Contribution reduction for freelancers

Freelance workers who get paid by one or two employers through invoice books for services rendered (known as “blokakia”) will now pay the same amount in social security contributions as salary workers, according to a circular released on Tuesday by the Labor Ministry in an effort to tackle the major practical problems generated by (as well as the huge reaction to) recent legislation.

The circular provides for contributions of 6.67 percent toward pensions and 2.55 percent toward healthcare, totaling 9.22 percent to be paid by the freelance worker, while the remainder, 17.88 percent, is to be covered by the employer, for a total of 27.1 percent of gross revenues.

This concerns the majority of cases whereby workers are declared by the employers or have submitted an official statement regarding their employment. Otherwise the worker must cover the entire 26.95 percent deduction alone.

However, experts say this circular also forces workers to report employers if they have not declared them and fails to clarify how differences will be solved.