The Council of Ministers yesterday approved the National Strategy for the Promotion of Self-Employment 2021-2027, whose "objective" is to give self-employment a new legislative definition to clarify the differences that exist within the group and adapt it to the new times. This is one of the many issues that are included in the document approved yesterday by the Government, among which also stands out the intention to unify different tax models to relax the administrative burdens of the self-employed, a national generational replacement plan or to facilitate entrepreneurship for towns with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants.
One of the first measures contemplated by the Strategy -commonly known by its acronym ENDITA- is the reform of article 1 of Law 20/2007, of July 11, of the Self-Employed Work Statute, which establishes the definition of work autonomous.
What will the new definition of self-employed be like?
With the new definition of self-employed, the Government not only intends to further deepen the fight against the use of false self-employed (this is a salaried worker disguised under the figure of a self-employed worker), but it goes further. The controversial definition of regularity in self-employment will be addressed, from which responsibilities with the Treasury and Social Security derive, up to the figure of the employer or the reformulation of the concepts of alienation and autonomy.
One of the first aspects that will be reformulated again will be the highly controversial issue of regularity. Remember that one of the requirements for registration in the Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers (RETA) is to carry out an activity in a "regular manner". The problem up to now was to know exactly what is considered a habitual and sporadic self-employment activity. From what is considered "usual" it will be mandatory to include it in the Special Regime, the payment of a fee and the obligations that a self-employed person has with the Treasury. Hence the importance of its concretion. Many people who have a non-salaried activity think that inclusion in the RETA depends on the income they earn, and this is not the case. With the law in hand, a person who obtains a return, however low it may be, on a regular basis, that is, repetitively, from self-employment would have the obligation for the Treasury and Social Security to become autonomous.
Another important aspect that would be included in this new definition will be “when it is considered that a self-employed person is not self-employed, but is an entrepreneur.
The six axes of the Strategy
Apart from the new definition of self-employment, the National Strategy for the Promotion of Self-Employment 2021-2027 (ENDITA) includes other important milestones for the group. As explained by the vice president of ATA, Celia Ferrero: “it is a summary exercise of the entire field of action on which it is possible to improve in terms of self-employment. However, and although from ATA we make a positive assessment, it must be said that it does not have a budget allocation, nor a regulatory objective, so we hope that it does not remain a declaration of intent "
The ENDITA addresses all those aspects that affect self-employment starting with a new definition, followed by new tax and labor regulations and ending with improvements in training and the promotion of entrepreneurship.
The Strategy is articulated around the following six axes:
1.-Towards inclusion and social cohesion through self-employment. Where the new definition and the contribution linked to real income will be addressed, among other issues.
2.-Fix population to the territory: with the intention of launching programs to promote self-employment in rural areas and municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants, which establish population.
3.-Promote the digitization and modernization of self-employment. With the support and accompaniment of the entrepreneurs in the different stages of their projects
4.-For sustainable self-employment: with the implementation of different programs and aid to ensure that the self-employed reduce their ecological impact by improving their energy efficiency.
5.-Promote specialized training for self-employment
6.-Gender equality: conciliation of working people
Some of the most important measures that the ENDITA would collect
In the absence of knowing the final document of the National Strategy for the Promotion of Self-Employment 2021-2027 (ENDITA) that was approved this Tuesday by the Council of Ministers, some of the measures included in the draft and that could be interesting for the self-employed are :
1.-The unification of different tax models
The aim is to reduce bureaucratic burdens for the self-employed by unifying different tax models. According to the text that this digital newspaper has accessed: "to promote the comprehensive provision of the quarterly self-assessment service, Models 130/131 and 303, and annual, Model 100, and reduction of charges for filing informative returns, through the quarterly presentation of the Unified Personal Income Tax-VAT Books, with the aim of reducing tax charges”.
A measure that according to ATA is linked to the “future requirements that the Tax Agency will make to the self-employed through, for example, the use of electronic invoicing. With this, the AEAT will have more and more information on the activity of the self-employed worker and will not have to continuously request data in different models. So they can be simplified.
2.-A national plan for generational change
The self-employed who cannot find anyone to whom they can leave their activity could have an initiative at the national level that allows them to carry out a true general relief. To date, only regional generational renewal initiatives have been launched.
3.-Specific training for the self-employed
They want to provide different training activities for self-employed workers. Coordinated actions are proposed with the Tax Agency to understand the different tax processes to which they are obliged, also in improving the prevention of occupational risks or any other area that they may need.
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