Self-Employed Worker: A person living in the country whose income is 80% or close to it, doing work on commission, such as activities in trade, mining, fishing, sports, electricity and gas, woodworking, etc.
Employee/Employee : A person employed by an employer under a contract of employment, employed for at least one hour per week and receiving compensation for doing so.
What is a self-employed person?
In this case you work for yourself, here the spirit of the businessman must be entrepreneurial, since, once you have decided what you want to do, either because you like it or because you have had a good business idea, it is time to create a business on your own and try your luck.
Obviously, it is a long road to travel. You have to make a lot of effort and be in continuous recycling, but if you manage to establish yourself as self-employed and work for yourself, without bosses, you can achieve a high quality of life, always with good advice and decoupling personal accounts from professional ones, in order to face taxes with liquidity and the payments that may arise.
What is an employee?
Here, you work with an employment contract, either part-time or full-time, with a company, where the working conditions are stipulated, both schedule and payroll.
Employees are more limited, since they have a schedule to follow and economic expectations, as agreed in the employment contract they have signed with the employer.
It is a less flexible job than self-employment, and above all, what is currently more complicated, is that you work in your vocation.
The difference between your own account and the accounts of others
In your own account you have a steady and fixed salary, usually monthly, while the account of others will depend on billing, effective fees and many other extraordinary values or not.
The self-employed worker should be subject to the hours , breaks and workplace set by the employer , while the self-employed worker will set their own schedules and breaks when choosing where they want to work , according to what is more profitable for you.
The employee depends on the company , that is, if the company closes tomorrow, the employee also stops working, unlike the self-employed, if he loses a client, he goes to another market sector to find new clients.
A self-employed worker, in order to get a job, usually has to have experience, while a self-employed worker does not need it.
Use our calculator to find out how much Social Security is paid by the company.
Employment contract
The self-employed are not under an employment contract. However, they may be able to provide them if they decide to hire an employee.
Employees are subject to an employment contract, which details the obligations and duties of both the company and the employee.
Social Security contributions
Employees, together with the company, contribute the contribution base, which varies according to the salary. And they already have the corresponding tax withholding implicit in their paycheck. They have no other tax obligations to worry about other than the annual income tax return. Depending on their income and the number of payers during the year, they may even be exempt from doing so.
The self-employed have greater requirements. They contribute individually to the Special Regime of Self-Employed Workers (RETA), they do it according to their generated income, and they must apply the withholding on each invoice they issue. Without forgetting to comply with the tax calendar.
Fee for working
The self-employed must pay the self-employed quota to carry out their activity. In full and regardless of their operating status and income earned.
Employees do not have to pay any fees.
Labor freedoms
Workers are subject to certain schedules, rules and guidelines. In addition to having to perform their duties at the specified location. In this sense, in return, they can enjoy a comfortable job stability.
The self-employed are in the opposite situation. Their job stability depends more directly on results, but in return they have freedom of schedule, location and decision making.
Means and tools
The means for the employee to carry out his activity must be provided by the company. Thus, it is necessary to offer him a workplace and computer or mechanical equipment, for example.
The self-employed person has to meet all the demands to be able to develop his business on his own.
Dismissal conditions
There is a statutory severance pay for the employee. The amounts will vary according to factors, such as the nature of the dismissal. In the case of self-employed workers, there would be severance pay in the case of a dependent self-employed worker, i.e. one for whom 75% of his income depends on a single client. In addition, this “dismissal” or breach of contract must be unjustified.
Unemployment benefit
Workers are entitled to receive a subsidy depending on different factors, such as the number of days they have contributed in recent years. It is more difficult for the self-employed, who have to meet different requirements to qualify for a severance benefit. Another option is to receive an allowance if they have previously taken out private insurance.
Sick leave
Both the self-employed and employees are eligible for sick leave, but the conditions for the self-employed are much less generous.
Is it possible to be self-employed and an employee at the same time?
It is possible. Being both self-employed and an employee is known as pluriactivity. For this, the person must be registered in the General Social Security Regime as an employee and, for self-employed status, in the RETA.
Therefore, pluriactivity is allowed and defined by the Social Security: “The situation of the self-employed and/or employed worker, whose activities give rise to his compulsory registration in two or more different regimes of the Social Security system”.
This situation is different from moonlighting, which occurs when a worker is providing services to more than one company at the same time. Thus, he/she should only be under the General Social Security Regime.