Over 1.4 Million Autonomos Get Their 'Paro' Tomorrow the 29th of May

Automated translation of an article on the Moncloa website.

More than 1.4 million self-employed workers will receive the extraordinary benefit for self-employed workers promoted to face the COVID-19 crisis tomorrow. The amount foreseen for this payment is about 1,200 million euros, which added to those disbursed on April 17 and 30, represent around 2,500 million in benefits.

This measure was approved in Royal Decree-Law 8/2020, of March 17, after the declaration of the state of alarm. Its amount is at least 661 euros per month (the equivalent of 70% of the regulatory base) and it also entails the exemption of social security contributions temporarily. Its objective is to protect the lack or considerable loss of income of the self-employed in the exceptional situation caused by COVID-19 and to contribute to the survival of their business.

As of May 26, there are 1,412,605 self-employed with this benefit granted, 94.62% of the 1,492,768 own-account workers who have requested it. Of the total, 2.13% is pending and only the remaining 3.24% have been denied.

Beneficiaries
The sectors with the most beneficiaries of the benefit are Commerce (351,627), Hospitality (261,336), and Construction (152,646). Among these three sectors, they exceed half of the requests granted. On the other hand, the Autonomous Communities with the largest number of recipients are Andalucía (253,244), Cataluña (233,582), Madrid (179,425) and Comunidad Valenciana (160,636).

Self-employed processing the application for the benefit
To access this benefit, the self-employed worker must be registered in the corresponding Social Security system. The requirement is to be affected by the closure of the business due to the declaration of the state of alarm or to have suffered a decrease of 75% in the turnover of the calendar month prior to the date of the request. In general, the monthly average of the previous semester will be taken as a reference, except in some groups, such as the agrarian regime, the sea -with very seasonal activities- or culture and entertainment, in which the calculation period is adapted to its peculiarities.

To prove the loss of income, the applicant must provide accounting information that justifies it. To do this, you can present from the copy of the record book of invoices issued and received, the daily book of income and expenses, the record book of sales and income, to the book of purchases and expenses. If you are not obliged to carry that accounting documentation, any legally accepted means of proof will be valid, such as the taximeter in the case of taxi drivers.

To request this benefit, a process that must be carried out through the mutual collaborators of Social Security (Mutuas), no minimum contribution period is required. In addition, it is compatible with any other Social Security benefit that the applicant has been receiving and is compatible with the performance of the activity that was carried out.

The General Treasury of Social Security has already returned the corresponding part of the March quota of 1,028,016 self-employed and self-employed who were granted the benefit after the collection order had passed. The amount of the refund amounts to 169.06 million euros.

Please note: The information provided is based upon our understanding of current legislation. It is not legal advice but is provided freely to enable you to be properly informed. We recommend that if you are considering taking action, you should seek professional advice.