As of 1 January 2023, the way of determining the contribution base in the RETA has changed completely. The new contribution system is based on the net annual income received.
So when registering as a self-employed person with the social security system, the following steps must be taken into account:
▪️ The first thing to do is to make a forecast of the net income that you are going to obtain in the year of all your economic activities.
❓ How do we determine this income?
For this calculation, you must take into account all the income obtained from the different activities that you carry out as a self-employed worker, deducting all the expenses necessary to obtain it, adding to the result the amount of the contributions paid to the Social Security if you are taxed under the direct estimation system.
A deduction for general expenses of 7% will be applied to this net income, a percentage which, in the case of business partners or worker-partners who have been registered as self-employed for 90 days during the year, is reduced to 3%.
The amount obtained is distributed proportionally over the period to be regularised.
In other words:
– If you have been registered for the whole year, the amount of the income is divided by 365 and multiplied by 30
– If you have not been registered for the whole year, the amount is divided by the sum of the calendar days on which you have been registered and divided by 30.
▪️ Once the net income has been determined, the next step is to choose the contribution base on which to pay social security contributions. To do this, a number of brackets have been established from 2023 to 2025, as shown below:
These rules apply irrespective of the age of the self-employed. Therefore, the limitations that existed until 31 December 2022 for the self-employed aged 47 or over disappear.
The base chosen by the self-employed during the year is provisional, and once the final net annual income obtained is known, the Social Security will proceed to regularise the contribution bases and the monthly contributions paid.
In order to adjust the base as much as possible during the year, there are 6 periods in which you can request a change of base:
– 1 March, if the application is made between 1 January and the last calendar day of February.
– 1 May, if the application is made between 1 March and 30 April.
– 1 July, if the application is made between 1 May and 30 June.
– 1 September, if the application is made between 1 July and 31 August.
– 1 November, if the application is made between 1 September and 31 October.
– 1 January, if the application is made between 1 November and 31 December of the previous year.
Self-employed companies have a minimum base of 1.000€, and may not apply for a lower base than this.
Rebates on contributions for the self-employed in 2023
From January 2023, Social Security contributions for self-employed workers who are initially registered or who have not been registered in the two immediately preceding years will be made as follows:
▪️ In general, a reduced contribution for common and professional contingencies is applied for 12 months (with workers being exempt from paying contributions for cessation of activity and professional training).
▪️ The amount of the reduced contribution is established each year in the respective General State Budget Law. For 2023, 2024 and 2025 the amount of the reduced contribution is 80 euros.
Once this period has elapsed, a reduced contribution can only be applied for a further 12 months if the self-employed person has a net annual income of less than the SMI.
In order to be able to apply this last reduction, the self-employed must apply for it before the start of the second 12 months, expressly requesting the extension of the reduced contribution.
The contribution reductions are not applicable to relatives of self-employed workers by blood or marriage up to the second degree inclusive.
