A leaked draft from Germany's labour ministry, dated 26 March 2026 and never officially published, would let you and a client opt into a "new self-employment" status contract by contract. The price of that certainty: pension contributions of 18.6% on 90% of your fee, withheld by the client, so 16.74% of every invoice. VGSD calculates this can reach 150% of what employer and employee pay together. As of 5 September 2026 the draft is stalled between the coalition partners, 25 associations demand changes, and the earliest start is 2028. Check your status now, document your business risk, price the scenario.
In late March 2026 the Süddeutsche Zeitung published a 34-page Referentenentwurf from the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS). Long title, short idea: freelancers get certainty about their status, the state gets pension contributions in return. This is a leaked draft, not a bill. The ministry has never published it, and nothing in it is law. But it is the only text anyone has seen of the reform the coalition promised, so it pays to know what it asks of you.
What the leaked draft says
The core is a new legal figure called "neue Selbstständigkeit". According to VGSD's analysis, you and your client choose it "bei jedem Auftrag", contract by contract. Everything else stays under today's rules.
Professor Rainer Schlegel, former President of the Federal Social Court, laid out the conditions on stage at Freelance Unlocked 2026. Both parties agree at signing that this is self-employed work. You were not employed by that client immediately before. The client reports the start within six weeks. And you must have the right to send a substitute, plus at least two of four further criteria:
- You carry profit opportunities and loss risks.
- You do not work essentially for this one client.
- You bear business-typical expenses (tools, materials, travel).
- You market yourself.
Construction, hospitality, delivery drivers, cleaning and butchery are excluded from the option, per VGSD.
The catch Schlegel underlined: the status counts only for social insurance law. Labour law and tax law are untouched, so the client's tax office could still treat the same engagement as employment.
The price tag
Opting in makes you liable for statutory pension insurance. The rate is 18.6% in 2026, up to the ceiling of €8,450 a month. The base, in VGSD's reading of the leak, is not your profit but your fee, minus costs itemised on the invoice and minus a flat 10% for everything else. The client withholds the contribution and pays it over. In VGSD's words, the fee is paid out "um 16,74 Prozent gekürzt", 90% of 18.6%.
VGSD then does the arithmetic that gave the draft its reputation. Real business costs are usually well above 10%. At 30%, the contribution ends up 28.6% higher than under today's profit-based assessment. Add that a freelancer's profit also has to cover what an employer pays on top of a salary, and VGSD arrives at 54.3% more than employer and employee pay together. Its summary: where an employee pays 50% of the normal contribution, a self-employed person under the new status "könnte locker drei Mal so viel (150 Prozent)" pay. These are VGSD's figures, built on a leaked text, and the reason the associations call this "paying for legal certainty".
Two more details from the same reading: the start date moved from 1 January 2027 to 1 January 2028, and the draft has neither protection for people already self-employed nor a grace period for founders, both promised in the coalition agreement.
What the panel made of it
Jörn Freynick, General Secretary of the BAGSV umbrella of self-employed associations, did not soften it:
"We read it and we were pretty horrified." (Jörn Freynick, translated from German)
His organisation sent the ministry more than 40 questions within two days. His sharpest objection is the mandatory substitution right.
"It also means every self-employed person is simply interchangeable. I talk to trainers and consultants who say: I have specific experience, specific references, they are so individual that this is what my clients book." (Jörn Freynick, translated from German)
Silke Becker, Director Legal & Compliance at Etengo, sees the client side. The ministry told her the substitution clause "does not have to be lived".
"Then I ask, as a company lawyer: how am I supposed to advise my company and my clients? Write it in, but we won't do it? Is that a sham transaction? I don't know." (Silke Becker, translated from German)
Schlegel's verdict was the shortest. The coalition agreement promised simpler rules and no new categories:
"And exactly the opposite is happening here." (Rainer Schlegel, translated from German)
He also explained why the draft stalled: after the leak, the Chancellery stopped the ministry from circulating it, which he called very rare, and the text went into negotiation between the SPD-led ministry and the CDU/CSU.
