By Dimitris Katsaganis
The new package of regulations, which was brought to the Parliament for voting last week by the Minister of Labor, Mr. Kostis Hatzidakis, gives a multiple impetus to the retirement of the debtors in the Funds, with the aim of accelerating the issuance of new pensions.
The reason for the “fast track pensions” and the “trust pensions”, ie two processes of the same content – the first of which concerns the new (from 1 April 2022) retirement applications, and the second the pending (up to March 31, 2022) applications, and lead to retirement in 3 months for new applications and 1 month for existing ones.
As social security analysts explain to “K”, although with the new regulations Hatzidaki does not change anything in relation to the “status” of retirement of those self-employed and farmers in debt to the Funds, the imminent acceleration of the issuance of the pension is a clear incentive for of their debts so that they can receive their final pension.
What applies
It is reminded that, in order for a professional to retire, in addition to having completed 15 years of insurance and turning 67, he must not owe more than 20,000 euros to the former OAEE or the former EBRD.
If a professional owes more than 20,000 euros, he will have to pay the excess amount in a lump sum (eg, if he owes 23,000 euros, pay the 3,000 euros) and the remaining 20,000 euros will be included in a 60-installment deduction arrangement by the his pension.
However, the long wait (8 months on average) for the issuance of the final decision, which leads to the entire pension (and not to the advance payment of 346-384 euros), and at the same time the long withholding on the temporary pension (333 euros / month for debts of 20,000 euros), which almost led to the “disappearance” of the temporary pension (usually around 400-500 euros), prevented many professionals with a well-established pension right, but debts over 20,000 euros, from entering the retirement process, through the repayment of the excessive debt and the adjustment of the 60 installments.
The situation is not much better for those who receive a pension advance, as the fact that they save the installment-deduction (as this is not imposed on the advances) is only temporary, as it will come, and even retroactively, when the temporary pension comes out.
Indirect improvement
This picture could change indirectly, emphasize the same analysts in “K”, when −for example− a debtor knows that (as provided by the provisions of the new amendment Hatzidaki) in 3 months from the submission of his retirement application (after submitting the application after April 1, 2022) will receive his full pension, including the 3-month retroactive.
Specifically, a withholding of 333 euros / month (for debts of 20,000 euros), will reduce, for 60 months (ie 5 years), less than half of the final-full pension of the professional debtor (around 800 euros) and not almost all – as in the case of the temporary −, allowing him to have a higher disposable income than that which he would have left by taking only the temporary.
The e-EFKA guarantee to the retired debtor a certain expectation of receiving a final pension in 3 months (and not a temporary or even smaller down payment) from the date of application objectively improves the financial possibilities of repaying the excess amount of his debts (something that is an inviolable condition for retirement) in order to be able to retire.
In addition, it should be borne in mind that there are many cases of couples who have established a pension right, but do not exercise it at the same time. This is because the long wait for them to receive their pension would deprive them of the necessary income to serve their needs. For example, even a couple in which the wife is employed and has established the right to a pension and lump sum, while the husband is a professional with debts over 20,000 euros. In the face of the hitherto certain possibility of a long wait, the wife does not exercise the right to a pension, indirectly depriving the couple of the possibility of repaying the excess amount of the husband’s debt (eg part of the wife’s lump sum). However, through a very fast issuance of a pension – a lump sum and thus, the immediate improvement of the couple’s financial possibilities, the settlement of the husband’s debts would be facilitated, the same sources note.
The main points of the Hatzidaki arrangements
The main provisions of the amendment are the following:
– EFKA issues a deed for the award of a main pension (or rejects the relevant application if the conditions for its award are not met) within a period of three months. During this period, that is, the EFKA services will have to check the applicant’s insurance history and decide if he is entitled to a pension and how much.
– After this deadline, the pension award deeds are issued according to the data of the insurance history recorded in the Information System “ATLAS” (or other information systems available to EFKA) and the declarations and data submitted by the insured together with their application for retirement to prove that they have more insurance time than is recognized in the electronic system. The extra time can also be based on certificates from certified professionals, so there may be a combination of the insurance history found in the “ATLAS” system (for the insurance time registered there) and the certified professional for the rest of the year.
The information submitted is not verified before the issuance of the pension award, but is checked afterwards. This is the basic philosophy of the fast track process.
-If the audit reveals that the insurance period taken into account for the issuance of the pension is longer than the actual time up to 2 years, the insured is allowed to cover the respective insurance contributions within one year, either by payment, or by deduction from the paid pension, or by a combination of the two ways. Insurance contributions are covered either at their current value or in a manner similar to that of fictitious time recognition.
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* Changes in the recognition of insurance years
Source: Capital
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