How can a journalist legalize part-time work outside their main place of work to ensure proper calculating their pension?

The legal hotline for journalists and the media receives questions not only of a local nature but also of a general nature. Many of them are from appeals through the network of NUJU Journalists’ Solidarity Centers.

We are publishing the experts’ answers to those that are of interest to many media professionals.

The representative office of the Unified Western Ukrainian JSC in Chernivtsi received a question:

“I work full-time in print media. Our salaries are quite modest, so I found part-time work in two other online publications. I receive payment on a card without any formalities. Please tell me how I can legalize my part-time work so that these funds are then taken into account when calculating my pension?”

Lawyer Danil Serbin, IBC Legal Services, answers the question:

“According to Article 56 of the Law of Ukraine On Pension Provision, any other work for which the employee was subject to state social insurance, or subject to the payment of insurance contributions, the period of receiving unemployment benefits, as well as work by prisoners and work under civil law agreements, subject to the payment of insurance contributions, is also included in the length of service.

Pursuant to Article 66 of the above-mentioned law, earnings for calculating a pension include all types of remuneration (payments, income), on which, in accordance with the Law of Ukraine On Levy On Mandatory State Pension Insurance, the levy on mandatory state pension insurance is charged, within the maximum amount of actual expenses for the remuneration of employees, taxable income (profit), total taxable income (the maximum amount of wages (income), from which insurance contributions (fees) are collected to social funds, which was in force on the day of receipt of the specified earnings (payments, income).

In your case, the best option would be to register an individual entrepreneur on a special taxation system – a single tax of the 2^nd or 3^rd group. The presence of an individual entrepreneur does not prohibit you from being an employee in a certain edition or at an enterprise if you wish to find official employment in the future.

Being an individual entrepreneur, you independently submit declarations of income received for the reporting periods and pay the social security contribution in the amount of 22% of the total income received for the reporting period, but not less than 22% of UAH 8,000. (Today UAH 8,000 is the minimum wage determined by law).

The second option is if you conclude civil law contracts, and the party paying for services will include the amount of sums paid in your favor in the consolidated report. In this case, such persons paying the funds will be obliged to pay 22% of the amounts paid as a levy on mandatory state pension insurance. You will be obliged to pay 18% + 1.5% military levy on the income received and include this income in the annual tax return. The second option is more complicated, and employers are unlikely to agree to it.

We remind you that there is a free NUJU legal assistance hotline for journalists. Ukrainian media professionals can get advice from highly qualified specialists of the law firm IBC LEGAL SERVICES – lawyers and lawyers with extensive experience.

We guarantee:

• complete confidentiality;
• professional, qualified assistance;
• high-quality and quick response to the question posed.

To apply, you must fill out a special form: http://surl.li/evrmg. The service is completely free and available from any region or country.

The legal hotline operates under the auspices of the NUJU network of JSCs with the support of UNESCO and the International and European Federations of Journalists.

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The network of Journalists’ Solidarity Centers is an initiative of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, implemented in collaboration with the International and European Federations of Journalists and UNESCO and with the support of the People of Japan. Our primary goal is to assist media professionals working in Ukraine during the war. The Centers are active in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Lviv, and Ivano-Frankivsk. The project is part of UNESCO’s broader efforts to support the Safety of Journalists and Freedom of Expression in Ukraine.

Call the Unified Western Ukrainian JSC Lviv-Chernivtsi at 097 907 9702 (Nataliya Voitovych, coordinator of the Lviv center, Volodymyr Bober – assistant). The Center’s address is 5 Solomiyi Krushelnytskoyi Street.

JSC network information service