The expert spoke about innovations for the self-employed

Self-employed Russians working through digital platforms will receive additional social guarantees and rights starting in 2026. The new law "On the Platform Economy", which will enter into force in October 2026, will establish clear rules of operation for all market participants — from large marketplaces to couriers and taxi drivers. Arina Yusupova, Deputy head of Console's legal department, told Izvestia about this on November 11.

The bill is intended to protect the rights of the self-employed, who have so far remained the most vulnerable category in the rapidly growing platform economy. The contribution of digital platforms to Russia's GDP will approach 20% by mid-2025, with the turnover of the ten largest of them reaching 8 trillion rubles in 2024.

"The key change will be the right of the self-employed to choose their own orders and refuse unwanted assignments. Platforms will be required to charge for each order separately, which will eliminate the practice of accumulating multiple tasks with a single payment. Also, the self—employed will not be required to provide services that are not specified in the order," the expert explained.

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For businesses, the new rules mean stricter control over the registration of relationships with the self-employed. The tax authorities will be authorized to strictly monitor cases of substitution of employment relations with civil law ones. The requirement for couriers to follow a strict daily schedule will be considered as a sign of an employment relationship.

"Digital platforms and marketplaces will be required to ensure full transparency of the terms of cooperation. Their duties will include informing the performers in advance about all the details of the order, including the timing, content of the work and the amount of payment. The platforms will also have to establish a list of jobs for which it is prohibited to involve underage performers," the specialist said.

Until October 2026, all market participants have time to bring their processes in line with the new requirements. Platform owners will have to work extensively to update contracts, and companies will have to review their models of working with freelancers. For the self-employed, these changes mean a shift to more secure and predictable work on digital platforms.

Earlier, on October 28, Yulia Finogenova, Professor of the Department of State and Municipal Finance at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, announced that the pension for non-working pensioners in 2026, after indexation, would amount to 27 thousand rubles. It is noted that the size of the social pension will also change. However, at the moment there is no information about the indexing coefficient.

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