Self-employed and freelancers


Unemployment benefits

Neither self-employed workers nor freelancers are eligible for unemployment benefits.

However, there are several groups of self-employed workers who may be entitled to unemployment benefits:

Income support

The self-employed whose income decreased or vanished due to the coronavirus crisis, may be entitled to an income support benefit.

In order to check eligibility, one must register with Employment Service, and submit to us a claim for income support benefit.

Eligibility for income support benefit is reviewed according to his respect of conditions of entitlement and the income declared to the Collection Department.

Please note that the right to income support is examined for a family cell, which means that if there is a female spouse, she also needs to meet the conditions of entitlement.
To check the amount of the benefit according to family composition and income, click here.

Date of advanced payment of insurance contributions by the self-employed for the months of March and April

Due to the coronavirus crisis, the date of advanced payment for the month of March has been postponed to May 15, 2020 (instead of April 20, 2020).
Therefore, on May 15, 2020, two debits for advances were made: for March 2020 and April 2020.

Advance payments cut

The self-employed who saw a decrease in their income in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, may apply for a cut in their advance payments to the National Insurance Institute until 30.6.2020, based solely on a statement.
Self-employed workers with representation – their representative will be able to set up the reduction online in the client representation system connected to the National Insurance Institute.
Self-employed workers without representation – they will be able to reduce their advance payment by means of the Form BL/672, a request for advances update, without needing to attach any authorization. The request can be sent directly to the branch’s Collection Department via the website.

Self-employed file closure

The self-employed who stopped working altogether due to the coronavirus crisis, can submit to us a request to close their self-employed file.
Once closed, all your advance payments as self-employed will be cancelled, and you will no longer have a self-employed status at the National Insurance Institute.
As of July 1st, 2020, closing a self-employed file will only be allowed for those who did not work as self-employed for at least 3 months.
Please note, as soon as you resume working as a self-employed, you have to register again with National Insurance Institute as a self-employed worker and reopen a self-employed file, in order to protect your rights.
Closing the self-employed file at the National Insurance Institute is not conditional upon file closure at income tax and VAT.

Grant to the self-employed

The Ministry of Finance pays a grant to the self-employed affected by the economic consequences of the coronavirus crisis.
To learn more about conditions of entitlement and how to submit a claim, click here.