Contribution time

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The contribution period is a period of pension law in the German statutory pension insurance for which a compulsory or voluntary contribution has been paid or for which a contribution is deemed to have been paid (fictitious contribution period, Section 55, Book Six of the Social Code (SGB VI).

An insured person must have completed a certain number of contribution periods in order to be able to claim benefits from the pension insurance (pensions, benefits for participation) at all (fulfillment of the waiting period ). The higher the contributions and the more contributions are paid, the higher the pension.

Legal definition

The law regulates as follows ( excerpt from Section 55 S (1) SGB VI ):

(1) Contribution periods are times for which compulsory contributions (compulsory contribution periods) or voluntary contributions have been paid under federal law. Compulsory contribution periods are also times for which compulsory contributions are deemed to have been paid according to special regulations. Contribution periods also include periods for which earnings points have been credited because there are periods of consideration for raising children or periods of caring for a dependent child for several children.

Contribution times are times for which mandatory or voluntary contributions to the statutory pension insurance have been paid under federal law. Times for which mandatory contributions are considered to be paid are also considered times with compulsory contributions.

These include times with full contributions, compulsory contribution times (actual and fictitious), voluntary contributions and the so-called reduced contribution times .

requirements

It is fundamental that the contribution must be lawful and paid for a contribution period. If the insured can prove or make credible that the contributions have not been paid without his or her knowledge, although according to the law it should have been made, the pension insurance institution will restore these periods.

particularities

  • For periods of military and community service, contributions are paid by the federal government to the pension fund.
  • For periods of child-rearing, insured persons who were born before 1992 have compulsory contribution periods 12 months after the month of birth; for births from January 1, 1992, 36 months after the month of birth are compulsory. This is a so-called fictitious compulsory contribution period.
  • If a civil servant, judge or professional soldier leaves the public service before he or she is entitled to a pension, the federal government pays so-called supplementary insurance for these periods. These times are also considered full contribution times.
  • For periods in accordance with the Foreign Pension Act (FRG) , contributions for periods in the country of origin apply, provided they are proven or credible, as contribution periods.
  • By making payments from claims for damages against an injuring party, the pension insurance agency can also justify contribution periods for an injured insured person (so-called "regressed contributions").

If a contribution has been paid for only one day of a month, the entire calendar month is considered to be occupied and thus as contribution time. In addition, if you only work for one month within a full year (full value), the so-called reduced contribution period arises in that year.

Effects

Contribution periods have an influence on the later pension entitlement of an insured person due to the amount of their underlying social insurance contributions. In addition, they count as full months in fulfilling the waiting period for entitlement to benefits (rehabilitation, pension) from the statutory pension insurance.