New Self-Employment in Germany: What the 2026 Draft Bill Means for Freelancers and Clients
In 2026, the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS) published a draft bill reforming the status determination procedure for self-employment. The bill introduces a new category of self-employment as a third employment status alongside dependent employment and classic self-employment. This fundamentally changes how legal certainty is established in contract relationships for freelancers, clients, and multi-employed professionals.
What is the draft bill about?
For years, the status determination procedure under Section 7a SGB IV has been criticized as opaque and slow. Whether an activity is legally classified as self-employed or dependent employment depends on vague legal concepts like being bound by instructions and integration into the work organization. The draft bill creates a parallel status model: contracting parties can now choose per contract whether to operate under classic law or under the rules of the new self-employment, which in turn offers legal certainty.
The five criteria of the new self-employment
For a contract relationship to qualify as new self-employment, three of five criteria must be met. The first criterion is mandatory.
| No. | Criterion | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | **Substitutability** | The self-employed person can provide a substitute |
| 2 | **Entrepreneurial risk** | Real loss risks and profit opportunities |
| 3 | **Active marketing** | Independent acquisition (website, portfolio, network) |
| 4 | **Entrepreneurial expenses** | Investments in office, software, hardware, training |
| 5 | **Multiple clients** | Parallel work for different customers |
Classic differentiation criteria like being bound by instructions lose weight in the new self-employment.
The trade-off: mandatory pension insurance
The price for legal certainty is mandatory insurance in the statutory pension system. Contributions are calculated on the basis of the remuneration, paid by the client, and can reach a maximum of approximately EUR 1,572 per month. In return, subsequent status determination procedures -- and thus the risk of high back-payments to social security -- are eliminated.
Timeline
According to the current schedule, the law will enter into force on 1 January 2028. The delay allows IT systems at the pension insurance and employer interfaces to be adapted.
What does this mean for multi-employed professionals?
For people working in parallel for multiple employers or clients, the new self-employment offers interesting opportunities. The criterion "multiple clients" is almost automatically fulfilled -- a central building block is already in place. Legal certainty per contract relieves side-business founders who work freelance in addition to permanent employment.
How Jowomo supports the new self-employment
The Jowomo Compliance Wizard can automatically answer key questions about the new self-employment: tracking multiple clients, cross-employer working time checks under the German Working Time Act, and traffic-light risk assessment for talents and enterprises.
Want to implement the new self-employment with legal certainty? [Create your free Jowomo profile now](https://www.jowomo.com/auth) and test the Compliance Wizard.
Sources: BMAS Draft Bill 2026, Section 7 SGB IV (planned), statements from VGSD, VPLT, DIHK, Taylor Wessing Insights 2026.