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Registering with Social Insurance as self-employed in Cyprus

A self-employed person registers with the Social Insurance Services from the first day of work, is placed in an occupational category, and pays 16.6% of that category’s insurable earnings every quarter — whatever the quarter brought in. The HRDA levy of 0.5% joined the same payment on 6 April 2026, and the 4% GESY contribution is collected alongside it. These are the forms, the amounts and the dates.

Checked against its sources on 25 September 2026

Who this is for

You need this if

  • You are starting to work for yourself in Cyprus — freelancer, consultant, tradesperson, shop owner, farmer — and have never been insured as self-employed.
  • You are an employee starting a side business. The law insures both jobs, and each has its own contributions.
  • You are already registered and want the 2026 figures, the quarter dates, or a way to pay on your actual income.

You do not need this if

  • You only work for an employer. The employer registers you and pays your contributions with its own.
  • You run your business through a limited company. The company is the employer; your salary as a director is employment.
  • You have reached the pensionable age of 65 and already qualify for the statutory pension: the obligation to contribute ends there.

What to prepare

  • Your identity card, or your alien registration number or passport; a citizen of an EU or EEA state also gives nationality and an insurance or registration number.
  • Your Cypriot social insurance number, if you already have one from earlier employment.
  • The address where you work and your postal address, with a telephone number.
  • A plain description of your occupation and the date you started, or will start. The occupation decides the category.
  • If your income is below your category’s minimum: last year’s turnover, cost of sales, operating expenses and net income, with the invoices, purchase statements and expense receipts behind them.
  • An email address and a bank account or card for paying online.

Steps

  1. 1

    Register from the first day of work

    Every self-employed person has to be registered with the Social Insurance scheme from the first day of their employment. Self-employed means anyone working in their own business or for their own account — traders, manufacturers, artisans, liberal professionals, farmers. Registration with the Tax Department does not replace it: the two registers are separate.

  2. 2

    Use the registration form

    The Services publish form Υ.Κ.Α. 1-013, “Application for registration of a self-employed person” (5/2024): identity, ARC or passport number, social insurance number, name, address of work and postal address, occupation and the date the work started, with a signed declaration. Form Υ.Κ.Α. 1-008 (5/2019), the registration of an employee or self-employed person, also collects date and place of birth, marital status, spouse and father’s name, and has its own part for the self-employed person’s place of work.

  3. 3

    Know your category and its minimum

    The Services place you in one of sixteen occupational categories — doctors and pharmacists, accountants, lawyers and other liberal professions, managers and estate agents, teachers, builders, farmers, drivers, shopkeepers, designers and computer operators, and so on. Each category has a minimum weekly insurable income, set as a multiple of the year’s basic insurable earnings, and you pay on that minimum. In 2026 the minimums run from €331.14 to €982.38 a week; in 2025 from €320.31 to €950.25.

  4. 4

    Pay 16.6% every quarter

    The contribution is 21.8% of insurable earnings, of which you pay 16.6% and the state 5.2%, from 2024; your share rises to 17.6% in 2029. It is paid per quarter of thirteen weeks. The contribution year starts on the first Monday of January: for 2026 the quarters run 5 January–5 April, 6 April–5 July, 6 July–4 October and 5 October 2026–3 January 2027. The weekly ceiling is €1,325 in 2026 and €1,281 in 2025.

  5. 5

    Pay within a month and ten days

    The Services’ brochure puts the deadline at one month and ten days from the end of each quarter, with the example of January–March contributions paid by 10 May; a deadline falling on a weekend or public holiday moves to the next working day. Payment can be made online, by SEPA direct debit or by debit or credit card, after registering for the Services’ online system with an email address.

    PracticeA direct debit settles on the second working day after the payment date you choose. If the account is short on that day, the contributions count as unpaid and a late charge may follow.

  6. 6

    Pay on actual income if it is lower

    If your real income is below your category’s minimum, you can apply on form Υ.Κ.Α. 1-017 to pay on your actual income, with evidence for the previous calendar year: turnover, cost of sales, itemised operating expenses and net income, and the trial balance and accounts if you have them. Until the application is decided you pay on the amount you declared in it. If it turns out your income is above the minimum, you pay on the actual figure, up to the ceiling.

  7. 7

    Add the HRDA levy from 6 April 2026

    Since 6 April 2026 the self-employed pay a levy of 0.5% of their insurable earnings, up to the same ceiling, to the Human Resource Development Authority, and in return can use its subsidised training schemes. The Social Insurance Services collect it, and it is due by the 10th day of the second month after each quarter. Registration with Social Insurance counts as registration for the levy.

