Segurança Social: Contributions Of The Self-Employed

Payment of contributions during the period of extraordinary support for the reduction of economic activity.

During April, the quarterly declaration period for self-employed workers is taking place.

In this declaration, the earnings earned in January, February and March 2020, which are used to calculate the contributions for April, May and June 2020, must be indicated.

When submitting the quarterly declaration, self-employed workers receive a notification through Direct Social Security (SSDireta), regarding the contributory base that was set for them for the following months, which contains the amount of the expected contribution.

Monthly, Social Security determines the amount of the contribution to be paid by the self-employed person and at the same time, a message is sent to the taxpayer Inbox, available at Social Security Direct, informing that a new contributory obligation has been created.

The amount of the monthly contribution communicated may be different from the amount initially provided and sent at the time of the Quarterly Statement, since there may be events that influence the amount payable, such as, for example, the impediment to work due to illness.

The amount of contributions payable is consultable at SSDireta »Current Account» Current Position »Amounts payable» Current Contributions, indicating the deadline for payment of the respective month.

It is also available on SSDireta »Current Account» Current Position »Amounts payable, in the" Contributions in arrears "tab, the consultation of contributions from previous months, whose payment deadline has already passed, with the respective interest on arrears.

In this way, it will always be possible for the taxpayer to select the amounts he wishes to pay and issue the respective document for payment.

Payment of contributions during the period of extraordinary support in the context of the COVID-19 crisis.

Extraordinary support measure to reduce economic activity (article 26 of DL 10-A / 2020)

This support depends on the application and, in the months in which they are receiving support, self-employed workers are entitled to defer payment of contributions.

The financial support lasts for 1 month (starting in March 2020), being extendable up to 6 months.

In this case, they may fail to pay contributions for the months of support, being obliged to make their payment from the 2nd month following the end of support, through an instalment plan, without interest on arrears, up to 12 monthly instalments.

However, this does not prevent self-employed workers from continuing to pay their contributions on time.

In this way, the number of monthly contributions for these months will continue to be calculated monthly and is available for payment on SSDireta »Current Account» Current Position »Amounts payable» Current Contributions.

As well as staying on SSDireta »Current Account» Current Position »Amounts payable» Contributions in arrears, as soon as the payment period for the respective month is exceeded.

The measure of deferral of payment of contributions (article 3 of DL 10-F / 2020)

This extraordinary support is also applicable to self-employed workers, without requiring an application.

The support provides that contributions for March, April and May 2020 can be paid as follows:

• one-third of the amount, in the month in which they are due (April, May and June)
• two-thirds of the amount, payable starting in July, through an instalment plan without interest on arrears, in 3 or 6 instalments.

In this way, so that the taxpayer can benefit from the support if so desired, the automatic payment document corresponding to the value of one-third of the contribution is made available on SSDireta.

However, this does not prevent self-employed workers from continuing to pay their contributions on time, so the usual automatic payment document, corresponding to the total amount of the monthly contribution, remains available.

This measure cannot be combined with the Extraordinary Support Measure for the reduction of economic activity (article 26 of DL 10-A / 2020).

In short, the Independent Worker who has received extraordinary support for the reduction of economic activity has the following options:

• Total deferral of contributions while receiving support, being able to pay contributions due by agreement, to be requested after support has ceased
• Total payment of contributions

Source: Segurança Social