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.