XJuly 21, 2026
An Estonian sole trader can lose close to a quarter of net business income to social tax, before a cent of income tax.
A Georgian sole trader can owe no mandatory social contribution at all.
Same flat-tax reputation, opposite social bill.
Where it applies, the self-employed carry it in full, with no employer to split it, and it can cost as much as the income tax.
Six self-employed contribution regimes, from 33 percent down to no mandatory charge, and no two are built on the same base.
Estonia: 33 percent, but on net income divided by 1.33, so about 25 percent of net income between a floor and a cap, then deducted before income tax.
Czech Republic: about 22.8 percent of tax profit under the standard calculation, social security and health combined.
Andorra: 22 percent, but on a tiered notional base tied to the national average salary, not a share of income. Above high prior-year income it flattens to about 9,700 euros a year (11,100 dollars), the same at 60,000 or 600,000 net.
Portugal: 21.4 percent for standard self-employed workers, or 25.2 percent for individual entrepreneurs. On most services the base is 70 percent of revenue, so 15 or 17.6 percent of gross.
Gibraltar: 20 percent of gross earned income, hard-capped near 2,785 pounds a year (about 3,750 dollars or 3,280 euros).
Georgia: no mandatory contribution for the self-employed. Joining is voluntary, and 4 percent if you opt in.
The rate alone does not tell you what you pay. The base, any floor and any ceiling decide the rest. On six-figure service revenue, Gibraltar's cap comes in far below what Portugal's standard regime charges.
Where it is owed it is not dead money. It finances pension rights and, depending on the country, health or sickness cover. But it is a yearly cost no income-tax table shows.
When you built your shortlist, did you price the social contribution as a rate, or as the amount it charges on your real profit?
Data from GeoCompass, the jurisdiction intelligence layer I build at Lucky Nomads.
Andorra
Czech Republic
Estonia
Georgia
Gibraltar
Portugal