Government scrambling to ease burden on freelancers

The government is urgently looking into ways to reduce to 10 percent the social security contributions by freelance workers who use invoice books for services rendered (known as “blokakia”) – as it appears to be struggling over the details that would make the latest legislation workable.

The Finance Ministry appears to be in a panic due to the mass closure of such invoice books, which will have a direct fiscal impact, as well as the growing discontent on the part of taxpayers about the contributions they are expected to pay, which has also begun to concern several other cabinet members.

The Labor and Social Security Ministry is seeking ways to spread the burden of the contributions between the employers and the freelancers while avoiding the complex procedure the recent circular provided for and definitely without those workers losing their jobs.