The old-age pension is a pension insurance benefit intended to ensure the subsistence of senior citizens. For persons who are not/were not members of the armed forces, the Czech Social Security Administration is responsible for processing applications for old-age pensions. You may find more information on CSSA website.
Retirement age
For people born before 1971, the retirement age depends on the date of birth, sex and number of children. For people born after 1971, the retirement age is the same, i.e. 65. To find out your retirement age, you can use the calculator at MoLSA website.
If you apply for a so-called early retirement pension with effect from 1 October 2023, you must be within 3 years of reaching the retirement age determined in accordance with the above rules.
Required period of insurance
The required period of insurance depends on the year in which you reach or will reach retirement age. In the case of an early retirement pension, you must have completed this period on the date on which the pension is granted.
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Reaching retirement age |
Necessary period of insurance including replacement periods |
|
before 2010 |
25 years |
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in 2010 |
26 years |
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in 2011 |
27 years |
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in 2012 |
28 years |
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in 2013 |
29 years |
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in 2014 |
30 years |
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in 2015 |
31 years |
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in 2016 |
32 years |
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in 2017 |
33 years |
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in 2018 |
34 years |
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after 2018 |
35 years |
People who reach retirement age after 2014 will also meet the required insurance period requirement if they have at least 30 years of paid-in insurance (i.e. not including substitute insurance periods).
If you do not have the insurance period in the above range, there are also more moderate requirements for the length of the necessary insurance period, but with the disadvantage that the retirement age is extended.
You are also entitled to an old-age pension if you have completed 15 years of insurance for which you have paid contributions, or 20 years of insurance, including compensatory periods, but only if you are 5 years older than the retirement age for a man with the same date of birth as you.
You are an insured person who is not/was not a member of the armed forces, you have reached the pensionable age and you have completed the required period of pension insurance.
You can apply for an old-age pension at the earliest four months before the date on which you wish to receive it. You can apply later at any time. You can choose the date of payment of the regular old-age pension at any time after you reach retirement age, i.e. even from the day before you submit your pension application.
An early old-age pension can be granted from the day you submit your pension claim (not retroactively).
The pension may be paid retrospectively for a maximum of five years from the date of application.
The person reached retirement age on 10/06/2013. He applied for a regular old-age pension on 22/09/2020, stating that he wanted a pension from 10/06/2014. The Czech Social Security Administration will grant a pension from 10/06/2014, but will only pay it five years after the date of the pension application, i.e. from 22 September 2015.
When applying for a retirement pension, you must submit the originals or officially certified copies of the following documents:
If you have been insured not only in the Czech Republic, but also in another member state of the European Union or in a state with which the Czech Republic has concluded a bilateral agreement on social security (contracting state), we recommend that you also enclose documents relating to the period of employment with your application/insurance abroad, if you have them. However, it is not necessary to submit a confirmation from the relevant foreign pension institution about the period of insurance acquired in that country. The Czech Social Security Administration will request this confirmation from the foreign institution itself.
An overview of the countries with which the Czech Republic has concluded a bilateral agreement on social security can be found on the website of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.
As a person who is not/never has been a member of the armed forces, you must apply for your pension in person, if you are not applying online, or on the basis of a power of attorney issued by your representative, at the territorial social security administration of your choice or at its contact workplace (district social security administration). An employee of the social security administration will fill in the application form with you on the prescribed form. In the case of a person who is unable to apply on his or her own behalf because of his or her state of health, his or her family members may apply on the basis of a medical certificate attesting to his or her state of health, provided that they give their consent. The written application is then forwarded to the Czech Social Security Administration, which is responsible for deciding on the right to a pension and the amount of the pension for persons who are not/were not members of the armed forces. The deadline for processing the application is 90 days from the date of submission. However, this period may be extended by the time it takes to investigate facts that are decisive for the right to a pension, its amount or payment and that the Czech Social Security Administration does not have in its records (e.g. undocumented missing period of insurance in the Czech Republic, period of employment/insurance abroad). If the Czech Social Security Administration does not have the facts relevant to the entitlement to, amount of, or payment of a pension, you (as well as your employer or foreign insurer) may be asked to submit them. You must comply with this request within 8 days of receiving it. You can document or certify these facts either in person at the territorial social security administration or at its contact office, i.e. the district social security administration, or by sending it by post directly to the address of the Czech Social Security Administration, or by sending a data message to the data box of the Czech Social Security Administration, or by sending data by a message with a recognised electronic signature to the address of its electronic office. You can find contact details on the Czech Social Security Administration website. As soon as the Czech Social Security Administration has all the necessary documents, it will decide on the application for an old-age pension. If you meet the conditions for receiving an old-age pension, the Czech Social Security Administration will send you a written decision on the granting of the pension, stating the date from which the pension will be granted and the amount of the pension. The decision is always accompanied by a personal pension insurance sheet containing a summary of the insurance periods taken into account, including substitute insurance periods and calculation bases. If you do not meet the eligibility conditions, the Czech Social Security Administration will send you a written decision on the rejection of your application for an old-age pension, stating the reasons for the rejection. If the old-age pension has been granted, the Czech Social Security Administration will pay it on the set payment date in the way you chose when you applied for the pension.
