By now, you probably already know that on January 1, 2023, a new Social Security contribution system for the self-employed will begin to operate by which the fee paid will be set based on their real income.
In addition, this new system brings with it a change in the flat rate for self-employed workers, which will generate differences between self-employed workers who are registered before the end of this year 2022 and those who are registered after January 1, 2023.
Flat rate changes in 2023
The new flat rate for self-employed workers, formally called “reduced fee”, will be 80 euros per month during the first 12 months of activity, regardless of the income the self-employed person has.
For the next 12 months, the self-employed person can continue to benefit from this reduced fee of 80 euros per month as long as their net income is below the Minimum Interprofessional Salary (SMI).
Disappearance of the current flat rate of 60 euros
This new flat rate will apply to new self-employed workers who register as of January 1, 2023. At that time, the current self-employed flat rate of 60 euros will disappear.
Although this flat rate will disappear for new self-employed workers, self-employed workers who before December 31, 2022 were benefiting from this fee of 60 euros per month will maintain it under the same conditions as they had.
It should be remembered that the current flat rate means that the self-employed pay 60 euros per month during the first 12 months, the following 6 months a reduction of 50% of the fee and the last 6 months a reduction of 30% on the contribution base.
How to decide whether to register as self-employed before the end of 2022
Surely you have doubts about whether it is better for you to register at the end of 2022 or wait until January 1, 2023.
In the first 12 months, the inequality is clear, since the difference between the old flat rate (60 euros) and the new one (80 euros) is 20 euros per month, so self-employed people with the old flat rate can save 240 euros that first year.
«The flat rate for self-employed workers goes from 60 to 80 euros per month in 2023»
For the second year of activity, the key is to estimate whether your net income will exceed the SMI, established at 15,092 euros per year for 2023.
In the event that you think that your income is going to be less than the SMI, you can maintain that new reduced fee of 80 euros, which will be better than the old flat rate for which you would be paying about 147 euros for the first 6 months and 206 euros for the next 6 months.
Otherwise, if you plan to exceed the SMI, you will pay at least 225 euros per month, back in 2024, because you will no longer be entitled to the reduced payment of 80 euros. For this reason, it may be more beneficial to maintain the 50% and 30% reductions on the minimum fee allowed by the old flat rate.
Do not make the decision to register as self-employed lightly
Obviously, the decision to register as self-employed should not only obey this criterion, since, for example, registering in December implies obligations and procedures that will affect you for the entire 2022 fiscal year.
This means submitting the tax settlements corresponding to the last quarter or submitting the income tax return relating to the economic returns of your activity for the days of 2022 in which you carried out the activity, even if it is only one.
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