  8. 8

    Keep GESY in view: 4%, collected in two places

    The self-employed contribution to the General Healthcare System is 4% of earnings. The part on your insurable earnings is collected by the Social Insurance Services with the quarterly contribution; the part on business income above that is collected by the Tax Commissioner. It is a separate contribution from social insurance, with its own law.

  9. 9

    Tell the Services when things change

    A change of occupation or of place of work goes on form Υ.Κ.Α. 1-014; a period in which you did not work and had no self-employed income on form Υ.Κ.Α. 1-016, with supporting documents; a final stop on form Υ.Κ.Α. 1-015. The amounts the online system proposes for each quarter are built from what the Services have on record, including these notices.

Time, money, deadlines

Contribution rate
16.6%Plus 5.2% from the state, 21.8% in all, from 2024. The self-employed share is 17.6% from 2029.
Weekly insurable earnings, 2026
€331.14 to €982.38The minimum by category; ceiling €1,325 a week.
Weekly insurable earnings, 2025
€320.31 to €950.25The minimum by category; ceiling €1,281 a week.
One quarter, 2026
€714.60 to €2,859.35Thirteen weeks at 16.6%, from the lowest category minimum to the ceiling. In 2025: €691.23 to €2,764.40.
Payment deadline
1 month and 10 daysAfter the end of each quarter; January–March by 10 May in the Services’ own example.
HRDA levy
0.5%Of insurable earnings, from 6 April 2026. The Services’ 2026 table, drafted in December 2025, gave 5 January; the regulations say 6 April.
GESY
4%On insurable earnings through Social Insurance, and on income above them through the Tax Department.
Registration
From day oneThe first day of self-employment, on form Υ.Κ.Α. 1-013.

Where people go wrong

  • Registering with the Tax Department and assuming that covers Social Insurance. They are separate registrations with separate forms.
  • Waiting for the first invoice or the first profit. Registration is due from the first day of work.
  • Expecting a quiet quarter to cost nothing. The category’s minimum is payable unless an application on form 1-017 has been approved or a period of no work declared on form 1-016.
  • Carrying on as an employee and self-employed without insuring the second job. The law insures both. Two self-employed occupations, on the other hand, are insured only once, for the one with the higher insurable earnings.
  • Charging the HRDA levy for the first quarter of 2026. The regulations that impose it came into force on 6 April 2026.
  • Treating GESY as due only on profit. The part on your insurable earnings is collected by Social Insurance every quarter, even in a year of low profit.
  • Closing the business without form 1-015. The Services only know the work has ended when they are told.

Anything marked “practice” is what the department does in the office, not a rule you can hold it to. Rules carry a source.

Forms and portals

Questions

How much social insurance does a self-employed person pay in 2026?

It is 16.6% of the weekly insurable earnings of your occupational category, paid per quarter of thirteen weeks. The 2026 minimums run from €331.14 to €982.38 a week, so one quarter costs between €714.60 and €2,859.35 at the €1,325 ceiling. From 6 April 2026 a 0.5% HRDA levy is added on the same earnings, and GESY at 4% is collected with it.

When must a self-employed person register with Social Insurance?

From the first day of the self-employment. The Social Insurance Services’ guide for insured persons says so in terms, and the registration form asks for the date the work started.

When are the quarterly contributions due?

Within one month and ten days from the end of each quarter, according to the Services’ brochure, which gives January–March contributions paid by 10 May as its example. The HRDA regulations set the same point for the levy: the 10th day of the second month after the quarter.

Can I pay on my real income instead of the category minimum?

Yes, if your actual income is lower. Apply on form Υ.Κ.Α. 1-017 with evidence of the previous year’s turnover, costs and net income. Until the application is decided you pay on the weekly amount you declared; if your actual income proves higher than the minimum, you pay on it, up to the ceiling.

Do the self-employed pay the HRDA levy, and from when?

Yes, 0.5% of insurable earnings up to the ceiling, since the HRDA levy regulations (Κ.Δ.Π. 128/2026) came into force on 6 April 2026. The Social Insurance Services collect it. Their 2026 contribution table, drawn up in December 2025, announced it from 5 January, but the regulations set 6 April.

Is GESY part of the social insurance contribution?

No, it is a separate 4% contribution under the General Healthcare System Law. The Social Insurance Services collect it on your insurable earnings together with the quarterly contribution; the Tax Commissioner collects it on income above the insurable earnings.

Sources

What next

Self-employed in CyprusIncome tax, temporary tax, the accounts threshold and the rest of the year.Registering for VATThe third registration, once turnover approaches €15,600.Cyprus tax calculatorThe self-employed mode works out the contributions by category for 2025 and 2026.

This is a description of a public procedure, not advice on your own affairs. Where your case has a wrinkle, the Tax Department’s district office answers on it directly.