Artistic Social Security does not end with communal volunteering

BSG right green parliamentary chairman in Dortmund right
Kassel (jur). Allowances for the volunteer work of a councilor do not preclude social insurance in the Künstlersozialkasse (KSK). Because the honorary office is not a professional activity, judged on Thursday, 18 February 2016, the Federal Social Court (BSG) in Kassel (Az .: B 3 KS 1/15 R). The chairman of the green city council faction in Dortmund, Ingrid Reuter, was right.
The KSK provides social insurance for freelance artists and publicists. They pay contributions according to their own income. Instead of the employer's usual employer share, the federal government pays a subsidy and the employer pays contributions. However, the KSK insurance ends when an insured person from a non-artistic activity earns income above the marginal income threshold of currently 450 euros per month.

Judgment. Image: Sebastian Duda - fotolia

Reuter has been insured in the KSK for years. As an honorary member and leader of the Dortmund City Council, she receives attendance fees, reimbursement of expenses and compensation for loss of earnings. These funds are taxed as income and are at Reuter well above the limit.

From the tax liability, the KSK concluded that this was income from a self-employed occupation. Therefore ends Reuters membership in the KSK.

The social court Dortmund and the national social court food had this still confirmed. The BSG abrogated these judgments and justified the local politician. The membership in the city council was a volunteer. It is not practiced "commercially" to earn income. The end of the KSK insurance should, according to law, only occur if the non-artistic activity is "geared to earning a living". The assumption of a volunteer office in local politics should not lead to the fact that the social protection of free artists and publicists is questioned, emphasized the Kassel judges. (Mwo / fle)