What the ministry says
Lilian Tschan, State Secretary at the BMAS, spoke directly before the panel and confirmed the draft without going into it:
"We have drafted a bill and put it into internal government coordination. I know that a fair amount about this draft has become known, but please understand that I cannot comment on the details." (Lilian Tschan, translated from German)
She gave the guardrails instead: the will of the contracting parties should weigh more, membership of the social insurance system cannot depend on whether someone feels they need it, no sector-specific rules. And a date:
"Our goal is to create a new regulation by the end of this year." (Lilian Tschan, translated from German)
The associations' counter-move
On 6 August 2026, 25 associations in the BAGSV wrote to Labour Minister Bärbel Bas. The letter, reported by UEPO on 31 August, ties the two reforms together: a pension duty must take effect "zeitgleich" with an effective reform of the status criteria, contributions must lead "zu gleichen und nicht deutlich höheren Beiträgen wie bei Arbeitgebern und -nehmern zusammen", and existing self-employed people should be left out. The alliance warns of damage to business formation, 70% of which now happens as side businesses, and calls "Neue Selbstständigkeit" one more label in a jungle of terms that has no legal definition to begin with.
On 1 September 2026 the same alliance launched a petition, "No pension duty for the self-employed without legal certainty and fair contributions". Around 4,000 people had signed by 5 September.
The pension reform runs on its own track
The Alterssicherungskommission handed over its report on 23 June 2026: newly self-employed people join the statutory pension "verpflichtend und ohne Opt-out", those already self-employed get "ein voraussetzungsloses Herausoptieren". The coalition committee decided on 2 July to implement all 33 recommendations, with legislation done by the end of 2026. That is a separate law, and further along. What it costs and who can still say no is in our piece on the pension mandate for the self-employed.
Status as of 5 September 2026
Nothing has been introduced. The March draft is still the only text in circulation, the ministry has not commented on it since the summer, and Tschan's "by the end of this year" has four months left. The target for the law to apply, per vorwärts, is the start of 2028. The earlier chapters are in our reform overview. The one thing that did pass is the extension of § 127 SGB IV for freelance teachers, to the end of 2027.
What would change for you with one main client
Today § 7 SGB IV decides your status by two signals: work under instructions and integration into the client's organisation. One main client is not a criterion, but it is what opens the file in an audit.
Under the leaked draft, "not essentially for one client" is only one of four optional criteria. You could opt in with one main client if you carry real profit and loss risk, pay for your own tools, market yourself, and your contract lets you send a substitute. The reward is certainty on the social insurance side. The cost sits on every invoice.
Our own arithmetic on the leaked mechanics: you bill €8,000 a month. 90% is €7,200. 18.6% of that is €1,339.20. The client pays you €6,660.80 and sends the rest to the pension fund. If your real costs are 30% of revenue, your base is well above your profit, which is where VGSD's 28.6% comes from. You raise your rate or accept a lower net, and your client, now running a mini payroll for you, has a new reason to prefer an agency or an employee. If you do not opt in, today's rules apply, retroactive reclassification included. How other countries draw the line is in our DACH comparison.
What to do on Monday
- Run the status check. 9am's free false self-employment self-check asks the questions an auditor asks under current law. Twenty minutes, and you know where you stand before any reform lands.
- Document the four criteria now. Invoices to other clients, receipts for tools, screenshots of your marketing, in one folder. This evidence protects you under today's § 7 SGB IV too.
- Check your main contract for a substitution clause. A total ban on delegation is a weak point today and a blocker under the draft. Ask for a qualified substitute with the client's approval.
- Price the scenario. Work out 16.74% of your main-client revenue. Decide whether a rate rise of that size is realistic with this client, or whether client number two is the better insurance.
- Consider the Clearingstelle. Under § 7a SGB IV either party can request a binding status decision. Filed within a month of starting, insurance liability begins only when the decision is announced.
If step 4 says one client is too much weight, the fix is a second client, not a clause. A free 9am profile puts you in front of companies across DACH that hire freelancers. A diversified client list is the one criterion every version of this reform rewards.
This article is a practitioner's explainer of a leaked draft and general information. It does not replace legal advice.
Freelance Unlocked is co-organized by 9am together with Uplink and freelancermap. This article draws on the sessions of Lilian Tschan and the expert panel on the false self-employment reform at Freelance Unlocked 2026. Watch the full talks above, and join us at the next edition: freelanceunlocked.com.
