Did you know that all trainees are required to pay contributions as of 2024, regardless of whether they are doing paid or unpaid internships?

As of January 1, 2024, all trainees are obliged to pay Social Security contributions, in accordance with the provisions of Royal Decree-Law 8/2023of December 27th. Here is a concise summary of the key aspects provided by Elena Trastoy, Lawyer and Head of the Legal Department at GM Integra HR, with the aim of providing clarity and answering any questions or concerns. This article has also been published in the Emprendedores Magazine.

As of 1/1/2024, students who are doing internships as trainees, even if they are not paid, must be registered and pay Social Security contributions (as assimilated to registration):

• University students who carry out internships, both those aimed at obtaining official bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees, as well as those aimed at obtaining a university degree, continuing education master's degree, specialization diploma or expert diploma.
• Students undergoing vocational training, provided that such training is not provided under the intensive vocational training regime.

Likewise, they do not have to contribute to the MEI and a 95% reduction will be applied to the contributions for common contingencies, so that the State will be responsible for covering practically all the amounts to be contributed to the Social Security.

The protective action will be that of the corresponding regime, excluding unemployment protection, FOGASA and FP.

For unpaid internships, IT protection for common contingencies is also excluded and the contribution obligations correspond to the company or entity where the internship is performed, unless otherwise agreed in the cooperation agreement.

For paid traineeships, the contribution obligations are borne by the entity financing the training program.

The responsible entity must communicate the actual days of internships, assuming the company fee determined by the PGE Law for each day of registration.