# Social Security Contribution as a Freelancer in Portugal Freelancers under the simplified regime (which is the most common) pay 21.4% to social security on 75% of their income. You must pay this yourself between the 10th and 20th of the following month. #### You are exempt from paying social security in your first 12 months as a freelancer in Portugal. Social security in Portugal is a system that assures basic rights to citizens. Contributing to social security is mandatory and guarantees the following benefits: unemployment allowance, retirement pension, sickness benefit, parental allowance, and more. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://help.baseflow.io/portugal/guide-to-freelancing-in-portugal/social-security-contribution-as-a-freelancer-in-portugal.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.