How much virtual assistants, freelancers have to pay for SSS coverage

MANILA — The Social Security System has signed a partnership with the Department of Information and Communications Technology to expand social security coverage for virtual assistants and freelancers, a move that would cover around 1.5 million digital freelance workers in the Philippines.

Virtual assistants and freelancers are encouraged to register as self-employed SSS members, which would make them eligible for sickness, maternity, disability, retirement, funeral, and death benefits.

The SSS contribution rate is 15 percent. For self-employed members, the monthly salary credit used to determine contributions ranges from P5,000 to P35,000.

Minimum monthly contribution would be P760 — P750 for regular SSS contribution and P10 for Employee’s Compensation contribution.

The highest contribution will be P5,280 a month — P3,000 for regular SSS contributions, P30 for Employees’ Compensation, and P2,250 for the Mandatory Provident Fund.

The Employees’ Compensation Program is for work-related sickness, disability, or death.

The Mandatory Provident Fund, meanwhile, is a retirement savings plan for SSSS members who have a monthly salary credit that exceeds P20,000.

The SSS said in a release in September that average basic monthly pension was at P5,704 as of July 2026. That amount includes the P1,000 benefit for Social Security pensioners and P1,150 for Employees’ Compensation pensioners..

“Freelancers and virtual assistants are an important and growing segment of our workforce,” said SSS president and chief executive officer Victor Alfonso Limlingan.

“By bringing them into the SSS coverage, we ensure that they, too, can access the same protection and benefits enjoyed by other workers,” he said. — Benise Balaoing, ABS-CBN News