Pensions

Information about pension insurance

Pension insurance is compulsory

Natural persons enumerated in the Pension Insurance Act have to participate in pension insurance, provided they meet the conditions stipulated by the Act. Most persons become participants in insurance by law, without having to sign up.

Exceptions:

• men who care for a child up to four years of age
• persons who care for a child up to 18 years of age suffering a severe long-term disability which requires extraordinary care
• persons who personally care for a substantially or totally helpless person or of a partially helpless person older than 80 years, provided they live in one household (in the case of a close person, the household condition will not be required).

In these cases, participation in pension insurance will commence if they submit an application for participation in pension insurance within two years of the care for a child or a helpless person. Applications are to be filed with the District Social Security Administration offices in whose district the care-giver has permanent residence.

Self-employed persons

Self-employed persons have to inform the District Social Security Administration in whose district they have permanent residence (or, if they do not have a permanent residence in the Czech Republic, then the District Social Security Administration determined according to the place of their self-employment) that they have commenced or re-commenced self employment or co-operation in the self-employment of another person, or about the fact that they have terminated their self-employment, by the 8th day of the calendar month following upon the month in which the fact subject to information duty arose.

Voluntary insurance

Persons over 18 years of age may participate in pension insurance voluntarily, provided they have applied to participate in the insurance and it concerns the period when:

• they are registered as job applicants who are not entitled to unemployment benefit and this period exceeds the three years included "by law"
• they study at a secondary school, higher specialised school, or university, with the exception of the first six years of study after the age of 18, which are covered "by law"
• they are engaged in a gainful activity abroad
• they perform volunteer work on the basis of an agreement signed with the posting organisation based on the Volunteer Service Act

In the first two cases mentioned, an application for participation in the insurance may be submitted and premiums paid up at any time prior to the submission of an application for pension. In the case of a gainful activity abroad, or of volunteer services, premiums can be paid up retrospectively for up to two years prior to the submission of the insurance application.

All other persons over 18 year of age may participate in pension insurance voluntarily. They may, however, only pay up retrospectively for up to one year prior to the submission of the application for insurance. In total, up to 10 years of pension insurance may thus be acquired.

Applications are to be submitted to the District Social Security Administration in whose district the applicant has her/his permanent residence.

Applications for pensions

The following pensions are provided under pension insurance:

• old-age
• full disability
• partial disability
• widow's
• widower's
• orphan's

Applications for pensions will be filled out on prescribed forms:

• on behalf of employees in an employment relationship by the organisation by which they are employed, provided it takes care of their sickness insurance
• on behalf other profitably active persons (with the exception of self employed persons) by the organisation authorised to perform tasks in implementing pension insurance
• on behalf of all other citizens, by the District Social Security Administration

Applications for survivors' pensions may be submitted:

• by the survivors in the place which was authorised to fill out the pension deceased person's application
• by the survivors of non-working pensioners to the District Social Security Administration
• if a citizen is not able to work at the time of the submission of a pension application, and her/his permanent residence is in a different district than that of the registered seat of the organisation, or if the citizen's survivor has her/his permanent residence in a different district than that of the seat of the organisation by which the citizen was employed, the application may be submitted to the District Social Security Administration appropriate to the place of the applicant's permanent residence
• on behalf of citizens who, due to their state of health cannot submit a pension application themselves, an application may be submitted by their family members, provided they agree and on the basis of a physician's report confirming their health. In the case of citizens who do not have any family, application can be submitted by another citizen, on the basis of a power of attorney
• application for a pension to which entitlement arose during imprisonment or detention will be submitted by the citizen through the prison authority
• The appropriate organisation (employee) or District Social Security Administration will not refuse to fill out an application.

More information - The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs