters sent directly to each freelancer, to inform them about the situation. At the ministry, they point out that they already did a first campaign in the spring and that there will be more.
