The question that matters is not which side income pays best. It is which format your situation actually permits, because in Slovenia the legal wrapper around the work determines the paperwork, the contributions, the ceiling and whether the activity is permitted at all. Most people discover this in the wrong order: they find the work, start doing it, and then learn that the route they used was not available to them. This comparison runs the other way. It starts from the formats the state actually provides, explains what each one is built for, and lets you match your circumstances to a route rather than the reverse. It is written for someone already running an activity of their own, or about to, who wants the side income to sit cleanly beside it rather than complicate it. One of the options requires no registration at all, because it is consumption rather than work: apps such as I am Beezy pay a small daily amount for consulting videos, articles and advertising, credited to your usual payment method, and that is worth knowing about before you commit to anything heavier.
What actually decides which route is open to you?
Four variables settle the question, and none of them is the amount you hope to earn. Answer these before you look at any specific opportunity.
Whether you are already insured through something else
This is the single most consequential fact about your situation. Somebody with full social insurance through employment has access to light formats that are closed or expensive for somebody without it. It also determines what the after-hours sole trader route actually costs you, because that format exists precisely for people whose insurance is already covered elsewhere.
Whether the activity is one-off or repeated
An occasional engagement and a continuing business are treated differently, and the distinction is about pattern rather than size. Repeated, deliberate, profit-oriented activity is business activity even when the amounts are small. A single commissioned piece of work is not. Being honest with yourself about which you are doing avoids a correction later that is far more expensive than registering correctly now.
What the work itself is
Formats are activity-specific. The lightest route in Slovenia only covers a defined list of activities, and if what you do is not on that list, the route is closed regardless of how well it would otherwise suit you. Check the activity against the format before anything else, because this alone eliminates most of the confusion people carry around.
Whether anything in your existing position restricts it
An employment contract may contain a non-compete or a notification requirement. A regulated profession may restrict outside activity. Any public funding or benefit you receive may have conditions attached. These constraints sit outside tax law entirely and are frequently the ones that actually bite.
Personal supplementary work is the lightest registered route
Osebno dopolnilno delo is the format Slovenia built for small, occasional, personal-scale work. It is genuinely light, and it is genuinely narrow.
How the mechanism works
You register the activity before starting it, through AJPES either online or at an upravna enota. Work is then covered by a voucher, the vrednotnica, obtained in advance through the eUprava portal or at an administrative unit. Who buys the voucher depends on the type of activity: for work done for a known client the client buys it, while for production of craft goods or work for unknown buyers you buy it yourself. The SPOT portal sets out the procedure and FURS supervises it.
What it is built for and what it excludes
The permitted activities are listed in the relevant regulation, which is published in the national legal information system, and they centre on domestic help, small assistance, occasional tuition, craft production and similar personal-scale work. Consultancy businesses, ongoing trading and anything resembling a company do not belong here. Registering the activity before you begin is a condition of the format, not an administrative formality you can catch up on later.
Who it suits
Somebody testing whether a small activity has any demand, somebody supplementing a pension or a salary occasionally, somebody making things at home. It is a poor fit for an entrepreneur planning to grow, because it will run out of room quickly, and the transition to a heavier format then has to happen anyway.
| Route | Built for | Main administrative touchpoints |
|---|---|---|
| Osebno dopolnilno delo | Small, listed, occasional personal-scale work | AJPES, eUprava, upravne enote, FURS |
| After-hours sole trader | Continuing activity alongside full insurance elsewhere | SPOT points, AJPES, FURS |
| Flat-rate sole trader | Continuing activity with reduced bookkeeping | SPOT points, FURS, eDavki |
| Contract and copyright engagements | One-off or commissioned work | The client, FURS |
| Content-based apps such as I am Beezy | Daily consumption income with no registration step | Your existing payment method |
When does the after-hours sole trader start to make sense?
The popoldanski s.p. is the format most Slovenian side businesses eventually land in, and the trigger for moving to it is structural rather than financial.
