Social Security will directly calculate employers' contribution payments

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. A new direct settlement system is created: the General Treasury of Social Security calculates the contribution for each worker using data it already has plus data provided by the employer, instead of the employer calculating it.
2. The system will be rolled out progressively through Treasury resolutions. In the meantime, the current self-assessment system remains in force. Once included, an employer may choose to apply the new system early, but then cannot go back to self-assessment.
3. If the employer meets its reporting obligations on time but pays late, the surcharge is 20 %. If it fails to meet those obligations on time, the surcharge rises to 35 % if payment comes after the claim deadline.
4. Penalties are toughened: failing to report amounts paid to workers becomes a serious offense, and hiding or falsifying data to underpay contributions becomes a very serious one. Fines are graded by the unpaid amount, with higher levels above 10,000 and 25,000 euros.
5. Employers in the Special Regime for Sea Workers must also report, each settlement period, the total amount of all pay items paid to their workers.
6. The new system does not limit the right of workers and their representatives to information about monthly Social Security contributions, and within two years the Government must study how corrections of estimated contribution bases affect benefits.

Who it affects

• Employers and others responsible for paying contributions: They will stop calculating contributions themselves once included in the new system, and must report the required data on time.
• Self-employed workers and sea workers: They keep the simplified settlement system; sea workers must also report wages paid.
• Workers and their representatives: They keep the right to receive information about monthly Social Security contributions.
• The General Treasury of Social Security (Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social): It takes on the direct calculation of contributions and the related checking powers.

Words worth knowing

Autoliquidación (self-assessment)

The system where the employer itself calculates and files the contributions it must pay.

Liquidación directa (direct settlement)

The new system where the General Treasury of Social Security calculates the contribution for each worker.

Código de cuenta de cotización (contribution account code)

The identifier Social Security uses to register a company and its workers for contribution purposes.

Recargo (surcharge)

An extra percentage added to the debt when payment is made late.

Base de cotización (contribution base)

The amount on which contributions are calculated, made up mainly of the worker's salary.

It summarizes the law as published in the BOE. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries