From 1 July 2026 a large group of sole traders (SZČO / živnosť) became liable for social insurance for the first time. The first payment was already due in August — yet many people never received the letter with the amount and the payment details. Here is who pays how much, why the letter is missing, and what to do next.
In short
- The liability arises from your 2025 income. The social insurance agency assesses it on its own — you do not file an application.
- Income up to €2,876.90 — no liability. Between €2,876.90 and €9,144 — micro-contributions, €131.34 per month. Above €9,144 — the standard regime, minimum €303.11 per month.
- The contribution for July 2026 was due by 10 August 2026 (8 August fell on a Saturday).
- The notice arrives either in your electronic mailbox on slovensko.sk, or as a paper letter to your postal address in Slovakia.
- If no letter has arrived, this is a mass situation caused by a delayed mailout. The social insurance agency itself says no penalties will be charged for it. You can check your status yourself in your online account on the agency's website.
Who pays how much from 1 July 2026
Every year, as of 1 July, the social insurance agency reviews a sole trader's income for the previous calendar year (as of 1 October for those who extended their tax return deadline). In 2026 it is the 2025 income that is assessed.
| 2025 income | Regime | Monthly contribution |
|---|---|---|
| up to €2,876.90 | no liability | €0 |
| €2,876.90 — €9,144 | mikroodvod (special assessment base) | €131.34 |
| above €9,144 | standard regime | from €303.11 |
The lower threshold of €2,876.90 is 10.5 times the subsistence minimum. The upper one, €9,144, separates micro-contributions from the standard regime.
The €303.11 minimum is the 33.15 % rate applied to the minimum assessment base of €914.40 (60 % of the average wage). If your actual base is higher than the minimum, the contribution is calculated from it and will be larger. The maximum is €5,557.26 per month.
Important. This is social insurance only. Health insurance is calculated separately: a minimum of €121.92 per month in 2026. One does not replace the other.
Deadlines
Contributions are due by the 8th day of the following month. For July 2026 the deadline was 10 August 2026, because 8 August fell on a Saturday.
There is a separate group: sole traders who extended the deadline for their 2025 tax return. The social insurance agency will send their notices by 21 October 2026, and their first payment will be due by 9 November 2026.
Late payment triggers penalties — 0.05 % of the outstanding amount for every day of delay. A debt above €5 lands on the public debtors list, which is updated weekly.
Why the letter never arrived
The social insurance agency sends a notice with the new contribution amount and the payment details to everyone whose liability changes or arises for the first time. In the summer of 2026 that meant more than 200,000 sole traders.
In practice two different situations emerged.
Those who already paid social insurance before. These entrepreneurs already have a variabilný symbol (VS) assigned — the payer's identifier. They generally received the notice about the new amount on time and simply changed the amount in their existing standing order.
Those whose liability arose for the first time. Here the picture is different: by the payment deadline most of them had not received a notice, because the VS was still being assigned to them. Paying without the payment details is physically impossible.
What the social insurance agency itself says. When we contacted the agency, staff confirmed to us that the delay is a mass technical issue, that no penalties will be charged to those who did not receive their notice on time, and that the recommendation is simply to wait for the letter and pay as soon as it arrives. This is verbal information from staff, not an official statement by the institution: there is no written announcement on socpoist.sk about it. If you need legal certainty, request written confirmation, or obtain the payment details and pay without waiting for the letter (see below).
Where to look for the letter: three ways to check
1. Your electronic mailbox on slovensko.sk
If you have an active electronic mailbox on slovensko.sk, the notice goes there — no paper letter will be sent.
Keep the delivery fiction in mind here: a document counts as delivered even if you never opened it. So it is worth logging into the mailbox regularly.
If it is not activated yet, it is a one-off task that saves a lot of time later: Registration on the Slovensko.sk portal.
2. A paper letter to your postal address
If the electronic mailbox is not activated, the social insurance agency sends an ordinary letter by post — to your postal address in Slovakia.
The postal address used for delivery can be the address registered in the population register (the one on your residence card), the registered office (sídlo) recorded in the business register, or any other correspondence address you provided when registering your business or filing a change.
3. Your online account with the social insurance agency
The fastest way to check your status without waiting for the letter. You log in through slovensko.sk with your electronic ID:
Log in to the social insurance agency's e-serviceshttps://www.socpoist.sk/prihlasenie-do-elektronickych-sluzieb) - choose Elektronický účet poistenca
Under "Moje poistenie" → the "Prehľad poistení" tab you can see whether social insurance has been registered for you as an entrepreneur.
If there are no records, the registration has not been processed yet, the payment details do not exist yet, and you wait for the letter. Nothing to worry about.
If a record has appeared, you will see a line with the insurance type and the period ("Obdobie: 01.07.2026 → Trvá"). For an entrepreneur the type will be "Samostatne zárobkovo činná osoba (SZČO)". The screenshot below is an example of how that line looks (it shows a different insurance type, "Zamestnanec", but the structure of the record is the same: type, period, payer).
It is also worth checking the "Informatívna suma penále" card at the top of the page — it shows whether any penalty has been charged. If it says €0.00, there are no claims against you.
If you do not want to wait
You can speed things up and get the payment details manually:
- Call the social insurance agency or visit the branch office for your place of registration.
- Ask for the contact details of your case officer — the person handling your file.
- Using your rodné číslo they can check whether the registration has been created, tell you the amount and the variabilný symbol, and push the process along.
That is enough to pay without waiting for the letter. Paying early to the correct details causes no problems.
What to do right now
- Work out your 2025 income and see which of the three groups you fall into.
- Check your electronic mailbox on slovensko.sk and your postal mailbox in Slovakia.
- Log in to your online account with the social insurance agency and look at "Prehľad poistení" and the penalty amount.
- If there is no record, wait and check every few days.
- If you need certainty, call the social insurance agency and ask for the payment details.
- As soon as the letter arrives, pay immediately.