Are you now self-employed in principal or secondary occupations?

It depends on your situation because you don’t just choose whether to join as self-employed in main occupation or in secondary occupation.

• You become self-employed in principal occupation if self-employment is your sole or principal occupation.
• You become self-employed in a secondary occupation if you still have at least a half-time job as a salaried employee or civil servant.

A half-time job is a job according to at least half of a full-time schedule. If full-time according to your employment contract is 38 hours, then you must work at least 19 hours to have a half-time job.

Important to know: do you start a quarter in main occupation? Then you pay social security contributions for that entire quarter as a self-employed person in main occupation, even if you are affiliated in main occupation for only one day.

Joining in principal occupation:

• Your social contributions insure you of pension, growth package, intervention in medical expenses and all other rights you enjoy
• You build up your social protection yourself. That’s why you always pay at least the minimum quarterly contribution, regardless of your income.
• You can provide additional protection: build up a supplementary pension capital, a replacement income in case of disability.

Joining in secondary occupation:

• You have social protection through your main occupation as a salaried employee or civil servant. You pay fewer social contributions as a result
• If your income as a self-employed person in a secondary occupation is below 1,881.76 euros: then you pay no social contributions.
• You cannot build up a supplementary pension unless your income after 3 years exceeds 17,008.88 euros, then you pay the same amount of social contributions as a self-employed person in main occupation and you can build up additional social rights to give you extra protection.

Joining as a secondary or principal occupation is identical. You need a company number and VAT number and join a social insurance fund.