Latvia has adopted minimum mandatory national social insurance contributions (“NSIC”) from 1 July 2021. The parliamentary opposition as well as several business organisations and industry associations asked the MPs in an open letter to postpone adoption of the minimum NSIC scheme until the economy recovers from the Covid-19 restrictions. Despite public criticisms, the new regime came into force on 1 July. This article explores cases where a self-employed person is permitted not to apply minimum NSIC to their income after filing a written request with the State Revenue Service (“SRS”).

As the vacation season is approaching, so is the implementation of the controversial minimum income subject to mandatory national social insurance (“NSI”) contributions, which might affect many companies from 1 July 2021. On 24 May, however, the Parliamentary Presidium presented proposals for amending the NSI Act to a committee, urging a deferral of the effective date of the earlier amendments. This article describes the basic principles for applying the minimum NSI income and offers practical examples in case the bill is not approved and the new rules come into force from 1 July.