Special Schemes included in the General Scheme

Contribution

Companies communicate through the computer services offered by the Social Security General Treasury (RED Directo or SLD) the salaries actually paid to each artist during the calendar month to which the contribution refers.

They contribute monthly for all contingencies, using the bases set for each year, according to the income for each day that they have performed, with a maximum monthly limit, regardless of the professional group in which they are included.

If the salary actually received by the artist, calculated daily, is less than the Contribution Bases set for each year, they will pay contributions on that salary.

However, the Contribution Basis for common contingencies and Unemployment cannot be less than the minimum amount for the worker’s Trading Group, unless this is less than the minimum basis set for the Special Scheme for Self-Employed Workers, in which case it will be this basis that is applied.

Contributions for work-related injury and occupational diseases shall be made by applying the rates corresponding to the activities carried out according to the CNAE, and the Contribution Basis may not be lower than the general minimum ceiling in force.

Contributions paid in this way are considered to be provisional for workers. During the following year, these will be made definitive by issuing an annual adjustment.

Annual adjustment

In order to adapt to the special features of artistic activity, whose intermittent, sporadic and temporary nature makes it difficult for workers to reach the minimum Exclusion Period necessary to access Social Security benefits, it has been necessary to establish a specific procedure for calculating contribution periods for this group, in which the specific characteristics of artistic activity have been taken into account.

An annual adjustment of contributions is thus established whereby the excess contributions for periods in which there has been activity are imputed to days in which there has been no real provision of services, so that a series of days are calculated, which will be considered as having been contributed and registered for those during which there has been no real provision of services.

The annual adjustment is calculated based on:

• Days considered to have been registered in the year to which the adjustment refers, and which may be more days contributed than those actually worked.
• Definitive Contribution Basis, since the monthly contributions are provisional until the annual adjustment is carried out, as indicated above.

The adjustment is issued and notified to the worker within the year following the year to which the contribution refers, and two are calculated and printed in the same report:

• A Basis Adjustment: This is carried out with the bases already contributed by the worker, with which the days considered to have been registered during the financial year and the definitive annual basis are obtained.
  This adjustment may result in differences to be refunded or no differences. It can never result in a deposit.
• A Remuneration Adjustment: This is calculated on the basis of the annual remuneration received by the worker. If these salaries are higher than the Contribution Bases, the result of the adjustment will be more days of contributions or a higher definitive basis than that obtained by the Basis Adjustment. 

In this case, the result will be differences to be paid by the worker, the choice of this adjustment being a voluntary option.

However, once the final settlement has been received, if the worker chooses to pay the amount, when the adjustment is made for remuneration, he/she must request this option via the “Send a request” service on the “Importass” Treasury portal in the month following notification of the adjustment. In this case, the worker may also request that the amount to be paid be paid in monthly instalments for up to a maximum of six months.

In the event that the worker does not wish to opt for the Remuneration Adjustment, he/she does not need to notify the Treasury; the absence of the Option by remuneration form completed by the interested party means that he/she chooses the Contribution Bases Adjustment, which will be automatically assigned to him/her.

In other words, workers should only contact the Treasury by sending the aforementioned request, if they wish to opt for the Remuneration Adjustment. Otherwise, they do not need to indicate anything.

Contributions during artists’ inactivity periods:

It is possible to remain registered to the General Social Security Scheme during artists’ inactivity periods on a voluntary basis provided that:

• At least 20 days of registration with real provision of services in this activity in the 12 months prior to the month in which the application for inclusion is made.
• The minimum remuneration received for these days of activity must be more than twice the Minimum Professional Wage in force on the application date.
• Being up to date with the payment of fees for artists’ previous inactivity periods.

Once such inclusion has been requested, the contribution shall be payable by the worker from the first day of the month following the request, bearing in mind that:

• The worker is the responsible party.
  
• The contribution shall be paid on a monthly basis.
• The Contribution Basis is the minimum base in force for common contingencies corresponding to group 7 of the scale for Trading Groups under the General Scheme.
• The Type of Contribution will be 11.50%:
  

At any time, the worker can request to be removed from inactivity, bearing in mind that the obligation to pay contributions will be extended until the last day of the month in which the request is made.

The application for registration or deregistration is made by filling in and submitting form TA 122, through the “Send an application” service, available on the “Importass” Treasury Portal, available on the Social Security website.

In the event that, once the annual adjustment has been calculated, there is an overlap between the adjusted days and the days contributed due to inactivity, the Social Security General Treasury will reimburse the amount of the contributions corresponding to the days of inactivity that have overlapped with the days contributed obtained in the adjustment.