From 1 January 2025, the part of a salary above the maximum contribution base also pays Social Security contributions. What the solidarity contribution is, how much it costs and who pays it.
On 1 January 2025 the additional solidarity contribution came into force, one of the pieces of the pension reform approved in 2023 (Royal Decree-Law 2/2023). Until then, the part of a salary above the maximum contribution base paid no social contributions: employees contributed on the maximum base even if they earned much more. From 2025, that part of the salary also contributes to the system, although at a far lower rate than the ordinary one.
How it works
The maximum contribution base for 2025 is €4,909.50 a month, €58,914 a year, 4% more than in 2024. Pay above it is subject to the new contribution in three bands: 0.92% on the portion up to 10% above the maximum base; 1% on the portion between 10% and 50% above it; and 1.17% on anything beyond that 50%.
Like ordinary contributions for common contingencies, it is shared between employer and employee: roughly five sixths are paid by the company and one sixth by the worker. And unlike the ordinary contribution, it does not lead to a higher pension: it is a solidarity payment into the system, not savings for the person who pays it.
A schedule that rises every year
The 2025 rates are only the starting point. The law sets gradual annual increases until 2045, when the three bands will reach 5.5%, 6% and 7%. At the same time, the maximum base will grow each year by somewhat more than pensions are uprated, so that an ever larger share of salaries will pay the ordinary contribution.
In addition, the Intergenerational Equity Mechanism (MEI), the contribution created in 2023 to build up the pension reserve fund, rises to 0.8% in 2025: 0.67% paid by the employer and 0.13% by the employee. This one does apply to all employees and the self-employed, on their contribution base, and will keep rising by a tenth of a point a year until it reaches 1.2% in 2029.
What to review
For employers, the effect is a higher labour cost for the best-paid profiles: executives, skilled specialists and professionals with large variable pay. It is worth reviewing 2025 staff-cost forecasts and checking that the payroll software applies the bands correctly, especially when bonuses or extra payments fall in a single month.
For employees, the contribution means a small cut in net pay. As a guide, a salary of €80,000 a year, some €21,000 above the maximum base, would pay a total solidarity contribution of just over €200 in 2025, of which around €35 a year would fall on the worker.
The figures will grow over the years, because both the rates and the maximum base are rising. Ask your employment adviser how it affects your workforce and your own payslip.
Tomorrow’s pensions are paid, in part, by today’s highest salaries.
This article is general information. It is not legal, tax or investment advice, and it does not take anyone’s particular circumstances into account.
