Cooperatives are emerging as the new way to invoice without needing to register as self-employed
Worker cooperatives manage the invoices of professionals who work on a freelance basis in the same sector, without them registering as self-employed
The economic crisis in which we have found ourselves has forced many professionals to carry out small-scale work on their own account, and in most cases the remuneration for such work does not compensate for the expenses that must be assumed at the tax and social security level.
As a result of what was explained in the preceding paragraph, worker cooperatives have begun to appear whose purpose is to manage the invoices of professionals who carry out the same project or work in the same sector on a one-off basis.
The cooperative handles invoicing itself , and upon completion of the work by the member, the cooperative pays the member the amount of the invoices generated through a payroll system, deducting the cooperative's costs and taxes. The cooperative is responsible for registering and deregistering the member with the general social security system for the days the member is working on the project. It is worth noting that this type of association is frequently used by professionals for whom registering as self-employed on a regular basis is not cost-effective, as they do not invoice large amounts or even have a regular billing schedule.
Legal issues
As with any emerging model within the legal framework, certain doubts arise regarding the legality of the employment relationship between the worker cooperative and the cooperative member.
It appears that some administrations, such as the Labor Inspectorate and the General Treasury of Social Security, have expressed their opinion and consider that the purpose of this type of cooperative is not for the cooperative members to help each other by providing jobs, but rather that it is a new legal prototype intended to evade the obligation to register as self-employed, and therefore such a model of association would become illegal for not complying with the relevant contribution obligations in the social security system.
As is usually the case, given that this is a recently created formula, there are no judicial precedents on the matter, so the courts' criteria regarding the legality of this new way of operating are currently unknown.
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A graduate in Law from the University of Barcelona, she also completed a Master's degree specializing in Labor Law and Social Security at the Barcelona Bar Association. She began her professional career as an intern while studying and later joined the Navarro Law Firm as an employment lawyer, advising companies nationwide on labor law matters and representing them before the Labor Courts, the Labor Inspectorate, in conciliation proceedings, etc. In February 2017, she joined Àmbit Jurídic i Econòmic as a professional partner after extensive experience as an employment lawyer.
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