The insurance question is the whole point
This route exists for people whose social insurance is already covered by employment. That is what makes it lighter than a full sole trader, and it is also why it is unavailable to somebody without that cover. Confirm your own position before assuming the route is open, because the difference between the two situations is substantial and shows up immediately.
Registration runs through the SPOT network
Slovenia consolidated business registration into the SPOT system, with physical points around the country and an online portal. Registration touches AJPES for the register and FURS for tax, and you will want eDavki access established early because official correspondence arrives there whether or not you look. The Obrtno-podjetniška zbornica Slovenije is a useful reference for trade activities specifically.
The flat-rate variant keeps the bookkeeping small
The normirani s.p. reduces the accounting burden by using a standardised deduction rather than itemised costs, which suits activities with low real expenses such as services and consultancy. It suits a business with heavy input costs considerably less. Establish which of those describes your work before choosing, because switching is possible but disruptive.
Contract engagements, royalties and platform work
Not everything needs a business structure. Slovenia keeps distinct instruments for genuinely one-off work, and using them properly is legitimate while using them to disguise continuing employment is not.
Podjemna pogodba and avtorska pogodba
The contract for work and the copyright contract cover commissioned engagements, with the client generally handling the withholding. They are appropriate for a defined piece of work with a defined end. They are not appropriate as a permanent substitute for either employment or a registered business, and a pattern of repeated engagements with a single client tends to be reclassified as what it actually is.
Platform and marketplace income
Delivery, tutoring, freelancing platforms, short-term accommodation and online selling all still require a format underneath them. The platform is a channel, not a legal status, and treating an income stream as unregistered because it arrived through an app is the most common and most expensive mistake in this whole area. Short-term accommodation in particular carries its own registration and reporting obligations.
Keep the file the way you would want it read
Invoices, contracts, dates, what was delivered. If your activity is ever reviewed, the thing that determines the outcome is whether your own records tell a coherent story, and that file is built continuously or not at all.
| Your situation | Route worth examining first | What usually rules it out |
|---|---|---|
| Employed, testing a small idea | Osebno dopolnilno delo | The activity is not on the permitted list |
| Employed, activity is now continuous | After-hours sole trader | Insurance is not covered elsewhere |
| Service work with low real costs | Flat-rate sole trader | Heavy input costs make itemising better |
| One defined commissioned job | Contract or copyright engagement | The work repeats with the same client |
| Wants income with no setup step | Content-based apps | Nothing, but the scale stays modest |
Adding a daily income floor with I am Beezy
Every registered route above shares one weakness for an entrepreneur: nothing arrives until the work is done, invoiced and paid, and that sequence takes longer than people plan for.
Consumption income has a different rhythm
I am Beezy pays for consulting content rather than for producing it. Videos, articles and advertising each generate a small amount, credited to the payment method you already use, and it accumulates daily rather than in the lumps that project work produces. That difference in rhythm is the point: it fills the gaps between invoices rather than competing with them.
It does not replace a format, it sits beside one
Nothing here removes the need to register an activity that requires registration. Treat it as a floor under an irregular month, not as a business model, and keep it out of the way of the decision about which legal route your actual work belongs in.
Which route fits your situation?
Take the four variables from the opening section and run them against your own position honestly. Most people find the answer is narrower than they expected.
Work the sequence in the right order
Check the constraints in your existing contract. Check whether your activity appears on the permitted list for the light format. Check whether your insurance is covered elsewhere. Only then look at what the work would earn. Reversing that order is what produces the corrections that cost a year.
Ask the counter, not the forum
The SPOT network exists to answer exactly these questions, and FURS publishes guidance for people in specific life situations including personal supplementary work. Both give answers attached to your actual circumstances, which no online discussion can do. In the meantime, if you want something producing a small daily amount while the paperwork settles, I am Beezy pays for content you consult and asks nothing of your legal status.
