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 € 93.04 quarterly.
If your net taxable annual income is less than €8,204.60, 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 8,204.59 as a self-employed student, you do not pay any social security contributions.
Do you earn more than 8,204.59 euro but less than 16,409.20 euro? Then you are paid 20.50% on the amount above 8,204.59 euros.
Do you earn more than EUR 16,409.20? Then you automatically become self-employed in main occupation. Then you pay 20.5% on the first annual income bracket (from €0.00 to €70,857.99) and 14.16% on the second annual income bracket (€70,858 – €104,422.24). You never pay more than €4,819.64 quarterly.
So pay good attention! If you earn €16,409, you only pay social security contributions on the stretch between €8,204.59 and €16,409. About €420 quarterly. However, if you earn €16,410, you no longer enjoy the preferential scheme and pay social security contributions on the full amount. About €840 quarterly.
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 <€8,204.59 | Def. contribution annual income €8,204.59- €16,409.20 | Def. contribution annual income >16,409.20 | Max. Def. contribution | |
| Quarterly social security contributions | €93.04 (you can apply for an exemption) | €0 | (20.50% on the part of your income above €8,204.59) / 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 8,204.59 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 €8,204.59 entitling him to the exemption for self-employed students. He will therefore pay 20.5% in social security contributions for the amount above EUR 8,204.59. This then roughly amounts to social security contributions to be paid from 1,600 euros per year or 400 euros quarterly. Since Luc only worked two quarters, he pays 800 euros 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.
