The Ministry of Labor of Russia did not support the request of the Opora Rossii business association to provide an opportunity for self-employed to conclude a compulsory social insurance agreement on a voluntary basis. This was reported by TASS with reference to a copy of a letter from the department sent to the association on Tuesday. 20 April.
The press service of the business association told the agency that payers of tax on professional income without the status of an individual entrepreneur cannot conclude a social insurance contract and go on maternity leave or sick leave with relying compensations. At the same time, in order to voluntarily enter into a legal relationship on compulsory pension insurance, a self-employed does not have to register an individual entrepreneur.
According to the agency, the letter says that the Social Insurance Fund (FSS) analyzed the receipts of insurance contributions and payments to persons who voluntarily entered into a compulsory social insurance agreement, and came to the conclusion that the amount of annual insurance coverage for this category of persons “significantly exceeds the amount received from them insurance premiums “.
It is indicated that in 2020 24 659 individuals were registered in Russia, who voluntarily entered into a compulsory social insurance agreement in case of temporary disability and in connection with motherhood. They paid 96.8 million rubles in insurance premiums to the FSS in 2019. Insurance payments to them in 2020 amounted to 852.7 million rubles.
Taking this into account, if the circle of persons who will be able to conclude such agreements expands, a budget deficit of the FSS may form, which will lead to “the emergence of financial risks for the fund to fulfill its social obligations.”
Daria Martynova, deputy head of the Center for Expertise and Analysis of Entrepreneurship Problems at Opora Rossii, Darya Martynova, disagreed with the Ministry of Labor, calling it “unfair” that a part of the population can use this option, and some cannot. She recalled that self-employed people were allowed to conclude an agreement with the Pension Fund of Russia (PFR). As a result, according to her, it turned out that if such a citizen is registered as an individual entrepreneur, he can draw up an agreement and pay fees, and if he is not registered, then not.
She concluded that these two categories of self-employed “should have the same rights.”
It is noted that at the end of March, Opora Rossii asked the head of the Ministry of Labor, Anton Kotyakov, to consider the possibility of amending the current legislation in order to give the self-employed the opportunity to voluntarily enter into legal relations on compulsory social insurance. TASS has a copy of the corresponding letter. It says that self-employed people send complaints to the organization, claiming that it is impossible to voluntarily conclude a compulsory social insurance agreement.
Now voluntarily concluding a compulsory social insurance agreement can be: lawyers, individual entrepreneurs, members of peasant (farmer) households, individuals who are not recognized as individual entrepreneurs (notaries of private practice and other persons engaged in private practice in accordance with the procedure established by Russian legislation), members of family (clan) communities of indigenous small peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East. Individuals who do not have the above statuses do not have this opportunity.
According to Russian legislation, both an individual and an individual entrepreneur can choose a special tax regime “Tax on professional income”. Now both categories of self-employed can voluntarily enter into a legal relationship on compulsory pension insurance, and only a self-employed who has registered an individual entrepreneur can enter into a relationship on compulsory social insurance.
The opportunity to officially work for oneself appeared in Russia at the beginning of 2019. To date, the tax office has registered over 2 million such persons.
At the end of March, Izvestia wrote that many Russians are stopped from switching to self-employment by the lack of guarantees, for example, the inability to take paid sick leave. At the same time, taxi and delivery platforms began to insure their freelancers, provide them with payment or partial compensation for meals, and flu vaccinations. On the Outsourcing Exchange, a self-employed person can take out insurance if he performs hazardous work, for example, at a construction site. At the same time, there are currently no comprehensive insurance programs for this category of workers.