"Why do I have to prove I'm not a freeloader?" Entrepreneur from Homiel mistakenly listed as unemployed — he only found out after huge utility bills

Screenshot of the video from the entrepreneur's TikTok

"They told me: you must prove you are not a freeloader"

In the video, the man explains that at first he didn't understand why his utility bills had increased so much. To figure it out, he called the settlement and reference center. There he was informed that he was included in the database of citizens not employed in the economy:

"They tell me: yes, you are a freeloader. I'm like: 'Wow! Do freeloaders pay so many taxes?'"

The Homiel resident works as an individual entrepreneur and, according to him, pays all necessary taxes, including income tax and contributions to the Social Protection Fund.

When the man tried to find out how to correct the situation, he was told that he had to personally confirm his employment. This became the main reason for his outrage:

"I work from morning till night to pay taxes, and I still have to prove that I'm not a freeloader!"

According to him, he has an officially registered sole proprietorship, and it was done in the same administration whose commission declared him not employed in the economy.

The man says he doesn't understand why he has to personally go to various instances and confirm information that is already in state systems.

"Why do I, without receiving a salary for it, have to go and prove that I am not a freeloader?" — the Homiel resident asks.

"There are many such stories." What they write in the comments

After the video was published, hundreds of comments appeared under it. Many users write that the situation described by the Homiel entrepreneur is far from unique.

Some say they themselves were mistakenly included in the database of those not employed in the economy:

"I was in the same situation. Minsk. They don't have a unified database with the tax office."

"A relative was also registered as unemployed but officially employed. Utility services were paid at the maximum rate. The billing center also asks for confirmation that he is not a parrot."

Others write that they also find out about their "freeloader" status by chance — from utility receipts:

"My son is a full-time university student and somehow also ended up as a freeloader. He found out about it from his apartment bill."

"We found out from the receipt. We used to pay about 250 rubles, and then almost 500."

There are also stories of people who were included in the database despite life circumstances, for example, when caring for sick relatives:

"I was caring for my incapacitated husband, I was a guardian. But I still received a letter saying I was a freeloader."

People believe that state bodies should themselves check information between databases:

"Where is the 'one-stop shop' principle? It's much simpler to make a request between organizations than to force a person to collect certificates."

"In a normal society, there is a presumption of innocence, but here it's the opposite — a presumption of guilt."

At the same time, some commentators believe that the system is initially set up so that it's easier for a person to pay than to deal with it:

"That's what it's designed for: not everyone will bother to investigate, many will just pay."

The Homiel resident himself, the author of the video, says he has no issues with the law on freeloaders. But he does have issues with how it is enforced. Judging by his replies in the comments, he plans to resolve the issue through court.

It should be reminded that in Belarus there is a database of citizens whom the state considers not employed in the economy. From October 1, 2025, new rules for calculating housing and utility payments came into force. They stipulate that such citizens, if they are apartment owners, must pay for services at full, economically justified tariffs for the entire apartment, and not just for the portion of the area attributable to them.

That's why for some Belarusians, utility bills in the autumn turned out to be significantly higher. In social networks, many wrote that their utility bills had become several times heavier, and people only learned about their freeloader status after receiving the bills.

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