Contractor's allowance - when is it due?

Many people associate employment under a mandate contract with inconvenience - there is no minimum wage or vacation leave. However, the civil law contract also has good sides - paying appropriate contributions from it, you can get benefits from ZUS in the event of incapacity for work. How is contractor's allowance determined? We will answer below.

Payment of a mandate contract

In 2016, the issue related to the payment of premiums under the mandate contract was regulated. Social security contributions should be paid on the amount of remuneration that does not exceed the minimum remuneration for work in a given year. When the contractor has several contracts, he will have to pay contributions on as many of them until the minimum wage is exceeded.

Social insurance contributions do not have to be charged on the mandate contract if:

• the contractor works full-time and achieves at least the minimum wage,

• runs a business and pays social security contributions from the standard base.

Voluntary sickness insurance

The benefit for the contractor is paid after one basic condition is met - the person undertaking the contract of mandate must be registered for voluntary sickness insurance. The contractor should notify the willingness to pay for voluntary sickness insurance when signing the contract. If the contractor does not notify about the willingness to pay the sickness premium, then the ordering party is not obliged to register him for this insurance.

Important! Contractors who are already covered by this insurance on a different basis (e.g. voluntarily due to running a business or obligatorily under an employment relationship) cannot apply for sickness insurance.

The period of waiting for the benefit

The mere fact of being covered by sickness insurance does not mean that an allowance will be paid to the contractor. It should be remembered that in the case of voluntary sickness insurance, the right to the benefit is obtained only after 90 days of continuous coverage under this insurance. Previous periods of sickness insurance are also included in this period, provided that the break between them did not exceed 30 days or was caused by parental leave or unpaid leave or active military service by a lay soldier.

Important! The waiting period for the benefit for the contractor does not apply in the case of maternity benefit. You are entitled to maternity allowance for a person covered by voluntary sickness insurance immediately.

Contractor's allowance - how much will it be?

The basis for the calculation of the allowance for the contractor is determined by taking the average monthly income constituting the basis for the calculation of the sickness insurance premium for the full calendar months of this insurance. An additional 13.71% of the calculation basis for sickness contribution is deducted from this. The basis for calculating the benefit obtained in this way must be divided by 30, and then multiplied by the percentage for the absence.

Important! You must also pay an advance income tax payment on the determined amount of the allowance.

In order to pay the allowance for the contractor, the principal should submit to ZUS:

• original medical certificate,

• ZUS Z-3a certificate.

The allowance should appear on the insured person's account within 30 days.