In order to be granted the status of an unemployed person, the compliance of the person with the below criteria specified in Article 10, Paragraph 1 of the Support for Unemployed Persons and Persons Seeking Employment Law (hereinafter referred to the Law) shall be assessed:
- In the Law, one of the criteria is that the person does not work (is not considered an employee or self-employed in accordance with the Law On state social insurance).
- Article 1, Part 2, Sub-clause (m) of the Law On state social insurance stipulates that a member of the board of a capital company, if the turnover of the capital company in the current month of the taxation year is higher than the amount of the minimum monthly salary specified by the Cabinet of Ministers, multiplied by a factor of 5, and there are no employees in the capital company this month or the object of mandatory contributions for all employees is less than the amount of the minimum monthly salary set by the Cabinet of Ministers, shall be considered an employee.
- In accordance with Article 134, Part 2 of the Commercial Law, a capital company is a society with limited responsibility (hereinafter referred to as an LLC/SIA) or a joint stock company (hereinafter referred to as an JSC/AS).
It can be concluded from the above that a member of the Board of an LLC/SIA and JSC/AS can obtain and maintain the status of unemployed until the moment the turnover in the current month of LLC/SIA or JSC/AS taxation year exceeds the amount of the minimum monthly salary set by the Cabinet of Ministers [Ministru kabinets] multiplied by the coefficient of 5 (a turnover of EUR 500.00 x 5 = EUR 2500.00), and the LLC/SIA or JSC/AS in the said month does not have a single employee or the object of mandatory contributions for all employees is less than the amount of the minimum monthly salary set by the Cabinet of Ministers.
Information on the achievement of the turnover of the current month of the taxation year for the above-mentioned threshold, namely, EUR 2500.00, on the basis of which a member of the Board acquires the status of an employee, shall by submitted by the board of an LLC/SIA or JSC/AS itself submits to the State Revenue Service [Valsts ieņēmumu dienests], on the basis of which the State Revenue Service [Valsts ieņēmumu dienests] enters information on the status of the employee in the database. Thus, the Agency does not need to control the amount of turnover of LLC/SIA or JSC/AS, the information necessary for granting/maintaining the status of the unemployed will be reflected in the work history by the State revenue service.
If the person is not an employee within the meaning of the Law, and there are no other incompatibilities for obtaining the status of unemployed in accordance with the criteria stipulated by Article 10, Part 1 of the Law, a person may acquire the status of unemployed.