The Government proposes raising the self-employed fees between 17 and 206 euros/month in 2026
This Monday the Government presented its proposal for income brackets and fees to be paid by the self-employed in 2026-2028, with the aim of progressively equalizing what a self-employed person contributes and what an employee contributes, with similar income, to “guarantee fair treatment and balance between both types of workers”, according to sources from the Ministry of Inclusion and Social Security.
It must be remembered that, since the reform of the quote to the RETA, agreed in 2022 and effective from 2023, the self-employed are grouped by income levels (net returns), so each level has a different monthly fee.
Proposal for a new quota scheme
The Ministry’s latest proposal, presented to social agents and self-employed organizations this Monday, contemplates that the minimum contribution base (on which the fee is calculated) is a proportional part of the minimum wage (SMI). This will be achieved at the end of the transition period, which ends in 2031. This implies that, if the SMI increases in amount, so will this minimum base gradually.
According to sources from the Ministry of Social Security, which directs Elma Saiz, in the process of regularization of 2023 quotas, almost 60% of self-employed workers that they could receive a return they renounced it, to receive higher benefits or pensions.
And currently, while the average retirement pay in the General Regime is 1,666 euros monthly, the average payroll collected by retired self-employed workers is 1,010 euros (600 euros less per month).
This is how the new levels would affect, according to income
Some examples How it would affect the plan for income brackets and fees proposed by the Ministry are these:
– Official Social Security data details that “almost 40% of the self-employed, 1.38 million, They are in the first three sections of the contribution table (between less than 670 euros and 1,166 euros per month). In these sections, 63% of them decided to overpay in 2023, to be entitled to a better benefit.”
For these RETA affiliates, their fee for 2026 would be between 217 and 271 euros/month, according to Ministry sources. “Their quota is less than the accumulated inflation since 2022 and is, in addition, lower than the minimum in 2022, which was 294 euros,” they argue from Social Security.
– The something else of 15% self-employed, 570,000 people, who are in the three highest sections of the contribution table (between 3,620 euros and more than 6,000 euros per month), “the majority are partners or administrators of a company”, Ministry sources specify.
In these sections, the increase in quotas is more notable, taking into account the amount of your contribution base: in 2026 would be between 592 and 796 euros/month. The Ministry explains that this higher contribution is accompanied by better benefits. For example, “in 2022, the self-employed person with this level of income, who contributed for the minimum of 960 euros, had a cessation of activity (unemployment) benefit of 672 euros, while in 2026 this benefit would rise to 1,355 euros.”
Another example, a birth benefit and child care then remained at just 960 euros and in 2026 it would reach 1,937 euros, according to the figures managed by the Government.
Flat rate of 80 euros, updatable with the SMI
Currently, new self-employed workers pay 80 euros per month as a reduced fee, which represents 40% of the minimum fee of the lowest section.
With the new proposal of the Ministry of Social Security, that proportion would be maintained in the future, but adapting it to the new values when change the bases or the interprofessional minimum wage.
The ‘unemployment’ of the self-employed
In addition to the contribution increases that will affect the self-employed from 2026, the Ministry has brought to the Dialogue Table measures to expand social protection to this group.
– Benefit for cessation of activity (unemployment of the self-employed): Faster and more homogeneous recognition, “avoiding differences between mutual insurance companies, to facilitate access to benefits”, and adaptation to sectors with variable income or temporary jobs, such as farming or fishing.
– Family benefits: Improved support for caring for children with cancer or other serious illnesses, and also improved birth and childcare benefits for the self-employed.