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To an insured person who decides to receive an old-age pension, this pension will begin to be paid from the date requested by him, if he fulfills the conditions for entitlement to this pension and to its payment, until the end of his life, or until the time after submitting the request to stop the payment of this pension. However, he can continue to perform a gainful activity according to his possibilities.
You may continue to work while receiving an early retirement pension, but this work may not result in you being covered by the pension scheme before you reach retirement age - if it does, you will not be entitled to an early retirement pension for as long as you work.
Written objections to the decision of the Czech Social Security Administration in matters of pension insurance may be filed as a proper remedy within 30 days from the date of notification of the decision to the party to the proceedings.
The objection must contain the same information as an appeal under Section 82 of the Administrative Code, i.e. it must first and foremost indicate who is submitting it, what is at issue and what is being proposed, i.e. it must contain the name of the participant and the administrative body to which it is addressed, as well as the signature of the person submitting it.
It shall also state the decision to which objection is made, the extent to which it is contested and the grounds on which it is considered that the decision or procedure which preceded it is contrary to the law or incorrect.
If the appeal does not specify the extent to which the participant contests the decision, it shall be deemed to request the annulment of the entire decision.
The submission of an appeal does not have a suspensive effect if the decision concerns the fulfilment of the sanction obligation of the beneficiary or the employer. Objections are submitted to the Czech Social Security Administration, which issued the decision and also decides on them.
Appeals may be submitted within the specified time limit directly to the Czech Social Security Administration or to any territorial social security administration or to its counterpart - the district social security administration. Therefore, first-instance decisions of the Czech Social Security Administration do not become legally effective upon delivery, but only upon expiry of the 30-day period for submitting objections, or upon delivery (notification) of the decision of the Czech Social Security Administration on objections.
The Czech Social Security Administration examines the contested decision in its entirety; at the same time, it is not bound by the objections submitted and may also decide against the party to the proceedings. Proceedings on appeals must be conducted separately from the first-instance decision of the Czech Social Security Administration - persons who took part in the proceedings to issue the contested decision cannot take part in them or make decisions in them.
The submission of an appeal is a proper remedy in administrative proceedings, and the successful or unsuccessful outcome of the appeal proceedings is therefore a necessary condition for the matter to be considered by the court in the context of possible subsequent administrative proceedings.
However, a beneficiary who considers that his rights have been infringed may file a lawsuit against the final decision of the Czech Social Security Administration within 2 months from the date of delivery of the decision on the appeal. The details of the appeal are regulated by the Administrative Court Act (Act No. 150/2002 Coll.).
The Regional Court (Municipal Court in Prague) in whose district the plaintiff resides or in whose district the plaintiff is domiciled has jurisdiction over the action.
If the person is not domiciled or resident in the Czech Republic, the Regional Court in Brno shall have jurisdiction if the person is domiciled or resident in the Slovak Republic; the Regional Court in Ostrava if the person is domiciled or resident in the Republic of Poland; the Regional Court in Pilsen if the person is domiciled or resident in the Federal Republic of Germany; the Regional Court in České Budějovice if the person is domiciled or resident in the Republic of Austria.
If the jurisdiction of the regional court cannot be determined in this way, the competent regional court shall be determined according to the last place of residence of the person on the territory of the Czech Republic, and if the jurisdiction cannot be determined in this way, the competent regional court in Prague shall be determined.
If there is a change in the circumstances that determine the duration of your entitlement to an orphan's pension (e.g. you stop systematic preparation for a future profession at a secondary school, higher vocational school or university), you must notify the Czech Social Security Administration of this within 8 days.
If you receive an orphan's pension or a part of it, but the circumstances suggest that it has been paid incorrectly or in a higher amount than is due, you are obliged to return the incorrectly paid pension amounts.
Before reaching retirement age, the recipient of an early old-age pension is obliged to notify the Czech Social Security Administration of the commencement of any gainful employment that constitutes participation in the insurance scheme.
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