E-26/25
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Deadlines: Motivation ministry: 21 januari 2026 Written observations: 6 maart 2026
Keywords: social security, definition marginal activities
Subject: Regulation 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems: Article 13; Regulation 987/2009 (laying down the procedures for implementing Regulation 883/2004): Article 14(5b).
Facts of the case:
Appellant is Austrian lawyer who works primarily in Liechtenstein. She also serves as a town councilor in Austria, where she earns about 0.5% of her Liechtenstein income. Appellant has been receiving an old-age pension from Austria since 2022, and is now asked to pay social security contributions to Liechtenstein. The Liechtenstein Court is wondering whether Appellant’s minimal income from her Austrian activity can qualify as ‘marginal’ under EU social security rules (and therefore should be disregarded for the purposes of determining the applicable legislation under Article 13 of Reg. 883/2004), or if additional factors should be considered. Furthermore, the Court questions whether a person already receiving an old-age pension in their state can still be required to pay social security contributions in another Member State where they continue working.
Request for an advisory opinion:
First question:
Must Article 14(5b) of Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 as amended by Regulation (EU) No 465/2012, according to which marginal activities shall be disregarded for the purposes of determining the applicable legislation under Article 13 of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 (the basic Regulation), be interpreted as meaning that already the fact that the income from a political activity pursued in the State of residence, which according to national legislation corresponds to that of a civil servant and thus an employed person, amounts to less than 0.5% of the income that the corresponding insured person receives from an activity as a self-employed person in another Member State suffices in this connection to speak of a marginal activity or must further criteria be taken into consideration, for example, the duration of the activity as an employed person, on the one hand, and the self-employed activity, on the other, the importance of the activity as an employed person, pursued wholly independently of the activity as a self-employed person, for the political community of the State of residence as well as the place of performance of the activity as an employed person, the actual pursuit thereof or the manner of performance prescribed as a result of the appointment to a political function or are further additional criteria to be taken into consideration, and if so, which?
Second question:
In the event that it is not sufficiently clarified through the answer to the first question whether the relevant activity as an employed person must be qualified as marginal, the question is asked whether, having regard to recitals 1, 5, 10, 12, 15 and 17 in conjunction with Article 13(4) and (5) of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004, Article 34(l)(b) and (2)(b) of the Act of 14 December 1952 on Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (AHVG) must be interpreted as meaning that the insured person who receives an old-age pension in the Member State of residence as a result of her activity as a self-employed person previously pursued in that State must be subject nonetheless to compulsory social insurance in the Member State in which the activity as a self-employed person is still pursued.
Cited (recent) case-law: C-451/17 ; C-89/16; C-33/22 Osterreichische Datenschutzbehorde; C-418/18; C-570/15 X.
Policy Area: SZW
