Independent contractor
In Austria, the freelance contractor is one of the fundamental, legally regulated forms of gainful employment , with certain tax-related aspects of self-employment . The freelance contract has been one of the newer forms of employment for freelance workers since 2008 .
Basics
This type of employment is characterized by:
- no integration into the organization of the company
- No or limited personal dependency, no obligation to follow instructions , no restrictions on personal conduct
- Independent and at any time changeable regulation of the work process
In principle, every service that can be provided on the basis of an employment relationship can also be the content of a free service contract.
Differentiation from other forms of employment (independent service contract)
A free service contract is characteristic of a freelance contractor (Section 4 (4 ) ASVG ). The main difference to a work contract is:
- Payment of remuneration by length of work (usually by hours), not by work; therefore no guarantee of success
- Personal provision of the service, but it is possible to be represented
- essential resources are provided by the employer (but you can use your own resources)
As a result, the freelance contractor is an employee, because he has a permanent obligation to his employer. Employment via a work contract (obligation to deliver a specific service, target obligation), on the other hand, requires self-employment, mostly such relationships fall into the group of the new self-employed .
The underlying free service contract is a form of service contract according to ABGB .
Like the self-employed, the freelance worker has to pay taxes on his own income (sales and income tax). This means that he has income from self-employed work and is therefore considered self-employed for tax purposes.
social benefits
This demarcation was enshrined in law in order to prevent the forms of bogus self-employment , i.e. normal employment in which all social burdens are passed on to the employee via the contract structure. This means that the social security contributions for compulsory insurance (health insurance including sick pay and full maternity allowance, accident, pension, unemployment insurance, insolvency insurance) are paid by the employer. This regulation has existed since January 1, 1998, the latter two compulsory insurances were added on January 1, 2008. However, this only applies if the service contract is in the context of a business, a trade license, a professional authorization or a statutory scope of activity of an employer (entrepreneur or self-employed) or for a legal person under public law (regional authorities and the companies, institutions, foundations they manage or funds within the framework of a partial legal capacity) - there is no compulsory insurance in the case of a contractual relationship with private individuals (in particular for a private household or rural neighborhood help). The same applies to secondary employment by self-employed persons, who are then already compulsorily insured as such. The employer is also obliged to pay 1.53% of the remuneration for severance payments into a company pension fund, and there is protection through the insolvency remuneration fund in the event of the employer's bankruptcy ( IESG ). In addition, he has to pay municipal tax and employer contribution , surcharge to the employer contribution, but not the employer tax .
In contrast to the other forms of workforce, however, there are no social rights claims such as minimum vacation , special payments and the like, and there is also no minimum wage tariff , collective agreement and comparable regulations: payment is a completely freely selectable agreement (freedom of contract, but there is no written contract, a service slip is to be handed over). Therefore, regulations on vacation, overtime and the like can also be included in a contract. The integration into maternity protection and parental leave law is another problem area .
In the case of insignificance (2013: 386.80 euros) the same rules apply as for other employees . This form is interesting for all sideline activities and especially for retirees as additional income.
Since January 1, 2008, freelance workers are also mandatory members of the Chamber for Workers and Salaried Employees (AK), so they have a professional representative.
Position on the labor market
In economic terms, the freelance workers are counted among the salaried employees , as their remuneration is not strictly linked to an hourly rate or a comparable rate.
In Austria there are around 50,000 freelance workers (January 2013: 51,807), which is a little over 1% of the employed (2013: 4,175,200) and 1.5% of the employed (2013: 3,620,200). Two thirds (33,000) of the contracts are minor. The Union of Private Employees (GPA-DJP) suspects that most of these are circumvention agreements. The number had gradually decreased from the high in 2005/06 (May 2006: 28,096 above, June 2005: 47,649 below the marginal earnings threshold), also because the regional health insurance funds and trade unions have been controlling the status more closely since then. A particular problem area of bogus contracts is seen in the health and social sector, including care (with around 8,000 freelance workers). Call centers are another sector , while the media industry , which has long been a pioneer in attempting to circumvent social activities at the expense of employees, is in transition.
Web links and individual references
- ↑ Independent contractors. help.gv.at.
- ↑ a b c d e Independent contractor. ( Memento of the original from February 21, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Sozialversicherung.at (as of January 1, 2015, accessed February 21, 2015).
- ↑ a b c d e f Freelance service contract. Arbeiterkammer.at > Taxes & Income> Independent contractors .
- ↑ a b c d Freelance service contract (under labor law). Concept - delimitations - claims under labor law. ( Memento of the original from February 21, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Austrian Chamber of Commerce, wko.at / labor law and social law / labor law / forms of employment.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Independent contractors. ( Memento of the original from February 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Company service portal, usp.gv.at.
- ↑ a b c d service contract - free service contract - work contract. Federal Ministry of Finance → For employees and pensioners .
- ↑ a b Difference between service contract and free service contract / work contract. Federal Ministry of Finance → For employees and pensioners .
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Number of freelance workers continued to fall. and union: fewer, but still too many freelance workers. In Der Standard online, July 30, 2013.
- ↑ Employed persons by occupational position and gender since 1994. Statistics Austria, statistik.at (table).
