Why Should You Use The App?
- Social security legal and compliance requirements for cross border activities
Within the EU/EEA and Switzerland It is a legal requirement that all personnel have an approved A1 social security application to certify continued cover in the country of social security – normally the home country – when travelling for business purposes to another country.
This regulation is agreed and issued by the EU and implemented in all EU countries and joined by the EEA countries and Switzerland.
This is important for you, because without an application to remain under social security in your home country or work country, you risk to loose your rights.
It is a bit of a paradox, because as an EU-citizen you have the right to work or have a business travel in another EU-country without applying for a business visa etc. But, it is also those same rights, which under the EURES transfer rights gives you the ability to work in any EU/EEA country and transfer the rights you already have earned, for forinstance unemployment sick leave, unemployment benfits, child maternity leave etc.
A1 is proof of social security cover in one country.
The overall aim of the regulation is to ensure, that the individual will be covered in one country and to define which one. Your home country or the country you are traveling to for business. .
Either you or your employer must thus file an application with the authorities using the “form A1” to remain under the social security, which your employer in most EU countries are paying for.
The form A1 is documentation towards foreign as well as home country authorities that
- determine where the employee is covered by social security during the work assignment and
- that no contribution will be due from the individual or the employer
Lack of documentation
Failure to document cover in one country may result in loss of cover for you and/or claim for fines. It can also mean that the company you should work for abroad or the company you are vising for business travel will reject your option to enter the work place.
Should an A1 be provided under in-correct assumptions, it will not be considered valid and will, consequently not secure cover or prevent against loss of benefits or claim for payments.
No minimum timeframe
There is no lower time limit to determine the need for such documentation. This means that a business travel lasting an hour in Belgium can impose a risk for a Dutch employee even though the travel is by car for only 20 min crossing the boarder.
However, please do not worry. when applied in a correct and timely manner, obtaining of an A1 will mean that you can travel safe for your employer.
You do however need to keep track of the days you are traveling within a 12 months period of time. That is the difficult part to handle, and this is why Social Security App is build to help you keep track of your business travels by use of the geo location on your work phone.
It will react when you cross a boarder, and thus help you to update and count days. The Social Security App only gets access to the geo location of the phone. It does not get access to files, contacts or camera etc. and it only knows that you are in for instance Spain. Neigher your company nor the administrative team of Social Security App is tracking your location. We cannot see if you are in Barcelona, Madrid or at the beach for a long weekend before work.
This means practically, that with the enforcement in the EU directive both companies and employees needs to handle and pay attention to compliance related to business travels much more.
What is social security?
The content of the benefits and obligations under social security is defined by each individual county under its domestic legislation. This defines on one hand the rights obtained by the individuals comprised by the cover, on the other the obligations for employer and employee to pay contributions.
In Denmark social security covers i.a. medical treatment, hospitalization, subsidy to dental treatment, child allowance, sickness benefits, public pensions etc. In other countries e.g. un-employment benefit may be part of the public cover just as the level of and access to benefits may vary a lot. This will have to be investigated and defined locally.
In Denmark contributions are mainly covered by the income tax system (plus a few minor specified contributions – mainly to be covered by the employer). In other countries social security contributions may be a substantial expense for the employer of up to 20 or 30% or even 36% of the gross salary.
Besides the fact that the cover should be documented upon request, it will be necessary for all parties to know and control where the individual is covered as it may prove crucial to be aware of the expense and avoid surprises for the cover and benefits that the individual will be entitled to.
It will be relevant to know where and how the employee will be covered should incidents occur, but it could also prove crucial for the employee should cover change to a different country as he may lose already earned benefits in the home country and may only gain these after a deferred period.
Normally, cover in the home country is being sought for as this will maintain the employee “as is” also during work assignments abroad. But in order to be sure of this continued cover should be applied for as documentation on-going during work assignments abroad, but also to secure benefits in the long run such as public pensions, contents of which may only be acknowledged and relevant many years later.