Do I lose my unemployment benefits if I set up a business?

 

The difficulty in finding a job makes many people try to start their own business, but is it the right time if you are collecting unemployment benefits?

If you are collecting unemployment benefits and you're thinking about managing your own business as self-employed person but you don’t want to lose the remaining unemployment payments, here you are the options:

-You can apply the pending amount in one lump sum to invest the money in your new business.

-You can also request that the remaining unemployment benefits are deducted every month from your self-employment quotas.

-If the remaining receivable is a higher amount, you can invest a portion in your business and offset the rest of your national insurance payments every month.

If, however, you prefer not to use the remaining unemployment benefits, you are within your rights, but you can only collect them again if you finish your activity as self-employed before 24 months. So after 24 months or more from the self-employment registration, you lose the right to keep perceiving the unemployment benefits. For under-30s this period is extended to five years.

If you're under 30, there is another possibility, you can keep getting your unemployment benefits while you develop your new activity as “autónomo”, but only for a maximum of 270 days and with the proviso that not to hire workers. If you are interested in this option keep in mind that you can only exercise it for 15 days from the date of your activity registration.

As we saw in another article, from a few years ago self-employed people can pay an extra amount each month in order to receive unemployment in case of the activity closure . In case of termination of the business activity will have to decide whether to continue collecting unemployment benefits that was pending or the new benefits which could generate during the period of time as self-employed.

For further details do not hesitate in contact VP Advisers