A1 Certificate & Social Security Check (EU Freelancers)

If you are self-employed and work in more than one EU country, you should only pay social security contributions in one country at a time. Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 decides which one, and Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 sets out how it works in practice. The basic rule is that you are covered in the country where you work (Article 11(3)(a)). But if you normally work for yourself in your home country and go to another Member State to do similar work for a limited period, Article 12(2) lets you stay in your home system for up to 24 months. If you regularly work in two or more countries, Article 13(2) normally keeps you in your country of residence if you do a substantial part of your work there, which in practice means at least 25%.

The proof is the portable document A1, issued by the social security institution in the country whose rules apply. Without it, the country you are working in can treat you as covered by its own system and ask you to pay contributions there too, and in some countries labour inspectors check for A1 certificates on site, especially in construction, events and trade fairs. Some countries, such as Belgium, also require self-employed people to file a declaration before starting work. These rules apply across the EU, the EEA and Switzerland, and a separate protocol covers work between the EU and the UK. This check helps you work out where you should be paying and whether you have the paperwork to prove it.