Initial account credit

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The initial account credit is a procedure for converting the Austrian pension system from the old calculation system to the new pension account of the General Pension Act. The initial account credit is not a bank transfer, but a calculation of the pension entitlements acquired up to 2013.

Affected and their participation

The initial account credit applies to all persons who were born on or after January 1, 1955 and who are insured up to December 31, 2013 and who were insured for at least one month after the old pension law applicable until December 31, 2004. These are insurance periods according to the general social insurance law , the farmers social insurance law, the commercial social insurance law or the social insurance law for the self-employed.

This does not affect those persons whose first insurance already falls under the General Pension Act , which will apply exclusively from January 1, 2005 .

In 2013, an “Application for supplementation of the insurance periods to determine the initial account credit for January 1, 2014” was sent to all those affected. The data contained therein had to be checked by the insured and confirmed and returned if the information was correct. Missing information had to be supplemented and supported by suitable documents (e.g. service contract, wage or salary slip, certificate of employment, wage slip and proof of contribution basis (form L16), or the birth certificates of the children for parenting periods). School and study times had to be stated even if it was not planned to buy these as insurance times. The pension insurance clarified the additional information with the responsible social insurance.

In 2014, those affected received a notification about the amount of the initial account credit. Subsequent changes, such as child-rearing periods, should be announced by December 31, 2016.

Appeal

A notification of the initial credit could be requested from the relevant pension insurance company by December 31, 2016 . In addition, it was planned to introduce an "objection procedure" in which a decision on contested decisions was to be made within one year. If the objection procedure was not decided in accordance with the objection, the decision could be submitted to the "objection committee". Lawsuits at the labor and social court could only be brought with the "objection notice" received in this way.

Determination of the initial account credit

The amount credited to the initial account credit was determined by comparing the old with the new calculation method. For this purpose, two fictitious pensions were calculated on the assumption that the standard retirement age was reached on December 31, 2013. The periods of insurance also include periods of raising children.

For the starting amount, the claims were calculated according to the old law. For this purpose, the best 336 contribution months (28 years) were initially used and increased by revaluation factors set for each calendar year. Times of child-rearing were calculated at the same amount, but with a minimum of 122% and a maximum of 170% of the equalization supplement reference rate for single persons (2013: 837.63 euros).

The comparison amount was calculated in accordance with the regulations applicable on December 31, 2013, but without a special increase amount (additional insurance). A lower and an upper limit depending on the year of birth were determined from the amount determined in this way. The lower limit for those born in 1955 was 98.5% and fell by 0.2% per year until those born in 1965; from this point on it is a uniform 96.5%. The upper limit for those born in 1955 was 101.5% and rose by 0.2% in each case to 103.5% of the comparative amount determined by 1965.

  • If the starting amount was below the lower limit of the comparison amount, the initial account credit was 14 times the calculated lower limit.
  • If the starting amount was between the lower and the upper limit, the initial credit was 14 times the starting amount.
  • If the starting amount was above the upper limit, the initial account credit was 14 times the upper limit.

The initial account credit was added to the pension account as a total credit for 2013 . For pensions with a cut-off date between 2014 and 2016 and more than 480 months of insurance (40 years), separate provisions applied, which were made through an official recalculation of the initial account credit.

False start

At the beginning of 2014, the pension insurance announced that of the 3.6 million forms sent, 2.4 million were not or only incompletely returned. A second attempt is therefore being made by sending reminders containing simplified questions. Insured persons who do not respond to this either received an RsB letter in April .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Michael Berger: Last deadline for future retirees . In: Courier . January 4, 2014, p. 15 .