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Social security contributions for self-employed students
Provisional contribution 💸
As a self-employed student, you pay a provisional contribution every quarter. This amount is based on your net taxable annual income from three years earlier.
Have you been self-employed for a shorter time? Then you pay provisional social security contributions of €98.51 per quarter. That is the amount for the 2026 income year, with the administration fee of your social insurance fund still to be added on top.
If your net taxable annual income is less than €8,687.04, you may be able to request an exemption from your provisional contributions.Are you expecting a higher income? Then you may be able to apply for an increase in your provisional contributions.
Definitive contributions 💰
Your final social security contributions depend on your annual income. If you earn less than EUR 8,687.04 as a self-employed student, you do not pay any social security contributions.
Do you earn more than 8,687.04 euro but less than 17,374.08 euro? Then you are paid 20.50% on the amount above 8,687.04 euros.
Do you earn more than EUR 17,374.08? Then you automatically become self-employed in main occupation. Then you pay 20.5% on the first annual income bracket (from €0.00 to €75,024.54) and 14.16% on the second annual income bracket (€75,024.54 – €110,562.42). You never pay more than €5,103.05 quarterly.
So pay good attention! Stay just below €17,374.08 and you only pay social security contributions on the part above €8,687.04, which comes to about €445 per quarter. Go one euro over that limit and you no longer enjoy the preferential scheme, so you pay contributions on your full income, about €890 per quarter.
Attention! If you did not work a full year, be sure to take the prorated amount into account.
Summary of contributions
| Min. Provisional contribution | Def. contribution annual income <€8,687.04 | Def. contribution annual income €8,687.04- €17,374.08 | Def. contribution annual income >17,374.08 | Max. Def. contribution | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quarterly social security contributions | €98.51 (you can apply for an exemption) | €0 | (20.50% on the part of your income above €8,687.04) / 4 | Contributions like a self-employed person in main occupation | € 4.819,64 |
Proration 📈
Attention! As a self-employed person, your contribution is calculated on your net taxable professional income. If you are not enabled for a full year (4 quarters), your income is prorated. This means that it is converted into an expected annual income as if you had worked a full year.
Based on this amount, it is then considered whether you still qualify for an exemption. So the prorated amount counts to determine your exemption!
Example of prorating
An starts as a self-employed student in the first quarter and has a net taxable income of 8,000 euros.
Luc starts as a self-employed student only in the 3rd quarter, but also has a net taxable income of 8,000 euros.
Since An has a net taxable income of less than 8,687.04 euros, the exemption for self-employed students applies to her and she is exempted from social security contributions.
However,Luc only started in the 3rd quarter and so his income is prorated first.
He will pay social security contributions on an income of 16,000 euros (8,000 euros / 2 (number of quarters enabled) * 4 (number of quarters per year)).
This means that his (prorated) annual income is higher than the €8,687.04 entitling him to the exemption for self-employed students. He will therefore pay 20.5% in social security contributions for the amount above EUR 8,687.04. That comes to roughly €1,500 in social security contributions per year, or €375 per quarter. Since Luc only worked two quarters, he pays about €750 in social security contributions.
So depending on your statute and your net taxable income, prorating can have a big effect on your social security contributions.
