SELF-EMPLOYED. DEADLINE FOR WAIVER OF THE COVID-ASSOCIATED STOPPED ACTIVITY BENEFIT ENDS 31 JANUARY 2021 (unless extensions are approved in the next few days).

Article 13 of Royal Decree-Law 30/2020, of 29 September on employment protection measures, anticipating possible breaches of the requirements for access to the benefit by the self-employed, established two aspects to be taken into account: the possibility for the interested party to renounce the benefit or its refund.

Thus, after setting a series of requirements such as being registered and up to date in the payment of contributions, not being entitled to the “ordinary” unemployment benefit, not having income from self-employed activity in the last quarter of the 2020 financial year that exceeds the minimum interprofessional wage, or suffering, in the fourth quarter of 2020, a reduction in income from self-employed activity of at least 50% in relation to the income in the first quarter of 2020; the regulation allows the self-employed who have applied for payment of the benefit to renounce it at any time, and to do so at the same time as the self-employed who have applied for payment of the benefit:

• – To renounce it at any time before 31 January 2021, with the renunciation taking effect the month following its communication.

• – To return the benefit for cessation of activity on their own initiative, without having to wait for a claim from the mutual society collaborating with the Social Security or the managing body, when they consider that the income received during the fourth quarter of 2020 or the drop in turnover in the same period will exceed the established thresholds with the corresponding loss of entitlement to the benefit.

SELF-EMPLOYED. FROM 1 MARCH 2021, ALL PROVISIONAL RULINGS WILL BE REVIEWED.

The mutual insurance companies are already reviewing whether the self-employed who have been receiving unemployment benefits since 2020 meet the requirements, they have verified or will verify this in different periods and could request the return of the benefits if they do not meet the requirements.

From 1 March 2021, article 13.2 of Royal Decree-Law 30/2020, of 29 September, empowers the mutual insurance companies collaborating with the Social Security, or the Social Marine Institute, as the competent bodies for the recognition of the benefit, to request from the Ministry of Finance the tax data corresponding to the year 2019 and 2020 of the self-employed workers who are granted this extraordinary benefit.

Once the data has been checked by the collaborating or managing entity competent to recognize the benefit, it will proceed to claim the benefits received by those self-employed workers who exceed the income limits established in this provision, or who do not accredit a reduction in turnover during the fourth quarter of 2020 of at least 75% in relation to the same period in 2019.

The competent entity for the claim will set the date for payment of the amounts claimed, which must be made without interest or surcharge. Once the deadline has passed, the General Treasury of the Social Security will proceed to claim the outstanding debt, with the appropriate surcharges and interest.

In this mutual insurance company verification form, the self-employed person must attach – as a general rule – the income and expenditure ledger that includes all the invoices corresponding to the months in which they received the benefit and which they must compare to verify the drop of 75% or more in turnover with respect to the six months prior to the state of alarm (from September 2019 to February 2020).

In any case, the documentation to be provided will be required by the form itself, once you have entered and chosen the parameters that identify your type of taxation. In the event that the interested party is not entitled to the benefit, the procedures for claiming the amounts unduly received will be initiated.

To this end, the aforementioned entities will issue a decision setting the amount to be reimbursed, which must be made without interest or surcharge within the period indicated in the notification to the interested party.

Once the period established in the decision has elapsed, the Social Security General Treasury will proceed to claim the outstanding debt, with the appropriate surcharges and interest in accordance with the administrative collection procedure established in Royal Decree 939/2005, of 29 July, which approves the General Collection Regulations.

The institution would require the self-employed to pay a minimum of 2,000 euros – corresponding to 661 euros per month for three months at 70% of the minimum contribution base – together with the exemptions from contributions for the same period of time, which would amount to around 800 euros – once again, in the case of paying the minimum contribution base.

The refund must be made at once and within a period of around 10 days.