Are you a self-incorporated worker? Hasn’t it been more than 4 years since you registered as such? Was it your first registration as a self-incorporated (or when you registered as such, you had not been self-employed in the last five years)? You are lucky because now you can request Social Security to refund the flat rate for self-incorporated workers, a figure that ranges between €1,500 and €4,000 (depending on your particular case).
How can I make the claim for the refund of the flat rate for self-incorporated?
The General Treasury of Social Security has implemented a process to request a refund of the flat rate for self-incorporated workers (known as “autónomo societario” in Spain), which facilitates the entire process. In order to do this, you will need:
- A Digital certificate (Cl@ve)
- Bank certificate of your checking account (proving that the account is yours)
The steps to follow would be these:
- Calculate the excess contribution you have paid.
- Enter the Social Security Electronic Headquarters and look for the Citizens section, and click on Collection, and within this section click on Refund of payments of special schemes and systems.
- Choose the option Request undue payment return.
- A form will open to complete the following fields:
- SS scheme of the person requesting the refund: 0521 – SPECIAL SCHEME FOR SELF-EMPLOYED WORKERS
- Settlement period: indicate the contribution periods for which the refund is requested.
- Requested amount.
- Code of the reason for requesting the refund: 07 – UNAPPLIED CONTRIBUTION BENEFITS
- Briefly describe the motif of the request.
- Indicate the details of the bank account to receive the refund.
- Click on the continue button.
- Attach a bank certificate (as attached documentation)
- Sign the application (with your digital certificate)
- A window will appear with the presentation: and you will find a code of this type with which to track your request.
Do you want us to help you make a claim to refund the flat rate for self-incorporated workers?
If you want us to take care of it, send us an email to [email protected] with the SUBJECT: “Refund of the flat rate for the self-incorporated”. We indicate the cost and start the whole process right away. We have already managed to help numerous self-employed workers like you and we can take care of all the necessary procedures.
In addition, our consulting service and procedures for the self-employed are adapted to help you manage your day-to-day paperwork. Dedicate yourself to what really matters: your business. Hire now!
What is the origin of the refund of the flat rate for self-incorporated workers?
The beginning of all this procedure is article 31.1 of Law 20/2007, of July 11, of the Statute of the Self-Employed Worker, which establishes:
The fee for common contingencies, including temporary disability, of self-employed workers who cause initial registration or who had not been in a situation of registration in the immediately preceding 5 years, counting from the effective date of registration, in the Special Social Security Scheme for Self-Employed Workers will be reduced to the amount of 50 euros per month during the 6 months immediately following the effective date of registration, in the event that they choose to contribute on the corresponding minimum base.
According to this, basically, any self-employed person who met these requirements should have been able to take advantage of this reduction. However, it has not been like that.
Social Security understood, on its own, that the self-incorporated did not have the right to it, so when you registered as a self-incorporated worker, it did NOT grant you any reduction and instead of paying the €50 as a self-incorporated, you began, instead, to pay around €300 per month.
The General Treasury of Social Security should have applied the Flat Rate by default, also to the self-incorporated workers, but it DID NOT.
Why can you now request a refund of the flat rate for self-incorporated workers?
The Administration has changed its mind.
In order to get the Administration to change its criteria, it has had to be sued numerous times. In the end, it was the Supreme Court in a judgment of December 3, 2019, in which the right of the self-incorporated to access the flat rate bonus is recognized, appeal no. 5252/2017, judgment no. 1669/ 2019. The Court has stated that the fact that the self-incorporated are not expressly included cannot be interpreted restrictively that it is excluded from the flat rate bonus. This sentence obliges the TGSS to return the excess amounts collected.
In addition, in this sentence, it is established that section 3 of article 31 of Law 20/2007 applied to this case, does not prevent the recognition of the benefits provided for by this provision to those who meet the status of sole managing partner of a sole proprietorship limited liability company and has been registered for the first time in the Special Scheme for Self-Employed Workers of Social Security.
The Supreme Court in a judgment of December 3, 2019, has recognized the right of self-incorporated workers to access the flat rate bonus, which allows self-incorporated workers to claim undue income.
The General Treasury of Social Security has no other choice and admits that it is necessary to “modify the criteria that it has been maintaining in order to allow self-employed members of capitalist mercantile companies, whether limited or anonymous companies, to access to the benefits in the listing”.
Can you claim a refund of the flat rate for self-incorporated workers?
If you meet the conditions that were indicated at the beginning, YES, YOU CAN DO IT.
Request the claim right now for the refund of undue income due to the non-application of the flat rate for the self-employed (since the administrative prescription occurs after four years). Also, remember to regularize the Personal Income Tax (IRPF) situation corresponding to those quotas.
How much are they going to give you back?
It depends on when you signed up and your particular conditions. This is the first thing you have to take into account.
We give you an example: if your registration is from September 2016 they have to return 80% of what you contributed the first year, half of the other 6 months, and 30% of the following 6 months.
As we said at the beginning, it could range from €1,500 to €4,000 (and more in special cases (under 30, women under 35, functional diversity, etc.)
And from now on?
From now on, if you meet the requirements to request a refund of the flat rate for self-incorporated workers, the benefit must be applied to you from the beginning.
You may be also interested in:
