See how to pay the INSS on your own to retire

The number of self-employed workers in Brazil reached 25.7 million in the quarter ended in May, according to the Pnad Contínua (National Household Sample Survey), from the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics). It is the highest rate of self-employed people in the country since the beginning of the historical series, in 2015.

According to research, there was an increase of 1.5 million workers in this condition, compared to the same period last year. This number includes people who declared to be working on their own, formally, with CNPJ, and informally, doing odd jobs.

Lawyer Adriane Bramante, president of the IBDP (Brazilian Institute of Social Security Law), explains that every worker who performs some type of paid activity, even without being a CLT, is obliged to contribute to Social Security. “And the professional is responsible for doing the collection itself”, she says.

According to the specialist, there are cases of service providers, without employment relationship, who have the collection of the contribution made by the company itself.

Adriane reinforces the importance of the self-employed person continuing as an INSS insured person, in order to have access to social security rights such as sick pay (today called temporary incapacity aid).

Numbers reflect the precariousness of work

Economist and professor at USP (University of São Paulo) Paulo Feldmann associates the growth in the number of self-employed workers with the precariousness of work and technological advances, which allowed the emergence of activities such as driver and delivery services by application.

“This is a worldwide phenomenon, it is not just happening in Brazil. The difference is that in developed countries the subject is already being discussed and legislation is being reformulated. Unfortunately, there is still no discussion here.”

For Feldmann, informal work limits access to benefits and affects families’ monthly income.

“This creates a serious problem in the country, because the drop in income is one of the main reasons for the drop in consumption, and the drop in consumption is responsible for the drop in the country’s growth.”

Retirement as a self-employed worker

The professional who has a paid activity, but without an employment relationship, can make payments to the INSS as an individual taxpayer. There are two types of contribution: the normal plan and the simplified plan, with different amounts and rates.

“In this type of contribution [pelo plano simplificado]the person is entitled to all INSS benefits, except for retirement for contribution time, which is in the transition phase after retirement [da Previdência] and will cease to exist”, explains the president of the IBDP.

Types of contribution for self-employed

Normal contribution plan

Code 1007: guarantees the taxpayer the right to all benefits and all types of retirement, including time of contribution in the transition rules. The payment must be 20% of the worker’s salary, limited to the Social Security ceiling of R$ 7,087.22 this year. The contribution amount varies from R$ 242.40 (on the minimum wage, from R$ 1,212) to R$ 1,417.44 (on the ceiling).

Simplified contribution plan

Code 1163 : contribution of 11% of the minimum wage, which amounts to R$ 133.32 in 2022. Guarantees retirement by age, in the amount of one minimum wage. According to the INSS, this condition applies to self-employed professionals who do not provide services to companies and also to optional taxpayers, those who do not perform activities.

Insured people who keep their contributions up to date have access to the following benefits:

• sick pay (called temporary disability benefit)
• by disability retirement
• maternity pay
• reclusion aid
• death benefit for dependents
• pensions (it is not necessary to have the so-called quality of insured, but it is necessary to meet the requirements demanded by the INSS)

how to contribute

• payment must be made monthly by GPS (Social Security Guide)
• it is possible to fill in the GPS via the internet or manually, buying an orange card at a stationery store

Those who pay the amount of a minimum wage can also make quarterly payments. It is necessary to use the specific quarterly contribution code, consider the current minimum wage multiplied by three as a reference when calculating the contributions, and fill in the “competence” field of the GPS, obeying the calendar quarters.