How to offset and return unduly paid contributions

The “regime” of offsetting and reimbursing unduly paid contributions is clarified by a decision of the Ministry of Labor.
In detail, the relevant decision provides the following:

Unduly paid insurance contributions to e-EFKA are offset against any arrears, settled or not, of the beneficiaries to e-EFKA and third parties, for whom e-EFKA collects insurance contributions.

In case the beneficiary of the unduly paid insurance contributions has been subject to a debt settlement regime, the terms of which are observed, the offset is also made with the non-overdue installments of the regulation.

In case there are no debts or if after the offset, according to the above, a remaining amount arises, it is returned interest-free to the beneficiaries.

Exceptionally, the amount to be reimbursed shall be reimbursed with interest following an irrevocable decision of a competent court, unless otherwise specified in the court decision.

Unduly paid insurance contributions means the amounts of money paid to e-EFKA for any reason, and for which, according to the current legislation, there is no obligation to pay them.

Exceptionally, unduly paid insurance contributions are considered amounts of money that have been paid in cases where an insurance period is canceled due to fraudulent or fictitious insurance.

The set-off with debt and the return of unduly paid insurance contributions refer to amounts of money that have been paid in favor of the insurance branches of e-EFKA, as well as to amounts of money that have been unduly collected by e-EFKA in favor of EOPYY, EOPYY, OA. any other body for which e-EFKA contributes contributions.

For the return of unduly paid insurance contributions:

(a) in the case of salaried employees, a relevant application shall be submitted by the beneficiary of the unduly paid insurance contributions, the insured and / or the employer;

(b) in the case of self-employed or self-employed persons or farmers:

ba) For unduly paid insurance contributions until 31/12/2016 the relevant amounts of money are returned to the beneficiaries, upon request, as these amounts arise in accordance with the provisions of Article 1 hereof.

bb) For unduly paid insurance contributions from 1/1/2017 to 31/12/2019, the relevant amounts are returned to the beneficiaries, upon request, after the completion of the annual liquidation procedure provided for in paragraphs 14 and 15 of Article 2 of no. 61502/3399 / 30.12.2016 of ministerial decision (Β ‘4330), as amended by no. 25599/1453 / 2.6.2017 ministerial decision (Β ‘1942), and of no. 61501/3398 / 30.12.2016 of joint ministerial decision (Β ‘4330), as amended by no. 25598/1452 / 2.6.2017 joint ministerial decision (Β’1977). The above beneficiaries may, with their application submitted within two months from the date of notification to the insured of the result of the above provided procedure for settlement of insurance contributions, request that the unduly paid amount remain in the e-EFKA as a credit balance with the next insurance contributions.

bc) For unduly paid insurance contributions from 1/1/2020, the relevant amounts of money are returned to the beneficiaries, upon request, as these amounts arise in accordance with the provisions of Article 1 hereof.

In cases where the amount of insurance contributions is determined following a liquidation procedure, any unduly paid amounts will be refunded after the completion of the relevant liquidation process.

In case no refund application is submitted, the unduly paid amounts remain in the e-EFKA as a credit balance, offset against subsequent insurance contributions.

The above also applies to the amounts paid through the deduction of the minimum fee per legal act

The unduly paid insurance contributions in favor of third parties contributed by e-EFKA are returned by him, in accordance with the present procedure, and are borne by the respective institution, in favor of which the collection was made.

The provisions of the above articles apply:

a) in cases where there is a return of unduly paid insurance contributions in accordance with the above and the relevant claim has been born or will be born after 1/1/2017, and

b) pending applications for refund of unduly paid insurance contributions, which have been submitted to the insurance organizations affiliated to e-EFKA, including the State, until 31/12/2016 or to e-EFKA from 01/01/2017 and are at any stage of the administrative procedure, provided that the relevant claim has been born until 31/12/2016 and has not become statute-barred on the date of submission of the application.

The unduly paid insurance contributions of main pension until 31/12/2016 to the State and from 1/1/2017 to 31/12/2019 to e-EFKA are returned by e-EFKA, according to the procedure of the previous articles, after a relevant confirmation issued by the relevant payroll liquidators.