Retirement: What's Changing for Self-Employed Individuals

Effective July 1 of this year, social security contributions for certain self-employed individuals have been increased. This change is intended to strengthen their supplementary retirement benefits and increase the amount of their pension.
 

Effective July 1 of this year, the contribution rate for certain self-employed individuals (or micro-entrepreneurs) was adjusted. This rate will increase gradually over a three-year period, according to the following schedule:

• July 1 through December 31, 2024: 23.1%
• January 1 through December 31, 2025: 24.6%
• Effective January 1, 2026: 26.1%
 

Although this increase may seem significant in the long term, its purpose is to strengthen the supplemental retirement benefits of self-employed individuals, thereby ensuring them better social protection.
 

Every self-employed worker pays contributions to a basic plan. Contributions for micro-entrepreneurs enrolled in the pension insurance system are calculated monthly or quarterly based on their reported revenue. The increase in contributions to the basic plan applies to micro-entrepreneurs who report their revenue under the non-commercial income (BNC) category, as well as professionals in the liberal professions who are covered by Cipav.
 

Please note: Self-employed workers covered by the general social security system are eligible for a single, common supplemental pension plan (RCI), administered by the Pension Insurance Agency. The supplemental pension is a mandatory and essential supplement to the basic pension. As they pay contributions, self-employed workers accumulate points that can be converted into pension benefits when they retire.
 

Self-employed professionals covered by Cipav are also affected by the change in the overall contribution rate, which has increased slightly more than that for micro-entrepreneurs covered by the general social security system. As of July 1, the contribution rate thus rose from 21.2% to 23.2%. 

On its website, URSSAF explains that this change, requested by the Cipav Board of Directors, is intended to “align the rates for self-employed entrepreneurs with the new rates (supplementary retirement and disability-death benefits) that have applied since 2023 to other self-employed professionals affiliated with Cipav who are not covered by the self-employed entrepreneurs’ system .”
 

Nearly 600,000 self-employed professionals in the liberal professions discovered, after transitioning to the general social security system in 2018, that they were no longer making contributions toward their supplemental retirement plan. The increase in the contribution rate should enable these professionals—as well as those who are still covered by Cipav—to increase their purchasing power upon retirement.
 

Regarding the missing contributions since 2018, the National Federation of Self-Employed Entrepreneurs has requested that professionals who wish to do so be allowed to buy back supplementary retirement points to increase their pension. As of mid-July, this option had not been confirmed.