The year 2023 will begin with the most profound reform in the history of the self-employed social security contribution system

As of January 1st, 2023, all self-employed groups (RETA) will start contributing to a new system based on profits (real income).

A chant that year after year sounded like a claim, this year comes into force.

The reform, which was hastily approved with a shorter timeline than expected (3 years), aims to reduce the contribution burden on those with lower earnings and align it, in a way, with those who earn more, so that profits and contributions (and therefore future pensions) go hand in hand.

The legislator has approved a system of profit brackets in which higher minimum RETA fees will be applied as earnings increase. Without going into detail, those earning less than €670 per month (bracket 1) will pay a minimum monthly fee of €230, and those earning more than €6,000 per month will pay a minimum monthly fee of €500 (bracket 12).

For each bracket, a maximum fee is also set, specifically €260 per month for bracket 1 and €1,270 per month for bracket 12.

These fees and their corresponding contribution bases will thus establish future social rights in the form of pensions or disability benefits. Unlike the current system, where the fee was entirely optional starting from a minimum of €295, up to a maximum of €1,270 per month.

The fees, which have not yet been explained how they will be provisionally applied as early as next January, will be reviewed at the end of each year by Social Security, which will propose the definitive ones by crossing data with the Treasury and sending the settlements to the collective. This fact implies the obligation for all self-employed individuals to file an income tax return, without exception and regardless of minimum income figures.

More control, more bureaucracy, more obligations, and possibly more expenses for a collective, the self-employed, which, although very heterogeneous, has received and is receiving the most devastating effects of the economic crisis derived from COVID and the aggravation that has resulted from the war in Europe.