Self-employed pin their hopes on CoS verdict

Self-employed professionals like engineers, lawyers etc, are pinning their hopes on a decision by the Council of State to see some relief from huge social security contributions, which, coupled with taxes, consume around half their incomes.

The reduction of their disposable income will be even greater in 2019, as the “grace period” expires and the social security obligations of the self-employed will be calculated against 100 percent of their taxable income, before the deduction of the contributions made the previous year. Worse, when the existing exemptions are abolished as of 2020, the sum of taxes and contributions will rise to 58.5 percent. This is why the CoS will reportedly seek to address the issue as a violation to the self-employed’s rights.

Their social security problems are not restricted to contributions either: For those who retired after May 13, 2016, the Single Social Security Entity (EFKA) has not calculated the social resources that replaced contributions, meaning that their pensions have mistakenly been cut by an average of 250 euros per month.

Even when the pensions are calculated correctly, they are very low: Only 4 percent of the new pensions exceed 1,000 euros per month.